PROTESTS IN IRAN 🕊

About 1,500 people have been killed in protests in Iran, according to a toll provided to Reuters by three Iranian interior ministry officials. Sources close to the Supreme Leader say he summoned the Sepâh to 'Do whatever it takes to end it. You have my order.' The figure is significantly higher than Amnesty's 304 and marks the deadliest on record since 1979 when the Shah was ousted for an authoritarian regime...


The riots started on 15 November due to a fifty per cent increase in fuel prices. President Hassan Rouhani said the rial was required to help low-income families. The uproar spread to 100 cities and quickly turned political with up to 200,000 young and working-class demonstrators demanding clerical leaders step down. Chants of 'Death to the Dictator' and 'Down with Khamenei' could be heard in videos posted on social media and sent to Amnesty. In an interview with Fox News on 30 December, The Wind In My Hair author Masih Alinejad said the people 'want free Iran' 🕊


On 16 November, government officials shutdown the internet leading to verified videos being sent to UK-based human rights charity Amnesty International. The footage was used by the The New York Times in an Opinion piece entitled What Iran Did Not Want You To See which shows security forces shooting into unarmed crowds in Tehran, from government buildings in Kermanshah and a helicopter in the capital. Reuters also wrote eyewitness accounts of the Revolutionary Guards randomly shooting at protesters in Karaj: 'There was blood everywhere. Blood on the streets,' said one resident by telephone. Amnesty's clips show the Basij chasing and beating people with batons and on 22 November BBC Persian tweeted a recording of the police dragging protestors amidst the sound of sirens...



In what is probably the most brutal account of the administrations's crackdown, on 5 December U.S. Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook revealed in a press briefing that the State Department had received videos of the IRGC opening fire on protestors in Bandar-e Mahshahr, an ancient city in south-western Persia, killing several people. When the demonstrators fled to nearby marshlands, the military tracked them down with machine guns mounted on trucks massacring at least one hundred Iranians 😔

According to exiled opposition group Mojahedin-e Khalq, Iranian officials have been 'stealing bodies' from morgues and 'spiriting away' injured patients from hospitals. One example is of 20-year-old law student Mehdi Nekouee from Shiraz who's blood-soaked body could be seen in What Iran Did Not Want You To See. 'He was taken to the hospital and even the news said he was in critical condition but alive' said his uncle to #WhiteWednesdays and #MyStealthyFreedom founder Masih Alinejad. 'We were waiting for some good news, we haven't heard anything yet' he added tearfully.

'Thousands of protesters as well as journalists, human rights defenders & students' have been arrested 'to stop them from speaking out about Iran’s ruthless repression', according to Amnesty International. Children as young as 15 are being held and there are fears that they could be subjected to human rights abuses. Philip Luther, Middle East and North Africa Research and Advocacy Director at Amnesty told The Independent: 'We have verified and analysed video footage showing security forces beating, punching and kicking handcuffed detainees.' Families of the dead have also been detained for holding a public memorial service. One example is of Pouya Bakhtiari, a 27-year-old engineer from Karaj who was shot dead by the Revolutionary Guards in front of his mother. She was later arrested along with Pouya's father and subjected to interrogation for mourning the death of their son... 



A number of prominent Iranian artists have spoken out and published a statement in support of the protesters. The statement condemns the violation of their 'most basic human rights' and 'most apparent needs.' Nader Hashemi, Director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Denver has called it 'a nightmare scenario for Iran’s authoritarian leaders who want the society (and the world) to forget about the recent massacres.' Exiled rapper Hichkas released a song called Clenched His Fists which centres on the brutality of the security forces and on 7 December actress Golshifteh Farahani spoke to Brut America calling the killings 'another tragedy, and catastrophe, and disaster' and 'how many times a country, a people they can be massacred?'

On 19 November, Amnesty's toll stood at 106. The organisation upped it to 140+ on 29 November, 208 on 2 December and 304 on 16. For three of the figures, the not-for-profit believed them to be 'much higher'. On 3 December during a visit to London, U.S President Donald Trump said 'Iran is killing perhaps thousands and thousands of people' and on 5 December Brian Hook told reporters 'it appears the regime could have murdered over a thousand Iranian citizens.' 🎵 A day later, a dollar short 🎶 UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet suggested 208 people had died but conceivably 'more than twice that number.' Reuters 1,500 surpassed human rights groups and was headlined by few media outlets including The Express and The Mirror...


On 23 December, a spokesman for Iran's Supreme National Security Council responded to Reuters report as 'fake news.' The government previously denied Amnesty's 106 tally claiming it to be only 12 at the time. Head of Media Office at Iran's Mission to the United Nations Alireza Miryousefi said such numbers are 'speculative' and 'unreliable' and accused 'biased Western entities' of making 'baseless allegations.' Judiciary Spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili claimed 'the numbers and figures that are being given by hostile groups are utter lies.' On 20 November, Iran's seventh President pinned the protests on 'organised subversive elements' who 'acted precisely on a plan the regional reactionary, the Zionists and Americans had formulated' and in a tweet on 27 November Ayatollah Khamenei blamed 'this destruction, villainy, and murder' on a 'very dangerous conspiracy' orchestrated by '#GlobalArrogance and #Zionism'...
The regime have been a catalyst for recent demonstrations in Iraq also. For years the establishment have attempted to control the war-torn country. Thousands took to the streets of Baghdad on 22 December to protest against Iran's kingmaking influence and an apparent bid by Iran-aligned groups to nominate a politician for the country’s leadership. 




 Protests are a regular occurrence in Iran and any action is suppressed by the Sepah-e Pasdaran consisting of five branches and an estimated 523,000 personnel. Most notably have been the 2009 Green Movement which saw over half a million Iranians rally against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's fraudulent re-election. In What Iran Did Not Want You To See, Amnesty's Raha Bahreini says that in order to hold the authorities to account for the recent atrocities 'it's essential international experts from the UN are allowed to enter the country, interview the families of those killed, visit detention centres and hospitals and cemeteries and build a fair picture of the horrific events that took place in the country.' In an interview with Fox News on 30 December, Masih Alinejad believes that in regards to the international community it is 'just empty words' and that 'the leaders of the world are looking for a deal' 'to shaking hands with the leader of the Islamic Republic.' 🤑