A major protest is erupting on a weekly basis in Iran in a direct challenge to the brutal regime’s threats. Iranian police often appear at the protest in Zahedan, the capital of the Sistan and Baluchestan province in the south of the country, and reportedly resort to violence to try and shut it down. However, the protest goes ahead regardless, putting “the utter weakness of the regime on display on a weekly basis.”
Dr Ramesh Sepehrrad, Iranian human rights researcher and Vice President at Comcast, the largest TV conglomerate in the US, explained the importance of the Zahedan protest.
She told Express.co.uk: “Every week, there is a very clear announcement that they are going to have a major rally, and that major rally takes place despite regimes preparation to crack down, intimidate, arrest and even fire at people. It puts the utter weakness of the regime on display on a weekly basis.”
As the Iranian uprising continues to rage, a US resolution seeks to codify support for an entirely new system of government in the country, representing a real existential threat to the current regime.
Dr Sepehhrad highlighted the incredible resilience of the protests, and said that where before the Iranian people lived in fear, now the regime is doing the same.
The human rights researcher, whose parents and sister were arrested by Iran’s fundamentalist regime in the 1980s for publishing pro-democracy literature, said: “What’s fascinating about this, what makes this uprising unlike any other uprising, is first of all, the six months of endurance. Then there is the fact that the fear has shifted from the public to the regime.”
Her words were echoed by Yasmin, a young woman who has taken part in the protests and whose name has been changed to protect her anonymity.
Yasmin told Express.co.uk: “There is no way back this time. It’s unstoppable. This time, people are angrier than ever. And it’s like finally, we believe that we can change it, and we don’t stop anymore. We won’t get silenced or shut down anymore and now all are united together.”
The Iranian government’s brutal crackdown on protesters has been condemned by the international community, with UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly yesterday announcing sanctions aimed at human rights violators.
The package, according to the government’s report, sanctions the Headquarters for Enjoining Rights and Forbidding Evil in Iran, and its head official Seyyed Mohammed Saleh Hashemi Golpayegani. The report states they have been “responsible for the enforcement of mandatory dress codes for women with unreasonable force”
Joe Biden’s administration similarly announced fresh action against Iranian leaders yesterday, in the tenth round of financial sanctions from the US since the protests first kicked off.
But the international condemnation needs to be more consistent, Dr Majid Sadeghpour, political director for the Organisation of Iranian-American Communities (OIAC), said.
He told Express.co.uk: “The unfortunate reality is that on the very same day as the regime was taking revenge against kids by gassing them, Iran’s foreign minister was hosted at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and allowed to address that body.”
Speaking at the UNHRC, Iran’s foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian claimed the demonstrations for women’s rights and democracy had “turned violent following malign interference by some terrorist elements”.
Like Dr Sepehrrad, Dr Sadeghpour’s family has been persecuted by Iran, with his brother ultimately executed following the 1979 revolution. Now campaigning against the Islamist government there, he said a new US resolution, currently on its way through Congress, represents a much stronger response to the atrocities committed by the Iranian regime.
House Resolution 100 expresses support for a “democratic, secular, and nonnuclear Republic of Iran”, representing official recognition of the protesters’ desire not just for a change in legislation, but a totally new form of government.
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Dr Sadeghpour told Express.co.uk: “It is establishing support of a secular Democratic Republic. It needs to be adopted. If it is not adopted globally, it will be very difficult for anyone to ask the ayatollahs in Iran to be removed democratically, and without significant costs.
“This resolution breathes life into the pro democracy movement in Iran. And you can see the regime’s response by directly gassing the people – the kids and the girls – who were behind these protests almost immediately after this resolution was introduced.”
Dr Sepehrrad agreed, saying: “International support matters when it comes to encouraging the protesters inside Iran.”
She said that this resolution supports a “look-forward approach,” adding: “Iranian people want this regime gone – but what do they want as an alternative? That’s what this resolution represents.”
In a similar vein, the UK government recently voted to proscribe the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps – one of the primary arms of the country’s armed forces – as a terrorist organisation.
Asked if international resolutions and other coverage of the protests helps, Yasmin responded: “Yes, it can’t stop. They are stopping us from talking about it online here so others need to keep on talking about it. When we see it, it just keeps us going.”
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