For fear of renewed protests

Iranian authorities escalate arrests, repression and torture of activists

  • Iranian riot police are deployed in the streets.

    From the source

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The Iranian government is escalating the repression of opponents and civil society figures to alarming levels, fearing another wave of anti-it protests against the backdrop of its failure to address the Corona epidemic, and the economic disaster that followed.

In recent weeks, the Iranian regime has threatened its opponents, who are involved in peaceful protests, with the death penalty, escalating mass arrests, disappearances, and intensifying torture inside detention centers, according to human rights monitors.

A few days ago, Amnesty International issued a lengthy report chronicling the fate of thousands of people who were arrested in last year's protests, and who were subjected to electric shocks, waterboarding, and sexual violence in detention or in prisons, after trials that sometimes lasted for less than an hour.

Among them are teenagers who have been subjected to the worst types of abuse, and at least four young men face the death penalty for "being anti-God," and for their alleged role in protests against the government.

One of them is the 27-year-old former wrestling champion, Naveed Afkar Sungari, who was sentenced to death, based on what human rights activists described as trumped-up charges related to the murder of a security official during protests in the central city of Shiraz in 2018. My thoughts say he is He was tortured, to force him to confess.

My thoughts were heard saying in an audio tape, dated August 30, cited by human rights groups: “There is not a single iota of evidence in this damned case that shows that I am guilty, but they do not want to hear us, they are looking for someone to hang him on their noose.”

The aim of the repression, activists and scholars say, is to terrorize Iranian dissidents.

Ali Fathallah Nejad, a researcher specializing in Iran affairs at the University of Tübingen, says: “The main background to this repression is the regime’s concerns about new street protests due to (Covid-19), and the worsening economic, social and economic situation.”

Nationwide protests

Nationwide protests against corruption erupted in the last days of 2017 and continued intermittently throughout the following year.

And again, the Iranians took to the streets last November. They were initially angry at the high price of fuel, but the protesters eventually took an anti-regime tone, before they were shot or arrested.

Sources claim that hundreds were shot dead by security forces in southwestern Iran, which is inhabited by an Arab majority, according to witnesses cited by human rights organizations, and video footage posted on the Internet.

Small groups of Iranians also took to the streets, in January of this year, after the Revolutionary Guards shot down a Ukrainian airliner, which was carrying Iranians and some other nationalities, believing that it was an American missile that had been fired at it.

Weeks later, the coronavirus pandemic struck Iran, which has become the worst epicenter of the epidemic in the Middle East, according to an investigation conducted by the BBC's Persian Language Service, as the number of deaths due to "Covid-19" in the country has reached three times the official figure. Advertised, with nearly 42 thousand deaths and 451 thousand injured.

The lockdown, aimed at slowing the spread of the epidemic, stifled most of the protests, but Iran's failed handling of the crisis, and the economic disaster that followed, strained nerves and sparked renewed popular anger.

As protests have diminished, in recent months, the Iranian Parliamentary Research Center and a group of 50 economists have warned of potentially destabilizing protests.

Leaders across the political spectrum have also sounded the alarm about impending social unrest.

Former reformist President Muhammad Khatami warned that people are "dissatisfied, and there is no hope in sight," while hard-line MP Ahmed Nadery predicted that the deteriorating economy would lead to the largest protests in the country in decades.

Experts say fears are growing that small protests will escalate quickly and lead to a wider insurgency that the Iranian security apparatus will suppress.

"The Iranian authorities see these mass protests as a threat to their authority," says Mansoura Mills, an Amnesty International researcher. "We can see that the Iranian authorities have become more aggressive with protesters and opponents, and at a time when the economic climate has remained the same." "The Iranian people are becoming more brave."

"They live in poverty. They don't have much to lose, so the Iranians are not afraid to go out to protest even in the face of brutal repression and live ammunition," she explains.

The Iranian government has a wide range of security tools at its disposal, ranging from the police that work under the supervision of the Ministry of Interior, to the internal monitoring departments of the Ministry of Intelligence and Security.

Perhaps what the protesters fear most are the Revolutionary Guards' intelligence and counter-espionage teams, as well as the Basij divisions, and other shadowy pro-regime officials, who roam the streets with guaranteed impunity.

According to Amnesty International, which conducted interviews with dozens of detainees and their families over a period of months, prisoners were often subjected to covering their heads, blindfolding them, punching and kicking, whipping and beating with sticks, rubber hoses, knives, batons and wires.

In prison, they are suspended from ceilings, or placed in painful positions, deprived of food, water and medical treatment, and placed in solitary confinement for several months at a time.

Escaping from the Punishment

One of the arrested demonstrators in the eastern city of Mashhad warned that the authorities would punish his family for his participation in the protests.

He told Amnesty International: “I was tortured and injured as a result. I told them that I had done nothing wrong;

I took to the streets in peace to demand our rights and protest against people's poor living conditions. I see my family and friends plunging into poverty. That is why I participated in the protests. ”

Often the aim of the violations is to obtain confessions of collusion with foreign agents, in an attempt to justify national security charges, and portray the protests as international plots against the Islamic Republic and the Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei.

In its 77-page report, Amnesty International called on governments and international forums to put pressure on Iran regarding human rights violations, proposing that the United Nations conduct an investigation to hold the authorities accountable.

"The Iranian political system thinks it can do whatever it wants, and it thinks it will get away with it," Mills says. "Our main call is to hold the Iranian authorities accountable, the perpetrators are government officials."

Additional US sanctions have already impeded most commercial dealings with Iran, and choked energy exports for the oil and gas-rich country.

With Russia and China assuming the role of Tehran's sponsors on the UN Security Council, it remains unclear what measures other countries can impose on Tehran.

Iranian leaders have a deep fear of street protests, a threat that is rooted in the country's modern history. They were supported by the CIA and MI6, the democratic government of Muhammad Mossadegh in 1953. It ended the months-long street protests during The monarchy of Shah Muhammad Reza Pahlavi, in 1979. A wave of mass demonstrations threatened the authorities, following the re-election of former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2009.

Analysts pointed to Iran, as one of the countries most at risk of social unrest, as a result of the impact of the epidemic.

The crisis has already negatively affected at least seven million jobs in the country, where unemployment is high among the youth, and inflation caused by US sanctions, low oil prices, and economic mismanagement have eroded the savings of the middle class.

“There was an early realization, during the Coronavirus pandemic, that this new crisis would lead to protests,” Fathallah Nejad says.

"The main message is that we do not want to see renewed protests in the streets, and this renewed and screaming wave of repression is largely a sign of deterring people from taking to the streets again."

• As the protests have diminished, in recent months, the Iranian Parliamentary Research Center and a group of 50 economists have warned of potential destabilizing protests.

Leaders across the political spectrum have also sounded the alarm about impending social unrest.

Former reformist president Muhammad Khatami warned that people are "dissatisfied, and there is no hope in sight," while hard-line MP Ahmed Nadery predicted that the deteriorating economy would lead to the largest protests in the country in decades.

Iranian leaders have a deep fear of street protests, a threat rooted in the country's modern history, and demonstrations were supported by the CIA and the British Intelligence Service (MI6). The democratic government of Muhammad Mossadegh was overthrown in 1953. It ended the street protests that continued. Months during the reign of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, in 1979. Demonstrations threatened the authorities, following Ahmadinejad's reelection in 2009.

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