Sunni Cleric Says Regime Implicated In Chemical Attacks On Schoolgirls
Amid nationwide state-sponsored anti-Israel rallies, people of Zahedan held another round of antiregime protests following their Friday prayers.
Amid nationwide state-sponsored anti-Israel rallies, people of Zahedan held another round of antiregime protests following their Friday prayers.
The city’s prominent Sunni cleric, Mowlavi Abdolhamid, delivered another fiery sermon criticizing the regime for its heavy-handed crackdown on protesters, particularly women who have revolted against the Islamic Republic’s compulsory hijab rules.
Referring to the renewed wave of chemical attacks against schoolgirls across the country, he slammed the authorities who want to use traffic cameras to identify women who remove their headscarves in public but would not use the cameras to arrest the perpetrators of poisonous gas attacks on girls’ schools.
When the perpetrators of these attacks are not identified in a country which uses numerous surveillance devices, it means that these incidents have "roots in the system". This is why people do not believe the authorities and think that the regime is implicated in the attacks, he said.
During the past weeks, Abdolhamid had said several times that the chemical attacks are the regime’s revenge against the teenage girls who protested against the Islamic Republic, especially following the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in September 2022.
More than 300 schools have been targeted since November 2022, without any apparent effort by the government to seriously pursue the perpetrators or explain to terrified parents and students what was happening in so many schools.
Earlier in the week, Moineddin Saeedi, a member of the Iranian Parliament from Chabahar in Sistan and Baluchistan Province, also said, "If these cameras can detect crimes to such an extent, why are we currently facing the poisoning of girls?"
The activist account 1500 Tasvir, which runs popular Instagram and Twitter accounts, started uploading the documents on Wednesday.
The account also published a large batch of harrowing photos and videos of people shot or killed by the regime late in March, saying that such documentation must remain forever in the country’s history.
The cause of death for hundreds of people who died during the protests of "Women, Life, Liberty” movement is stated as "unknown", and the death certificates of dozens of others attested the use of "live fire and bullets" as the cause of death.
Other causes of death mentioned in the certificates are ruptures of veins or blood vessels, crushing of the skull, hemorrhagic shock (loss of a large volume of blood), and severe tissue damage, all of which point to injuries caused by the security forces’ bullets and batons.
In several cases, the words live fire or bullet are intentionally avoided and replaced by alternative terms such as "accelerated metal projectile" or “metal object."
There are several cases in which the cause of death is declared as “unknown” despite testimonies by eyewitnesses who were present at the scene and directly testified otherwise. These include the cases of Mehrshad Shahidinejad and Sina Malayeri, two protesters who were beaten to death by batons during rallies in the city of Arak according to eyewitnesses.
In one of the certificates published by 1500tasvir, the cause of the death of Behnam Layeghpour was declared as “violence by other protesters” despite his family's account of the incident. Layeghpour was reportedly shot two times in his throat and chest from close range in October as his fiancée was watching. A security agent stood over him and prevented people from helping him at gunpoint.
Human rights sources have reported the death of over 500 protesters, including about 70 children, during nationwide protests sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in the custody of hijab police in September 2022.
There are no official reports about the number of casualties but several rights groups, such as the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), have put the death toll at way more than 500.
In addition to the people who were killed during the regime’s crackdown on street protests, the Islamic Republic has also stepped up its executions in the past several months.
Iran Human Rights organization and the ECPM (Ensemble contre la peine de mort or Together Against the Death Penalty) released on Thursday their latest annual report on the death penalty in Iran, revealing that 2022 had the highest annual number of executions since 2015. At least 582 people were executed, an increase of 75 percent compared to 2021.
The report said that in 2022, the Islamic Republic’s authorities “demonstrated how crucial the death penalty is to instil societal fear in order to hold onto power,” adding that 88 percent of all executions (511), were not announced by the regime.
According to the report, at least 15 people, among them two protesters, were executed for security-related charges. It also claimed that hundreds of protesters were facing show trials at the Revolutionary Courts, many with charges punishable by death.
The student groups said gatherings, sit-ins, and theatrical performances will be held on Saturday as a response to the new forcible measures by the government.
"After the end of Nowruz holidays and the reopening of universities, the Islamic Republic has started to implement the so-called 'verbal reminder’ of hijab observance, inside the university campuses,” read their statement.
In fact, the clerical regime and its hardliner supporters issue threats to women and new restrictive measures almost daily to try to force then to wear hijab.
As part of humiliation tactics, hijab enforcers have been placed at universities across the country to prevent students who do not observe the compulsory dress code from entering campuses. Clashes between students and the hijab enforcers were also reported in the past several days.
“The brutal behavior and the presence of repressive forces at universities, the gender segregation of entrance gates for male and female students, the absolute disregard of the students’ rights, and finally the heavy presence of repressive forces in and around universities to deprive us from one of our most basic rights (the right to choose clothing) will not be tolerated any longer," added the statement.
The call for protest was issued by over a dozen groups and organizations formed by students from several cities, including those in Esfahan (Isfahan) University, Esfahan University of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares Beheshti, Al-Zahra and Sanandaj universities, as well as the University of Tehran.
Iran's universities were one of the main centers of protests during the nationwide uprising following the death of Mahsa Amini in custody of hijab police in September 2022. In order to suppress the protests, the security force repeatedly attacked the universities and arrested hundreds of students. A large number of students have also been banned, expelled and suspended by university administrators.
According to Iran’s Student Union Council on Tuesday, more than 430 students have been suspended or expelled following the recent protests across the country “through an illegal process.”
The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) says that 637 students from 144 universities have been arrested since mid-September. There are other sources which have put the number at well over 700.
Earlier in the month, the ministry of higher education announced that universities will no longer offer educational, welfare and other services to the students who disregard the hijab.
Earlier in the week, the student organizations of the University of Arts called the new measures "cheap, insulting and intolerable.” Many female students have received warning text messages, as the country announced new surveillance measures to catch hijab rebels this week.
The students are angry about the regime’s crackdown but have repeatedly announced that they would not back down from their newly achieved freedom.
Political scientist Jahanbakhsh Mohebbinia told Rouydad24 website that "Iran is moving in a direction that it would be a surprise if there are no killings in a week or in a month, and this is a dangerous situation for the country."
Speaking about the reasons why the 2022 protests in Iran led to violence, Mohebbinia said Iranian society has been always living with violence in recent decades. For nearly half of a century no one in the government has paid any attention to what the people want and not only those in the government, but everyone else including judges, university lecturers, taxi drivers and so on have always wanted to exercise their authority on the people. This creates an accrued hatred that can lead to an explosion.
The protests showed that the Iranian nation is now reacting to the existing authoritarianism, Mohebbinia argued. The people think the government is playing games with them. The government on the other hand, ignores the world's realities and if we continue this route we are going to end up in a quagmire and collapse. And particularly when the economy collapses, you cannot do anything to save the country.
Mohebbinia added that when the government suppresses the protests, the wounds and hatred will be accrued, and the society will never see peace again. "I know that some people were even pushing the country toward a civil war." He advised that the government should hesitate when it thinks of another round of suppression because there is a potential for a civil war.
Many have been warning during recent weeks that the government's insistence on enforcing the compulsory hijab will inevitably bring two parts of the society at a dangerous logger head. He further charged that former US National Security Adviser John Bolton came up with the idea of a civil war in Iran when the government failed to handle the protests wisely. However, the accusation could be the academic's tactic to avoid a reaction by the government. As long as a pundit says something negative about the United States, he can secure a measure of protection for criticizing the government.
Mohebbinia said that the government should not approach the protests in Kurdistan or Khuzestan violently while even the capital Tehran has the potential for starting a civil war, similar to what happened in Yemen and Syria. He warned: "When you fan the fire of insecurity, economic crisis and cultural differences, the country could be divided into ten countries."
Meanwhile, reformist commentator Abbas Abdi warned that the regime’s zeal to enforce the hijab cannot succeed. "It is undoubtedly impossible to impose religious values by using force or introducing new laws."
Abdi said it is hard for the religious government in Iran to accept that that the people have turned away from religion during recent decades. Abdi probably did not want to mention that it was the mismanagement and inefficiency of the Islamic Republic as a religious government that has annoyed Iranians.
Abdi said that in the absence of real opinion surveys, the government does not admit that religion has lost its power. However, he said that observations show that fewer people in Iran go to mosques or fast during Ramadan or pay their religious 20 percent tax (Khoms). He added that fewer Iranians nowadays give religious names to their children compared even to 10 years ago.