Iranians Hold Large Protests On First Day Of 3-Day Action
Monday evening thousands of Iranians came out in numerous cities to protest against the Islamic Republic and confrontations ensued with security forces.
Monday evening thousands of Iranians came out in numerous cities to protest against the Islamic Republic and confrontations ensued with security forces.
The government shut down the Internet in most parts of the country to prevent footage from the protests to appear online. Although some videos were published on social media but the Internet disruption made it much more difficult.
In several cities, gatherings were held for the mourning ceremonies of protesters killed during the past three months.
The situation in dozens of neighborhoods in Tehran and nearby cities, such as Golshahr and Fardis in Karaj, were hectic as large numbers of protesters came out into the streets, after the government executed two detainees in the past 10 days. Many streets in downtown Tehran were also packed with demonstrators who vowed to continue the protests until the regime is toppled.
In Bukan, in West Azarbaijan Province, people laid to rest Mohammad Haji-Rasulpour who was killed under torture, and in Rasht people were holding rallies in many neighborhoods chanting antigovernment slogans. Gunshots are heard in videos coming from the city. Similar demonstrations were also reported in the religious city of Mashhad in the northeast.
Workers of companies in many cities, including Sanandaj, Kerman, Bushehr, Kermanshah, Bandar Abbas, Ilam, Esfahan and Ahvaz, covering almost all western, central and southern Iran, were also on strike on Monday. During the nationwide protests in the past three months, workers, and employees in various industrial and energy sectors have held numerous protest gatherings and strikes. Low wages, non-payment of arrears, and inattention to their demands have been mentioned as among workers’ main grievances.
Frustrated over how to quash the protests that ignited after the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, Islamic Republic’s Chief Justice Monday urged prosecutors and judges to carry out final sentences without any delay.
The Islamic Republic has so far executed Mohsen Shekari and Majidreza Rahnavard, both 23, and based on the latest report by the Oslo-based Iran Human Rights Organization, 39 other people are at risk of execution on charges of “war against God” and “corruption on earth.” However, the executions seem to have halted since last week, therefore Ejei’s order can mean the greenlight for further executions.
The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) announced in its latest report that from September 17 until December 13, at least 493 protestors have been killed, of which at least 68 were minors. While the Islamic Republic has not provided accurate figures of those detained in the recent protests, the watchdog went on to say that at least 18,424 protesters have been arrested including 632 students.
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In a decree issued on Monday, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei demanded a swift process to carry out sentences handed down to those who have indicted on serious charges during three months of unrest.
He did not directly mention capital punishment for detained protesters but said the sentences issued for “serious crimes,” whether or not related to the security of the country, should be well-documented and deterrent.
His remarks can be construed as a signal to judges to go ahead with sentencing more people to death over their participation in the protests that began in mid-September, when 22-year-old Mahsa Amini was killed in custody of hijab enforcement police.
The Islamic Republic has so far executed Mohsen Shekari and Majidreza Rahnavard, both 23, and based on the latest report by the Oslo-based Iran Human Rights Organization, 39 other people are at risk of execution on charges of “war against God” and “corruption on earth.” However, the executions seem to have halted since last week, therefore Ejei’s order can mean the greenlight for further executions.
It can also be seen as a measure to hand down more prison sentences, and carry out more executions to intimidate the population and stifle dissent.
In his 15-point decree, he also called on judicial officials to inform higher authorities in cases deemed sensitive. Ejei also called for coordination with state media and the media center of the judiciary in cases that are important for public opinion.
Last week, Tehran’s judiciary chief Ali Alghasi-Mehr said 400 protesters have been sentenced to prison terms of between 2 to 10 years for participation in Tehran alone. “In hearings on cases of rioters in Tehran province, 160 people were sentenced to between five to 10 years in prison, 80 people to two to five years and 160 people up to two years,” he said.
There are no independent courts in Iran. Both prosecutors and judges answer to the same Judiciary controlled by hardliners. In most political trials, there is no due process of law, no freedom to choose defense lawyers and little access to case files. The Judiciary can frame people for crimes they did not commit, as multiple cases have demonstrated in the past. It can define what “disruption” means and sentence any protester to death for causing an ill-defined act of disruption.
In November, a group of 227 parliament members called on the Judiciary to issue death sentences for people arrested during the ongoing antigovernment protests. As the Islamic Republic is adamant to execute more protesters, some Islamic law experts are voicing opposition to the Judiciary’s interpretation of Sharia.
The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) announced in its latest report that from September 17 until December 13, at least 493 protestors have been killed, of which at least 68 were minors. While the Islamic Republic has not provided accurate figures of those detained in the recent protests, the watchdog went on to say that at least 18,424 protesters have been arrested including 632 students.
The Washington-based Abdorrahman Boroumand Center for Human Rights in Iran and London-based Amnesty International said in a joint statement in July that at least more than 250 hangings had been confirmed. "If executions continue at this horrifying pace, they will soon surpass the total of 314 cases recorded for the whole of 2021," the groups said.
“I met with Seyed-Mohammad Hosseini at Karaj Prison. He cried through his account of tortures, being beaten with tied hands and legs and blindfolded, to being kicked in the head and losing consciousness, the soles of his feet being beaten with an iron rod to being tased in different parts of the body,” Ali Sharifzadeh Ardakani who says he has just recently been allowed to represent Hosseini tweeted Sunday.
“There is no legal validity to the confessions of a man who has been tortured,” he added.
Sharifzadeh had earlier this week said the Revolutionary Court of Karaj did not allow him to take on Hosseini’s case, study the case file, and represent him in the process of appeals to the death sentence. “This is gross violation of the rights of a person sentenced to death,” he tweeted on December 15.
Seyed-Mohammad Hosseini was arrested in November in Karaj, capital of Alborz Province to the west of Tehran, and charged with "waging war against God” and “corruption on earth”, both carrying the death sentence.
Hosseini has been accused of participation in the alleged killing of Ruhollah Ajamian, 27 on November 12. Ajamian who served alongside other security forces as a member of the Basij militia of the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) was stabbed, beaten, and stripped naked by a group of men and died of his injuries later.
Thirteen protesters were put on trial for his killing by the Revolutionary Court shortly after the incident five of whom, including Hosseini, were sentenced to death.
Hosseini was sentenced in an unfair trial without access to his chosen defense attorney, like the majority of other protesters put on trial in the past few weeks.
The Revolutionary Court regularly refuses to accept the power of attorney of independent lawyers who the accused or their families appoint and only approves its trusted lawyers who in many cases only make an appearance during the trial without having even seen the case files.
Hosseini is in imminent danger of execution like at least a dozen other young men who were arrested since protests swept across the country in September following the death in custody of the 22-year-old Mahsa Amini.
“How desperate is a regime to treat its people this way? Do they think that a "confession" under torture is worth anything at all? Now we don't have to assume, we know,” Ye-One Rhie, a member of the German parliament (Bundestag) who has taken on the political sponsorship of rapper Toomaj Salehi asked quoting Sharifi Ardakani’s tweet.
French lawmaker Aude Luquet has taken on Hosseini’s political sponsorship and called for an immediate halt to all executions in Iran. Hosseini is also sponsored by Austrian parlemaintarian Harold Truch.
The Islamic Republic has so far executed Mohsen Shekari and Majidreza Rahnavard, both 23. Both were allegedly tortured into “confessing” to the crimes they were charged with and tried without due process. The executions have enraged many Iranians who believe they were hastily tried and executed to instil fear in the rest of the population and keep them away from the streets.
“Five were sentenced to death for the killing of one Basiji. One was executed for injuring a Basiji. No one was held accountable for the killing of hundreds of citizens. No one was held accountable for killing thousands in the protests in the past few years. This regime has taken justice and freedom to the slaughterhouse,” a tweet posted with the photos of the five sentenced to death in Karaj said on December
Iranian political activist, lawyer and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi urged people on Sunday to join the campaign of withdrawing money from banks, noting that state-controlled banks in Iran are not institutions to serve the people and only act as the economic arm of the “killing Republic” referring to the clerical regime.
"Now it has been proven to everyone that there is no will in the regime to accept the demands of the people," she said, adding that the campaign to shun banks in daily transactions can deal a "fundamental blow" to the government.
This movement dubbed “Join this campaign" has been formed so that citizens can deal a major blow to the government’s repressive structures, she said.
Ebadi added that such campaigns should not be limited to banks, noting that time has come for a coordinated action against all institutions that have a part in the crackdown on the popular protests. Some activists have suggested that people should refuse to pay their utility bills and other payments to government entities.
Her remarks come as grassroot groups and activists have also announced calls for another three-day nationwide protests and strikes starting Monday, for December 19, 20, and 21. In addition to daily protests on the streets and sit-ins at universities, strikes continued among employees of many industries, particularly in the oil, gas and petrochemical sectors.
It has become obvious for many Iranians that the banks are not able to survive if people start to use cash instead of debit cards, which have managed to keep the level of liquidity at a level that banks do not go bankrupt.
The head of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI), Ali Salehabadi, said in addition to US sanctions on Iran, recent popular protests have encouraged capital flight from the country and contributed to the fall of the rial. But he promised to reduce the alarming growth in the money supply until March, when the Iranian calendar year ends.
As a psychological op to counter the capital drain from the banks, rumors are circulating on social media that the Islamic Republic plans to increase interest rates by five percent. However, Salehabadi said Monday that no decision has been finalized to increase the rates.
Most economist in Iran have repeatedly told the local media that there is no quick fix to the deep-rooted banking and financial problems facing the regime.
Iran’s rial was hovering near 400,000 against the US dollar on Monday, while in most of 2021 the rial was stable at around 250,000, a more than 50-percent drop in 15 months, which coincides with the presidency of hardliner Ebrahim Raisi.
The banks run by regime insider have always been under pressure to grant loans to the powerful circles or invest in state-run projects, but they prefer to avoid such financings because most of the projects in the country are not producing profits and banks would face problems redeeming their loans.
Iran has also a problem with the demands made by the international financial watchdog, the FATF since 2017, to enact legislation against money laundering and financing of terrorism. Without this, Iran will remain blacklisted by many international financial institution
Bahaoldin Hosseini-Hashemi, an economist in Tehran, says the closing months of the year are usually when more money is printed by the CBI, because the government has to pay its end-of-year obligations. Hosseini-Hashemi drew attention to official reports showing that the CBI has printed money at a faster pace since the end of September as government debt to the bank has increased. A second challenge is presented by state or quasi-state banks, which also rely on borrowing from the CBI.