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Iran
Protesters set fires and blocked the road in Sanandaj, Iran on February 16, 2023. Photo: screengrab/Hengaw
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Protests broke out across Iran on Thursday night calling for the overthrow of the regime five months after the killing of a Kurdish woman Jina (Mahsa) Amini by the Tehran morality police sparked the most serious challenge to the 44-year rule of the Ayatollahs.
The intensity of the protest movement had declined recently, partly due to wintry weather conditions as well as the bloody crackdown by security forces spearheaded by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its militia Basij. The protest on Thursday night coincided with the 40th day after the execution of two protesters, Mohammad Mehdi Karami and Mohammad Hosseini, in Tehran.
In northeastern city of Mashhad - the birthplace of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, the ultimate decision maker in the country - protesters defied the IRGC and other security forces to chant “death to Khamenei” and curse the founder of the Islamic Republic Ruhollah Khomeini.
Protests were also reported in Kurdish areas, Tehran, Mashhad, Tabriz, Izeh, Arak, Gonbad-e Kavus, Isfahan and dozens of other towns and cities.
During the five months of anti-government protests across the country, the authorities have killed at least 529 protesters, including 71 children. Thousands of protesters have been detained, many of whom were subjected to inhumane treatment and torture.
Khamenei issued an amnesty on the 44th anniversary of the founding of the Islamic Republic last week and as a result dozens of protesters and activists whom he had described as “thugs,” “saboteurs” and “mercenaries” of foreign states have been released. But as some protesters were freed, many more were summoned and taken to prison.
Reza Khandan, the husband of prominent human rights lawyer and defender Nasrin Sotoudeh, was summoned to prison earlier this week. Other prominent political prisoners such as Zeinab Jalalian were not included in the amnesty. Jalalian is a Kurdish woman who was convicted in a grossly unfair trial in 2008 and has been kept in prison on national security charges.
Protesters are expected to take to the street today after the Friday prayer in the city of Zahedan in the Baluchistan region of southeast Iran as they have done since the beginning of the protest. In this city on Friday, September 30, at least 100 protesters were killed by the IRGC and its Basij militia and hundreds more were arrested in what is known as “Black Friday.”
The intensity of the protest movement had declined recently, partly due to wintry weather conditions as well as the bloody crackdown by security forces spearheaded by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its militia Basij. The protest on Thursday night coincided with the 40th day after the execution of two protesters, Mohammad Mehdi Karami and Mohammad Hosseini, in Tehran.
In northeastern city of Mashhad - the birthplace of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, the ultimate decision maker in the country - protesters defied the IRGC and other security forces to chant “death to Khamenei” and curse the founder of the Islamic Republic Ruhollah Khomeini.
Protests were also reported in Kurdish areas, Tehran, Mashhad, Tabriz, Izeh, Arak, Gonbad-e Kavus, Isfahan and dozens of other towns and cities.
For anyone who is saying the revolution in Iran is over. Protesters are once again taking to the streets.
— Nazanin Boniadi (@NazaninBoniadi) February 16, 2023
The brave people of Iran will not stop until they replace this bloodthirsty regime with a secular democracy. #WomanLifeFreedom#MahsaAmini https://t.co/c6I751qsx5
During the five months of anti-government protests across the country, the authorities have killed at least 529 protesters, including 71 children. Thousands of protesters have been detained, many of whom were subjected to inhumane treatment and torture.
Khamenei issued an amnesty on the 44th anniversary of the founding of the Islamic Republic last week and as a result dozens of protesters and activists whom he had described as “thugs,” “saboteurs” and “mercenaries” of foreign states have been released. But as some protesters were freed, many more were summoned and taken to prison.
Reza Khandan, the husband of prominent human rights lawyer and defender Nasrin Sotoudeh, was summoned to prison earlier this week. Other prominent political prisoners such as Zeinab Jalalian were not included in the amnesty. Jalalian is a Kurdish woman who was convicted in a grossly unfair trial in 2008 and has been kept in prison on national security charges.
This is why the #MahsaAmini protest will persist and gradually continue to shake the very foundation of the Islamic Republic: Yasaman Ariani and her mother Monireh Arabshahi shouted “Woman, Life, freedom” after their release from prison pic.twitter.com/psO8UNjI4t
— CSHR (@CSHRIran) February 16, 2023
Protesters are expected to take to the street today after the Friday prayer in the city of Zahedan in the Baluchistan region of southeast Iran as they have done since the beginning of the protest. In this city on Friday, September 30, at least 100 protesters were killed by the IRGC and its Basij militia and hundreds more were arrested in what is known as “Black Friday.”
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