Iran Security Forces Kill More Protesters And Expel Students
An Iranian lawmaker from western Iran says at least six protesters have been killed in the northwestern city of Mahabad during the past three days.
An Iranian lawmaker from western Iran says at least six protesters have been killed in the northwestern city of Mahabad during the past three days.
In an interview with Rudaw news channel, Jalal Mahmoudzadeh, the representative of Mahabad in the parliament, said these civilians were killed by the direct fire of the security forces.
Mahmoudzadeh further added that he is going to question the interior minister about the results of his investigation into these deaths.
This MP’s remarks come as the Norway-based Iran Human Rights Organization says at least 18 people have been killed in West Azerbaijan province since the beginning of the nationwide protests.
Mahabad in West Azarbaijan province, with a large Kurdish population, has been the hotbed of fierce clashes between anti-government protesters and security forces within the past few days.
Last Thursday, large crowds took to the streets in this city taking control of the governorate and some other buildings. It was after the funeral ceremony of 35-year-old Esmail Moloudi who had been killed during protests the night before.
Meanwhile, the protests against clerical rule continued on Tuesday despite the threats by the authorities. University students across the country staged strikes, sit-ins, and demos to vent anger at government’s inhumane policies.
In Tehran, universities of Beheshti, Sharif, Al-Zahra, Amirkabir, Kharazmi, Allameh, Azad North, and Azad East were the scene of anti-government protests mostly calling for the release of the detained students.
In Amol, Esfahan, Yazd, Mashhad and other cities the students also held sit-ins and chanted slogans against the Islamic Republic.
The students at the Mashhad University of Journalism announced that they will not attend classes until further notice due to the arrest, threat and suspension of students across the country.
Videos received by Iran International show students at Tehran’s Beheshti University chanting, “The university has become a prison, at Sharif, Beheshti, and Tehran...”
Reports say within the past few days, the security office at Malayer University in Hamedan province has threatened to suspend and expel nearly 200 students.
In addition to universities, school students also held protests and chanted slogans on Tuesday.
Social media videos show the female students in Karaj and Shahryar near Tehran poured into streets chanting “All these years of crime, death to this leader [Khamenei].”
Another video shows schoolgirls in Sanandaj march shouting “Women, Life, Freedom.”
Reports coming from Sistan and Baluchestan province in the southeast say on Tuesday hundreds of citizens prevented the extraction of gold from the Taftan mine.
Taftan is one of the largest gold mines in Iran, but the people declared “this mine belongs to the Baluch nation, and they will never allow the wealth of Baluchistan to be extracted and spent by outsiders.”
The total amount of gold that can be extracted from the mines in the province is estimated to be 38 tons, but only 12 to 13 percent of the native people have been able to work in these mines. Some clan chiefs said Tuesday that “We will be buried here, but we won’t let you loot the mines.”
At the same time, Molavi Abolhamid, the Sunni Imam of Zahedan, addressed the government in a tweet saying “For 43 years, with the support of the good people of Iran, the government has worked; now when the people are weary of the actions of officials, should we resort to repression, force and violence? Have you thought that you will have to live with these people in the future?”
In the meantime, the Youths of Tehran and Tabriz Neighborhoods called on people to hold anti-government demonstrations on Wednesday November 2 in all cities.
“The child-killing and brutal regime should not assume they can continue the crime and killing forever! Let Khamenei and his followers know they must pay for all the blood they have shed,” their statement released on social media said.
In a letter released on Monday, Tehran accused Washington of “politicizing” human rights issues, as Tehran has been cracking down on antigovernment protests, ignited by the death in custody of a 22-year-old woman.
Calling on UN member states to skip an informal meeting the US plans to hold among Security Council members, the Islamic Republic’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations Amir Saeed Iravani said, “The US has no true and genuine concern about the human rights situation in Iran or elsewhere.”
He called the ongoing protests an internal issue, warning that it would be “counterproductive to the promotion of human rights” if the UN Security Council discussed it. “The United States lacks the political, moral, and legal qualifications to hold such a meeting, distorting the very basic principles of human rights,” Iravani added.
The United States and Albania plan to hold an informal Security Council meeting on Iran on Wednesday, aimed at highlighting “the ongoing repression of women and girls and members of religious and ethnic minority groups,” and would “identify opportunities to promote credible, independent investigations into the Iranian government's human rights violations and abuses.”
The informal UN Security Council gathering was called by the US and Albania, which currently sits on the council. Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi, actress Nazanin Boniadi, and Javaid Rehman, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran, are due to address the gathering, which will be open to state representatives and human rights organizations.
The format of the meeting is called the “Arria formula”, after its originator, Diego Arria, a Venezuelan ambassador who in 1992 initiated the first informal meeting of the Council to discuss the crisis in former Yugoslavia. The meetings take place in a non-rigid setup where member states can hear comments by individuals and non-state actors.
Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Monday dismissed the significance of the meeting and claimed that the aim of the meeting is to put “political pressure on the Islamic Republic,” and is the continuation of a clear policy of interference by the American government in Iran’s internal developments.”
Expulsion of Iran from UN Women Commission
Following weeks-long efforts by several countries as well as numerous calls by activists for the immediate expulsion of the Islamic Republic from the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), the Canadian Parliament unanimously adopted a motion on Monday that calls for Iran’s removal.
Introduced by Conservative Party Deputy Leader Melissa Lantsman, the motion was adopted following a similar call made by New Zealand’s prime minister, and Canada’s deputy prime minister and foreign minister.
“Given the brutal death of Masha Amini at the hands of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the subsequent crackdown in Iran on women’s rights, civil liberties, and fundamental freedom, and the long history of grave human rights abuses and violence against women perpetuated by the Iranian state, that this House declares its support for the removal of Iran from the UN Commission on the Status of Women,” read the motion.
A second motion put forward by Bloc Quebecois member of parliament Andreanne Larouche called on fellow MPs to declare support for Iranians protesting for their rights, and that the House of Commons “condemns the intimidation and bullying and violence against the protesters, who are supporting the movement to free women in Iran.”
In an open letter published in The New York Times on Sunday, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland and Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly joined other female world leaders in business, politics, and the arts from over 14 countries urging the UN to oust the Islamic Republic from the CSW.
The UN commission on the status of women is a global intergovernmental body “exclusively dedicated to the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women” through “promoting women’s rights, documenting the reality of women’s lives around the world, and shaping global standards on gender equality and the empowerment of women,” its website says.