Iran’s Cities Rise Up In Continued Protests – OpEd

Cities across Iran witnessed continuous protests as people took to the streets in large numbers on Sunday with rallies that continued into the night.

The Iranian people have been honoring the memory of 176 innocent people onboard Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752 that was shot down by Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) three years ago. Brave protesters have also been condemning the mullahs’ regime for the execution of Mohammad Hossein Karami and Seyed Mohammad Moradi on Saturday for taking part in the recent protests.

The Iranian people both inside the country and abroad hold regime Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and the IRGC fully accountable for this deliberate and premeditated atrocity.

Protests in Iran have to this day expanded to at least 282 cities. Over 750 people have been killed and more than 30,000 are arrested by the regime’s forces, according to sources of the Iranian opposition People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK). The names of 627 killed protesters have been published by the PMOI/MEK.

According to reports circulating on social media, regime authorities transferred Mohammad Ghobadlou and Mohammad Broghani to solitary confinement in Gohardasht (Rajaie-Shahr) Prison of Karaj on Sunday night local time in preparation for their execution early Monday morning. Ghobadlou and Broghani were sentenced to death after being tortured into coerced confessions and without due process even according to the regime’s own laws.

Parents and other people gathered outside Gohardasht Prison in Karaj, a major city located west of the Iranian capital Tehran, to protest and prevent the mullahs’ regime from executing the two young men. The protesters began chanting anti-regime slogans in their rally, including: “I will kill those who killed my brother!” and “This is the last message: another execution and there will be more uprisings!”

On Monday, people in the town of Eshtehard in Alborz Province, west of the capital Tehran, gathered to honor the memory of Mohammad Mehdi Karami and Seyed Mohammad Hosseini, executed on Saturday by the mullahs’ regime for taking part in the recent protests. Authorities have been deploying security units to the area to prevent any such event in fear of the gathering evolving into an anti-regime protest rally.

Locals in the city of Bukan in northwest Iran gathered on Monday to mark the 40th day of Avat Ghaderpour’s murder by regime security forces during the recent protests. The crowd at the site began chanting: “Death to the oppressor! Be it the Shah or [Khamenei]!”

Reports on Sunday indicated merchants and storeowners in the cities of Sanandaj, Saqqez, Bukan, Kermanshah, Kamyaran, and Abdanan were on strike as they marked the third anniversary of the PS752’s downing by IRGC air defense missile units.

In the city of Najafabad in Isfahan Province, central Iran, brave women were seen taking to the streets to launch their anti-regime rallies today and chanting “For each person killed another thousand will rise!” among other slogans. Similar protests were seen in the city of Karaj, west of the capital Tehran.

In the cities of Qom and Darreh Shahr in Ilam Province reports show that protesters have recently been using Molotov cocktails in more attacks targeting regime-associated sites. Bases of the regime’s IRGC paramilitary Basij units and a branch of the Islamic Development Organization have been targeted in these attacks.

In Tehran, students of Soore University held a rally on Sunday and began chanting anti-regime slogans, including: “Basiji and IRGC, you are our ISIS!”

Locals near the capital also gathered to hold a ceremony in memory of the 176 people killed three years ago today when the IRGC launched surface-to-air missiles and shot down Flight PS752. This event was held at the crash site.

Others in the capital’s Sadeghiyeh district gathered in another anti-regime protest rally and were seen chanting: “Death to the dictator!” and “Death to Khamenei!”

In Saqqez, the hometown of Mahsa Amini, people gathered at the local Shahnaz Cemetery to hold a ceremony in memory of the Flight PS752 victims. Two of those victims, Rozgar Rahimi, and her small child are buried in this cemetery. The participants also began chanting: “Death to Khamenei!” and “Death to the dictator!”

In the city of Anzali in northern Iran, locals held a ceremony to mark the 40th day of Mehran Sammak’s murder by regime security forces. He was killed while celebrating after a World Cup match. Authorities had been dispatching security forces to prevent any such gathering. The crowd, insisting upon holding their ceremony, began chanting anti-regime slogans including: “Death to Khamenei!” “Death to the dictator!” “For each person killed another thousand will rise!” and “We’re standing to the end!”

Tehran was also witnessing various protest rallies by people in different districts, including Shariati and Sattarkhan. Similar reports are incoming from the Ferdowsi Metro Station where locals were chanting anti-regime slogans. Locals have also been protesting in the capital’s Enghelab (Revolution) Street and the Gohardasht district of Karaj, a large city located west of Tehran.

Similar protest gatherings were reported in Isfahan, central Iran, and Sanandaj in the western part of the country.

Iranian opposition coalition NCRI President-elect Maryam Rajavi once against that the international community needs to take effective and practical measures against the religious fascism ruling Iran to stop the regime’s killing sprees, and use of torture and executions.

“When the mullahs have an open hand in the execution of the Iranian people’s children, they will consequently step up their threats against the Middle East and the world,” the NCRI President-elect underscored.

The protests in Iran began following the death of Mahsa Amini. Mahsa (Zhina) Amini, a 22-year-old woman from the city of Saqqez in Kurdistan Province, western Iran, who traveled to Tehran with her family, was arrested on Tuesday, September 13, at the entry of Haqqani Highway by the regime’s so-called “Guidance Patrol” and transferred to the “Moral Security” agency.

She was brutally beaten by the morality police and died of her wounds in a Tehran hospital on September 16. The event triggered protests that quickly spread across Iran and rekindled the people’s desire to overthrow the regime.

Mahmoud Hakamian writes for PMOI/MEK, where this article was published.