More than 19,600 people have been arrested during a recent wave of anti-government protests in Iran, according to human rights activists in Iran, a group that is monitoring the crackdown.
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More than 19,600 people have been arrested during a recent wave of anti-government protests in Iran, according to human rights activists in Iran, a group that is monitoring the crackdown.
AP
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Iran’s supreme leader is said to have ordered amnesty or reduced prison sentences for “tens of thousands” of people detained amid protests Nationwide anti-government protests rocked the country, acknowledging the scale of the crackdown for the first time.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s decree, part of an annual amnesty plan that the supreme leader implemented ahead of the anniversary of Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, comes as authorities have yet to say they have detained them. keep how many people in the protests. State media also published a list of warnings about the order that would remove people with ties to foreign countries or face espionage charges – charges that have drawn widespread international criticism.
Khamenei “agreed to offer amnesty and reduced sentences for tens of thousands of defendants and convicted in recent cases,” state news agency IRNA said in a Farsi report. A later IRNA report by its English service said pardons and pardons were granted to “tens of thousands of convicts, including those arrested in recent riots.” in Iran.” Authorities did not immediately acknowledge discrepancies in the reports.
Reports of the decree offer no explanation for the decision of Khamenei, who has the final say on all state matters in Iran. However, prisons and detention facilities have faced overcrowding in the country after years of protests over economic and other issues.
Activists immediately rejected Khamenei’s decree.
Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam of the Oslo-based Iran Human Rights group writes: “Khamenei’s hypocritical pardon changes nothing. “Not only must all protesters be released unconditionally, but also have the right to publicize that those who ordered the bloody crackdown and their agents are held accountable.”
Authorities also did not name any of those who were pardoned or received shorter sentences. Instead, state television continued to call the protests a “foreign-backed riot”, rather than domestic anger over the death of Masha Amini, an Iranian woman of Iranian descent. The Kurds were detained by the country’s ethics police in September. Anger was also widespread over the fall of the Iranian rial against the US dollar, as well as Tehran’s arming Russia with drones carrying drones. bombs in the war with Ukraine.
More than 19,600 people have been arrested during the protests, according to human rights activists in Iran, a group that is monitoring the crackdown. The group said at least 527 people were killed as authorities violently cracked down on the protests. Iran has not released a death toll for months. It executed at least four people detained during the protests following internationally criticized trials.
All of this comes as Iran’s nuclear deal collapses and Tehran has enough highly enriched uranium to be capable of building “a few” atomic bombs if it chooses, the nuclear envoy said. top UN official said. A shadow war between Iran and Israel has arisen from the chaos, with Tehran blaming Israel for the drone attack on a military workshop in Isfahan last week.
Meanwhile, a longtime imprisoned opposition leader in Iran is calling for a nationwide referendum on whether to write a new constitution for the Islamic Republic.
Mir Hossein Mousavi’s call, posted late Saturday by the opposition website Kaleme, in which he said he did not believe Iran’s current system gives a supreme leader the final say more effective. He also called for the creation of a constitutional council of “real representatives” to draft a new constitution.
It is unlikely that Iran’s theocracy will heed the 80-year-old politician’s call. He and his wife were placed under house arrest for years after his controversial 2009 presidential election defeat led to widespread Green Movement protests that security forces also quelled. turn off. However, he himself has supported and served in Iran’s theocracy for decades.
In 2019, Mousavi compared Khamenei to former Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, whose military-ruled army shot down protesters during an event that led to the Islamic Revolution.
Separately, former reformist President Mohammad Khatami called for “free and competitive elections” after the release of imprisoned political prisoners and house arrest.
“Reformism has at least faced… a dead end, so people have every right to be disappointed in it as well as disappointed in the ruling system,” Khatami said in a statement that went viral online.
Currently, hardliners control all levers of power in the country. Reformers like Khatami and Mousavi had previously sought to change and open up the Islamic Republic of Iran while maintaining their own system. But more and more protesters are demanding an end to theocracy in the country.
