Italian PM Says Repression Of Protesters In Iran ‘Unbearable’

Abolfazl Ghadiani (Qadiani), openly called for Khamanei to step down in 2018, which led to a three-year jail term in 2019, but he was not forced to serve it.

In a new video the BBC Persian aired this week, Ghadiani says that Khamenei and his minions are the real culprits who commit “corruption on earth” and “fighting God”, a reference to Islamic Sharia crimes punishable by death. The regime has accused many dissidents and protesters of these two crimes, and some have received the death sentence.

The former revolutionary and an ex-comrade in arms of Khamenei said the ruler and his soldiers are the clear example of people committing these crimes because “all their zeal and intention is to create fear and terror in society and not allow this society to free itself from their tyranny.”

He argued that protesters are not ‘mohareb’, or God’s enemies, because they defend themselves against regime agents who use violence against them and kill unarmed people.

Ghadiani (76), who is a founding member of a revolutionary group before 1979 called the Mojahedin of the Islamic Revolution of Iran Organization (MIRO). He and his comrades helped the clerics consolidate power 43 years ago. But he became a critic of Khamenei when in 2009 the Supreme Leader backed the disputed official results of the presidential election that kept Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in office, and triggered months of protests.

He was arrested and spent a year in prison for demanding the real results of the vote to be announced.

Ghadiani expressed satisfaction that “people have realized that the source of all the calamities is Ali Khamenei himself.”

The former political prisoner attacked Iran’s 83-year-old ruler, insisting, “I will say again that Khamenei is the biggest enemy of the Iranian people, and I have said this from prison. Presiding over the state that kills people is Khamenei. They want to spread fear and terror…”

Perhaps the most important characteristic of the current protests is the clear and persistent rejection of Ali Khamenei and the Islamic Republic. Never before public hatred toward Khamenei was expressed so ferociously and sometimes in vile and disrespectful language.

This has destroyed the last vestiges of any commanding public image he might have had in the past and any semblance of political or religious legitimacy, except for a minority of military officers, Basij members, clerics and other elements still committed to preserving the political order.

Ghadiani in his message has also pointed to a weakening of Khamenei’s power among loyal forces, who he said are telling the Leader to make compromises but have been told “to shut up.”

Ghadiani who in the past believed in reforming the Islamic Republic, said, “Reforms are not possible.” He argued that the reform movement failed to produce any results in 25 years. “Ebrahim Raisi, an illiterate murderer has become president.”

He went on to say that Islamic Republic’s ruling class “is unique in corruption and exporting corruption among its peers and tyrants around the world. They have turned religion into a tool for repression.”

1500 Tasvir, a Twitter account dedicated to the news of protests in Iran, reported that Mehrdad Malek a 17-year-old teenager was killed Monday evening after police patrol officers shot him in his friend’s car in Datshtabi region in Qazvin province about 200 km west of Tehran.

“Mehrdad and his friend were driving home when police patrol became suspicious of them and started chasing them,” said 1500 Tasvir, adding that the patrol officers started shooting at the car after their own vehicle got stuck in mud during the chase, presumably to prevent the two suspects fleeing the scene. Mehrdad died on the spot after one of the bullets hit him.

Very little is known about the details of the shooting or the reason the police put up a chase to the car. Authorities have not made any comments about the deadly shooting yet.

On Sunday another child was shot dead in her family’s car in Hormozgan Province. Soha Etebari, 12, and her family were on the road to Ahvaz, the capital of Khuzestan, from Bastak in Hormozgan Province when plainclothes security forces started shooting at the car at a checkpoint. Soha died of her injuries on the way to the hospital.

The police claim they suspected drug trafficking because the vehicle’s windows were dark. The incident happened on the eve of the 40th-day memorial of Kian Pirfalak, the 9-year-old boy who was shot dead in Izeh, Khuzestan on November 16 during an evening of protests.

The Oslo-based Iran Human Rights Organization says at least 476 people including 64 children and 34 women, have been killed by security forces after the death of Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini in police custody in mid-September.

In a tweet Tuesday, the former crown prince whose father was ousted by the Islamic Revolution in 1979 said Daei and Karimi are assets of the nation who have not only made brought joy to the people many years, but also expressing solidarity with their struggle for the freedom of Iran now.

Reza Pahlavi’s comments came after the regime forced a commercial Dubai-bound Mahan Airlines plane to land in Kish Island to prevent the family of the outspoken Daei from leaving the country. Daei had earlier expressed support for the protest movement that has rocked the Islamic Republic since the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody in mid-September.

Karimi who lives abroad now has expressed solidarity with protesters on many occasions.

Meanwhile, Iranians across the country staged anti-government moves to mark the 103rd day of uprising against the regime again Tuesday evening.

Videos circulating on social media show in three neighborhoods in the west and east of the capital Tehran, including Shahran, Poonak and Pirouzi, people chanted anti-regime slogans from their windows and rooftops such as “Death to Khamenei” and calling him Zahak, a mythical the snakes on whose shoulders had to be fed with the brains of the youth on a daily basis.

“Khamenei, the Zahak, we will drag you to the ground!” has become one of the very popular slogans against the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Other videos shared on social media show people preparing fliers to urge others to join in the nightly window and rooftop chanting or spray-painting slogans on the ground and walls.

In Tabriz, Mahabad, and Bukan many paid homage to several of those killed in the protests, turning mourning processions for the victims into anti-regime demonstrations.

Massoud Pezeshkian, a member of the Iranian Parliament from Tabriz told Didban Iran website that "a large number of people are protesting to the problems in the Iranian society." He added, "These are real problems and that government had better listen to the people's grievances and attend to their demands." Meanwhile he called on the Iranian government to treat the nation compassionately.

He added that the difficulties Iranians are currently facing stem from the government, the Judiciary and the behavior of Iranian clerics. Pezeshkian said, "some 98 percent of Iranians voted for the Islamic Republic in 1979. What have we done in the meantime that so many people have turned away from it?"

In another development of Tuesday, which showed Iran's top officials are still in denial of the country's problems, Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi claimed that everything is in good shape and the country has had eye-catching progress, angering the enemies who instigated the protests in Iran.

Not only the president denied the country is facing a multi-faceted crisis, he also vowed not to have any mercy on protesters and those who stand against the government.

Meanwhile, in an interview with ISNA, which was also carried by several other media outlets in Iran, centrist politician Hossein Marashi said that an association of top clerics who have called for the execution of protesters and amputation of their fingers and toes should apologize to the nation.

Marashi, who is the deputy chief of Iran's Reform Front, hoped that the Association of Seminary Teachers would deny the contents of the statement that called for violent treatment of protesters and prisoners. He said the statement came as a surprise, adding that if this approach continues, it will lead to a form of Talebanism in Iran. Marashi reiterated that statements like this are an insult to Islam.

Referring to previous calls by some officials about holding dialogue with reform-minded individuals, Marashi said that "there is no reason to continue the dialogue under the current circumstances although we generally support the idea of dialogue."

Meanwhile, referring to the statements made by several Friday prayers imams who have accused government's critics of apostasy, Marashi called on the imams to apologize to the nation and pay attention to what the critics say in order to find out a way out of the country's crisis.

In another development, in an article on Etemad Online website, reformist commentator Abbas Abdi warned that a full-fledged economic crisis is going to hit Iranians soon.

Abdi referred to a forecast by the Raisi administration at the beginning of its term in the summer of 2021 about economic growth by 2027. The forecast said that if US sanctions remain in force at the end of the period economic growth will be just 1.7 percent, inflation rate will reach 54 percent and the Iranian rial will fall by 50 percent.

All these have already happened, and it is just 2022.

The forecast, which was generally ignored and was forgotten by even some experts. At the time, the authors of the forecast were accused of portraying a bleak image to force the government to accept to return to the JCPOA, Abdi said.

Abdi noted that the situation is even worse as the government has currently forgotten about its promises to create millions of jobs and build millions of homes. He added that in the best-case scenario, even if Iran returns to the JCPOA, although the situation will look slightly better, overall the future Iranian economy does not look good.

Iranian state media reported Monday that Khademalsharieh had competed at the World Rapid Chess Championships without wearing the hijab which under Iran’s Islamic dress codes is compulsory.

The twenty-five-year-old International Master (IM) and Woman Grandmaster (WGM) since 2013 is yet to comment on her move. Khademalsharieh, 25, ranks 804 in the world, according to the International Chess Federation (FIDE) website.

Khademalsharieh is the latest of several Iranian female athletes such as sport climber Elnaz Rekabi to appear at competitions unveiled since the nationwide uprising sparked by the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa (Jina) Amini who was arrested by morality police for what authorities deemed as “improper hijab”.

The protests mark one of the boldest challenges to Iran's leadership since its 1979 revolution and have drawn in Iranians from all walks of life. Women have played a prominent role in the uprising. Many among them have removed their headscarves, and in some cases burned them, and inspired both men and women to be brave.

Iran's female chess players have been defying hijab rules for several years. Dorsa Derakhshani, International Master and Woman Grandmaster since 2016, was barred from the national team after refusing to wear a headscarf in 2017 Gibraltar Chess Festival when she was a temporary resident of Spain. The 19-year-old chess player then moved to the United States where she attended Saint Louis University to officially represent the United States.

In 2020, Iran Chess Federation expelled veteran chess player Mitra Hejazipour, also a Woman Grandmaster since 2015, for removing her hijab during the World Rapid & Blitz Chess Championship in Moscow in 2019. The 27-year-old Iranian athlete was sacked after superbly playing for her home country for eighteen years. She is playing for France now.

Female athletes defy the hijab rules receive great support and even called heroes by people but endure much pressure from the authorities.

Rekabi was greeted by a cheering crowd when she returned home from the competitions in October. Shortly after her arrival at the airport, the state media published a video interview of her at the arrival hall in which, seemingly under pressure and threat, she had to call her hijab had “inadvertent” dropped. At the time of the interview, she looked distressed and was surrounded by officials and plainclothes security agents.

Niloufar Madani, a member of the national Iranian speed skating team stepped on a podium in Turkey on November 6 to receive the top award while not wearing a headscarf.

She was arrested by the Islamic Republic’s agents after returning to Iran and later a statement attributed to her was published in which she said she appeared unveiled in public by mistake. Most Iranians believe that such statements are made under the pressure of regime agents.

In November, Parmida Qasemi, a member of Iran’s archery national team, also removed her hijab during the awards ceremony of Persian Gulf Cup in Tehran before the unbelieving eyes of Iranian sport officials. However, she also claimed she had not noticed her hijab drop during the ceremony.

Iran’s deputy sports minister, Maryam Kazemipour, in November accused female athletes of acting “against Islamic norms” and said she regretted that they had chosen to show defiance.