Some Politicians Slam Iran's Hardliners For Threatening Protesters
An increasing number of Iranian lawmakers and former politicians blame the government, not foreigners for the nationwide uprising that has entered its 8th week.
An increasing number of Iranian lawmakers and former politicians blame the government, not foreigners for the nationwide uprising that has entered its 8th week.
Government officials in the core of the regime and military commanders in Iran keep blaming foreign countries and their alleged agents for instigating unrest in Iran.
Meanwhile, conservative political activists have joined their reformist counterparts in condemning 227 lawmakers who have called for death sentences for detained protesters.
Wahab Azizi, a conservative activist told Iranian Labour News Agency (ILNA) on Friday that “The protests are deep-rooted and have several reasons. You cannot attribute them to the actions of enemies. Protests started in 2009 and have continued in different forms since then.”
He added that the parliament and other parts of the Iranian government have still not realized the nature of the protests. He added: “Protests could be handled and controlled quickly if they have only economic or even political causes, but the protests that have cultural and social reasons should be addressed in a convincing way.”
Condemning his colleagues who called for death sentence for detained protesters, Azizi said: “Such uncalculated remarks have created the current crisis in Iran.”
Meanwhile reformist commentator Abbas Abdi wrote in a tweet: “The lawmakers who have been elected with a minimum number of votes thanks to the Guardian Counci’s vetting were not expected to behave otherwise.” Abdi was referring to wholesale disqualification of hundreds of candidates in the 2020 parliamentary elections that led to the current hardliner majority in the legislature.
Azizi pointed out that labeling the protests as riots will make no difference in its nature as the denial of a reality will not eliminate it. Trying to sort out the problem by issuing orders will only widen the gap between the people and the regime. “If officials blame the protests on enemy infiltrators, they should know that even if that is true, it is because of their own inefficiency,” Azizi said.
In another development, lawmaker Jalil Rahimi Jahanabadi posted a picture of hardliner newspaper editor Hossein Shariatmadari next to a tweet in which he said, “We should look for infiltrators among the hardliners.” He said Shariatmadari’s recent article in which he called on the police and IRGC to use combat ammunition to shoot protesters was tantamount to pouring gasoline on fire.
Jahanabadi, a member of the Iranian Parliament’s committee for national security, further called on intelligence agencies to keep an eye on the remarks made by hardliners who pretend to be super revolutionaries.
Meanwhile, conservative lawmaker and former intelligence officer Mohammad Hassan Asafari criticized a comment by government Spokesman Ali Bahadori. Speaking at a university earlier this week, Bahadori said that security forces could have easily shot the protesters with combat ammunition rather than hitting them with shotguns.
Asafari advised the spokesman that the situation needs to calm down and his uncalculated remarks had the opposite effect.
The commander of the army’s ground forces, Kiumars Haydari had also made some annoying remarks about harsher measures against the protesters and called them “flies”. Reformist commentator Sadeq Zibakalam told the government spokesman in a tweet on Friday: “Haydari is a military man and does not know about civil society, the law and people’s rights so he calls them flies. But you as someone who has studied law were not expected to threaten the people.”
Ceremonies for the 40th day since the death of several protesters were held on Friday in cities across the country, with people chanting slogans against the Islamic Republic and security forces opening fire at them.
Having become the new normal in the city of Marivan, in West Azarbaijan province, night-time protests continued in the city with people setting trash cans on fire.
In addition to continuing fierce protests since earlier this week in the Kurdish-majority cities of Sanandaj and cities in the southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchestan, the provincial capital of Lorestan province, Khorramabad, was also the scene of intense clashes as people held a gathering for the 40th day after the death of Sam (Sepehr) Beyranvand.
People in the cities of Mirjaveh and Rask, in Sistan and Baluchestan province near the border with Pakistan, were out chanting antigovernment slogans, describing the current protests as a “revolution.”
Security forces have again cracked down on protesters who took to the streets and chanted against the Supreme Leader and the IRGC in the province. Videos posted on social media show thousands marching in the streets of Zahedan and other predominantly Sunni Baluch population centers of Khash, Iranshahr (Pahreh or Bahreh), Rask, the border town of Pishin, strategic port city of Chabahar, and Saravan.
The leader of the Baluch people Molavi Abdolhamid also in his Friday sermon harshly criticized Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s rule.
Protesters in Zahedan and other cities took to the streets after Friday prayers chanting “Down with the Dictator,” “Death to Khamenei”, and “I’ll kill those who killed my brother,”. Videos also show people chanting slogans against the IRGC and its militia, the Basij as well as “From Zahedan to Tehran, I will give my life for Iran”.
Protesters also carried posters of Khodanour Lajoie, a young man shot to death on October 1. A photo of Lajoei chained to a lamppost by the police several months ago has turned into a symbol of government’s injustice in impoverished Sistan and Baluchestan.
Popular Sunni religious leader Abdolhamid once again blasted the use of lethal force against protesters and demanded punishment for those responsible for killing Baluch protesters and refuted claims of separatism brought against them by the government. Abdolhamid’s call for a referendum with the presence of international observers to decide the future form of government in Iran has angered hardliners. He recently expressed more liberal views about the role of women in society after being criticized by some Baluch activists for not mentioning women and acknowledging gender equality in his fiery Friday prayer sermons.
Reports about the alleged rape of a 15-year-old Baluch girl in June by a police commander in Chabahar, who has remained immune to prosecution, sparked protests in Zahedan on September 30. At least 100 protesters were reportedly killed in the province since then.
Gathering for the 40th day death anniversary of two protesters killed in Tehran’s ceremony spread to several neighborhoods in different parts of capital Tehran.
In some neighborhoods of Tehran, protesters chanted slogans against the regime for killing children and young adults. “Infanticidal regime, we don’t want,” chanted the protests.
The international support for the protests in Iran is getting stronger as France and UK are calling for punitive measures against the Islamic Republic and more than one million have signed a petition by Amnesty International to urge UN member states to take action.
While critics from within the reform camp took issue with the slow reaction of the group and minimal demands, Iran’s conservatives lashed out at reformists for not criticizing foreign countries for their alleged support of the uprising. Others slammed the Reform Front for being part and parcel of the authoritarian regime in Tehran and its partner in crimes against human rights and dignity of Iranians.
The November 9 statement said that "the protests are the outcome of many years of denial of the people's problems [by the government] and refusal to recognize them, as well as being the product of accrued and unsolved issues, such as humiliation and suppression of the people. It added that many statements by officials, including the joint statement by the Iranian intelligence agencies [threatening protesters] are in fact part of the problem, and not part of a solution for the country's political deadlock."
Former reformist lawmaker Parvaneh Salahshuri quoted a part of the statement that said "The reform front is prepared to hold dialogue and exchange views with the government" on finding a solution for the country's current problems. Possibly referring to the isolation imposed on the reformists by the core of the regime and their lack of popularity among the people, Salahshuri asked: "Is the reform front aware of its status among the people and in the government?"
Iranian voters seem to have turned their back to reformists for their poor performance at the previous parliament and as part of the previous administration.
Political activist and influencer Mohammad Hassan Karimi wrote: "The reformists' statement will have very little if any impact on what is going on in Iran. The reform leaders' ideas are based on surrendering to and glorifying the absolute despotic rule of one individual, the Guardian Council's discretionary supervision of political processes and the military's increasing domination in the country...This could have been good one day, but not now!"
Meanwhile, the Revolutionary Guard’s (IRGC) daily newspaper Javan lashed out at the Reform Front in a commentary and called it repetitive and and an attempt to blame the government for their own problems. Javan also criticized the group "for its silence during the past 50 days and for not distancing itself from the rioters, and for taking advantage of the demands made during the protests by trying to usurp them."
Meanwhile, many social media users criticized the statement and described it as a desperate attempt by reformists to beg a share of political power from hardliners. In its two final paragraphs, the statement, which supported the government's position on the protests and criticized foreign governments' support for protesters, it offered to help the government: "We on our part would like to suggest practical ways out from the crisis and discuss if the government is inclined to listen to them and implement them."
Many twitter users have particularly attacked this part of the statement. Some Twitter users called this part the statement's main shortcoming. One Twitter user wrote that is one step ahead of the individual statements made by some reformist leaders, but at the same time, it is hundreds of steps behind the people's demands. The user also pointed out that it is not clear who the statement is addressing, and what is the reformists' next step if the government refuses to accept their way out of the crisis.