by Staff writer, SF
The Iranian Regime responded to the widespread protests across Iran with violence, slaughtering at least 50 in the streets and arresting 8,000, some of whom have died under torture in prison.
The security forces suppressed the anti-regime protests, which began in response to the December budget that slashed subsidies for the poor and raised funding for terrorism, with tear gas, batons and bullets.
But now, there are protests in response to the crackdown, with thousands of family members of the imprisoned and the murdered holding vigils outside Iranian jails. The unrest in Iran is far from over.
This is not the first time that the Iranian Regime has violently put down a peaceful protest, despite the right to protest is enshrined in the Iranian constitution.
In 2009, hundreds of Green Movement protesters were arrested following demonstrations against a rigged election and many of those people were tortured and raped in prison.
There is no reason to think that Iran would treat these current detainees any differently, especially since Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has dubbed the protesters as enemies of Iran.
Indeed, at least five protesters have already died under torture in prison, including Saro Ghahremani and Ali Poladi.
The Regime is, of course, denying responsibility. They claim that the riots were caused by foreign interference, that the bullets removed from the bodies of protesters aren’t the same type as those used by the Regime, and that the prison deaths were suicides.
These statements have outraged Iranians, especially the relatives and friends of the dead, some who report seeing evidence of torture on the bodies of the ‘suicide’ victims.
It is no wonder that the Iranian people wish to see an end to the Regime, rightly pointing out in their chants that there is no moderate versus hardliner divide in the Regime. All Regime members are cut from the same evil cloth.
While regime’s hypocrite President Hassan Rouhani tried to paint himself as a moderate, his actions betray him as a man content to oversee nearly 4,000 executions since 2013 and willing to allow the mass arrest of peaceful protesters.
Despite his election promises of civil rights, human rights, and freeing the 2009 Movement prisoners.
Luckily, with the force of the Iranian people, the Regime will soon no longer be in power at all. The protesters have been chanting “Overthrow the clerics’ regime” and “Death to Rouhani” which suggests that change is just around the corner.
