Family Of Dead Protester Reveals Ruthless Violence By Iran Regime

The report came in a tweet from Tavaana, an Iranian NGO focusing on civic education and civil society capacity building based abroad. Iran International cannot independently verify the accuracy of the report.

Nationwide antigovernment protests have been going on for five weeks in Iran, driven by the young generation who reject the Islamic Republic and label Khamenei as a dictator.

Ayatollah Sistani is believed to be the highest-ranking Shiite cleric, whose claim to religious leadership supersedes that of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who became Iran’s ruler without having sufficient religious credentials.

Sistani, who is 92 years old, rarely appears in photos but holds a large measure of influence over Iraqi politics, although he uses that power sparingly. Most Iraqis are Shiites and respect Sistani’s wishes.

The brief report by Tavaana does not name the clerics who allegedly wrote to Sistani, although it says they are clergymen from Qom, Iran’s Shia religious center. Any cleric daring to take such a step would face the danger of persecution by the Iranian government, tightly controlled by Khamenei and his hardliner supporters.

However, another unsigned statement was published three weeks ago, allegedly by clerics, who said Khamenei was never fit to be Supreme Leader and many of his officials are unqualified to be in the government.

Ottawa’s new set of sanctions target six people and four entities, including the Fars News Agency that is affiliated with the Revolutionary Guard (IRGC), and the Guardian Council, which blocks electoral candidates who are not subservient to the regime. 

The list also includes the Assembly of Experts – the body empowered to appoint the Supreme Leader of Iran -- and the Expediency Discernment Council, whose power lies in its advisory role to the Supreme Leader who chooses its members every five years. 

Canada is also listing Iran’s deputy interior minister and a commander of the Revolutionary Guard for their roles in the violent crackdowns on protesters.

With the new additions, Canada has sanctioned 89 Iranian individuals and 177 entities. 

On October 13, Ottawa imposed sanctions against 17 Iranian individuals and three entities that have participated in or enabled gross human rights violations. Former Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif was in the new list as well as former prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi, Khamenei's representative in Kayhan Hossein Shariatmadari, former president Hassan Rouhani's defense minister Amir Hatami, the current state broadcaster chief Peyman Jebelli and former parliament speaker Ali Larijani.

Earlier in October, Canada finally announced sanctions against IRGC, permanently banning over 10,000 of its officers from entering Canada.

International reactions to Iran’s crackdown on ongoing popular protests are growing, with more and more countries condemning Tehran’s behavior, summoning envoys, or adopting resolutions.

He added that "There is only a brief window of opportunity for the government to control the ongoing uprising, and If the government refuses to listen to them it will face an uncertain and disappointing future."

In his interview with the reformist daily Mostaghel [Independent], Mandegari, like many other Iranian pundits, reminded the government that "Even if the current wave of protests in Iran recedes temporarily, it will flare up again at another time like a fire under the ashes."

Explaining the structure of uprising, Mandegari said: "This is a movement which is born and spread in a web of social networks. Unlike previous uprisings and revolutions, it has a horizontal structure which reduces the need to a strong leadership."

He said that it would be simplistic to think that this movement is about hijab. The story of Mahsa Amini, the young woman who died in the custody of Iran's notorious morality police was simply a trigger for the movement, and not its cause. "This movement is the outcome of an accumulated anger caused by poverty, as well as organized discrimination and humiliation. The number of Iranians living under the poverty line has redoubled during the past three years so that more than 70 percent of Iranians are currently living under the poverty line," Mandegari said.

He added that the gap between the people and state officials has never been wider. The people feel that the officials see them as second grade citizens who are constantly ignored. Meanwhile, recent political developments such as the 2020 Majles election and 2021 Presidential election led people to believe that it is no longer possible to bring about any change in Iran through ballot boxes. This led to a deep disappointment.

In another development, Ahmad Bokharaei, the head of the Iranian Sociological Society told Rouydad24 new website that protesters are not coming into the streets just to reject government’s policy of forced hijab. There is always a web of issues that drives Iran’s protest movements.

The sociologist, cautious in how he framed his argument, seemed to be referring to both economic dissatisfaction as well as to the people’s frustration with lack of social freedoms. Bokharaei also attributed the current protests to the government's inefficacy in various areas. The combination of economic crisis, corruption, mismanagement and draconian laws together have exhausted people’s patience.

Bokharaei added that "Those who reduce the uprising to the issue of hijab, have political interest in saying so. When you look at the people in the streets of the affluent Valiasr Avenue in Tehran or low-income Iranians living in Eslam Shahr or Shahryar you will notice that as you move toward the margins of the big city you will find out that the economic reason for revolt is more prominent."

However, Bokharaei probably deliberately ignored violations of human rights by the Iranian government as one of the causes of the ongoing uprising. Another reason, as pointed out by some media outlets such as Aftab News, is that while Iranian officials for years praised the youth and school children of the 1970s for taking part in the 1979 revolution in Iran, they now hypocritically look down at youngsters and say school children should not take to the streets in protest as they are too young to understand what is good and what is bad for society.

Amjad Amini said in an interview on Wednesday that he and his brother-in-law were threatened by authorities to give interviews to support the narrative of the Islamic Republic about the death of Mahsa, who received fatal blows to her head while in custody.. 

"Islamic Republic’s state broadcaster was the last media that contacted me, and I told them frankly that I will not give and interview to them under any circumstances; Three weeks later, they called me and expected me to speak to them. I asked them about the reason to interview me,” he said. 

"I did not allow them to speak to tell me their demands," he said. 

He said he asked about the reason for her daughter's death, but the authorities told him that it is none of his business and they will announce whatever is in the interest of the Islamic Republic. 

Iran International obtained Amini’s brain CT scan from hospital sources in September that shows serious injuries to her skull. Hospital staff also confirmed that she was in a coma upon arrival. Fars news agency affiliated with the Revolutionary Guard confirmed that the CT scan belonged to Amini. Moreover, her photos in the hospital show her bleeding from the right ear, a definite sign of brain injury.

These included Tom Tugendhat, Minister of State for Security, Commodore Don Mackinnon, British naval commander in the Persian Gulf, and Steve McCabe, member of parliament ad Chair of Labour Friends of Israel, as well as media outlets and their owners including BBC Persian and Iran International. Iran also cited the UK National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and the intelligence center known as ‘GCHQ.’

During recent unrest, Iranian officials have complained about foreign media and social media operators, including those in Britain reporting on protests and airing interviews with Iranian pundits based abroad, including state-funded media. The clerical regime in Iran has taken exception to news and commentaries it claims are justifying attacks on government employees and ambulances, while it does not allow the media in Tehran to report on the protests.

The government has also often cut off access to the Internet or slowed down cyber traffic for more than a month to prevent news and images of the protests from being shared among the people.

The official news website IRNA said the named individuals would not be allowed to enter Iran and that any assets held under Iranian jurisdiction would be confiscated. It said the measure did not preclude criminal prosecution and that Iran still considered the British government “accountable for supporting terrorists and human rights violators who organize and incite riots and terrorist acts in Iran from its soil.”

Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian also said Wednesday Iran would designate 19 US and European officials and entities over sanctions and “incitement to violence.”

Iran has been persecuting journalists working for the BBC, US funded international broadcasters Voice of America and Radio Farda, as well staff at Iran International and other media organizations. Family members have been harassed for more than a decade and direct threats made against journalists.

Iran’s 83-year-old ruler Ali Khamenei and other officials have blamed the protests on “foreign enemies” and “their media”, while pundits and some politicians in Iran have been warning for months that the social and political atmosphere was ripe for popular demonstrations and unrest.

In fact, protests have been going on almost continuously since December 2017, when rising prices first led to nationwide disturbances. In November 2019, a sudden government hike in gasoline prices also led to widespread protests during which security forces killed at least 1,500 civilians.

The current protests that started on September 16 were triggered by the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who was arrested three days earlier for her "improper hijab." Women and young people have led the protests demanding regime change, with their favorite slogan being "Death to the dictator."