The Iranian people have repeatedly risen up against their theocratic rulers over the past four decades. Why are the current uprisings different?
First, it is Iranian women and girls who are at the forefront of protests that began after the death of 22-year-old Iranian Mahsa Amini, who was arrested by Iran’s ‘morality police’ for not wearing his hijab properly. Witnesses say she was beaten in the head; she died in hospital on September 16 after being in a coma for three days.
Today, huge photos of Mahsa dominate the protests. Her death recalls decades of cruel punishment inflicted on women by the Islamic regime. After Mahsa’s funeral in her hometown of Saqez on September 17, anti-government protests began, and Iranian women and girls flooded the streets. Many have burned their hijabs while others wave them above their heads in defiance of the regime. Their frequent chants are “Woman, Life, Freedom” and “Death to the Dictator”, in reference to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Protests in Iran’s 31 provinces are now in their second month, and show no signs of abating. Daily videos of protests abound on social media, and recently protests have spread to the infamous Evin prison in Tehran, one of the sites of the massacre of 30,000 political prisoners in 1988. Demonstrations have also taken place in other countries in Iranian embassies.
Previous anti-government uprisings in Iran have been confined to major cities and led by the working or middle classes. Today’s uprisings are taking place in more than 170 cities and towns, involving people of all ages and backgrounds. Even schoolgirls leave the classroom to protest and sing against the government.
The protesters’ slogans echo those of the main opposition movement to the regime, the National Council of Resistance of Iran and the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI-MEK). The movement has been developing its “Resistance Units” for many years; its members lead protests and disrupt the regime by defacing posters and statues of its leaders.
Iranian society finds itself in an unprecedented economic situation, and these protests reflect a growing contempt for the mullahs who seized control and imposed Islamic law in Iran in 1979. The regime’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) , which is listed as a terrorist group by the United States, has made countless enemies within with their acts of murder, torture and abuse.
Iran remains a pariah nation under the rule of the mullahs — and the world is protesting the regime’s treatment of the Iranian people. Amnesty International and other human rights organizations say more than 200 people, including 23 children, were killed during the protests by armed security forces. In October, the European Parliament condemned Mahsa’s death and called for an impartial investigation into it. The European Union body also condemned Iran’s attacks on unarmed protesters and called for sanctions against such offenders. Others, including leaders of the UN Human Rights Office, the United States and Germany, protested the crackdown on protesters.
The regime cannot contain this rebellion. IRGC commanders and other regime officials regularly tell the media that “the riots are over”, but protests continue to erupt. On October 13, an Iranian official in Markazi province told state broadcaster Aftab that Mahsa’s death had led to “chaos” and led to the deaths of more than 40 men in Iran’s security forces. “It’s like sitting on a tree and sawing off the main trunk of that tree. »
Incredibly, on October 16, the Iranian Parliament’s Advisory and Internal Affairs Committee cleared the regime’s operatives of any involvement in Mahsa’s death — she was not injured by blows to her head or vital organs during his detention, the commission said in a report citing forensic examinations. Their report instead called for the prosecution of those who used Mahsa’s death to “trigger riots and insecurity in society”.
National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) leader Maryam Rajavi encourages Iranians to stand up for freedom and equality. “They want equality in all aspects, including economic and political leadership. They also know that as long as this regime is in power, they will not obtain their rights. Therefore, the people of Iran demand regime change,” she said in her recent talks with members of the US Congress.