Iran’s Protests At A Glance – OpEd

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Early Friday morning, the Iranian judiciary hanged three protesters in Dastgerd prison in Isfahan, despite a national and international campaign to stop the executions. Saeed Yaghoubi, Saleh Mir-Hashemi and Majid Kazemi, who were arrested during the recent uprising, were charged with “moharebeh” [war against God].  

Since April 21, the regime has executed at least 116 prisoners. According to Amnesty International, at least 576 people were sent to the gallows in 2022, an 83 percent increase from 2021.  

In Isfahan, people gathered outside the house of Saeed Yaghoubi. The people at the scene began chanting anti-regime slogans, including “Down with Khamenei! 

According to local sources, the authorities are very concerned that small gatherings could trigger larger protests and spread to other parts of the country. 

In Isfahan, courageous youths attacked the municipal office of the city’s District 11 in reaction to this morning’s executions. 

After the execution of three protesters in Isfahan, residents of Ekbatan, Tehranpars, Apadana, Shahr-e Zeeba, Negin-e Gharb, Chitgar, Sattarkhan and Tehransar districts of the capital chanted anti-regime slogans. Their slogans included. 

“Down with Khamenei, the assassin!” 

“Khamenei, assassin! We will bury you!” 

Residents of the capital’s Sattarkhan and Tehranpars neighborhoods launched an anti-regime rally Friday afternoon, chanting “Down with Khamenei, the murderer” and “Down with the state of execution.” 

Reports from Sanandaj, the provincial capital of Kurdistan in western Iran, indicate that authorities have transferred another detainee from Sanandaj Central Prison to solitary confinement for execution, according to the Hengaw human rights organization. At least four inmates were executed this week in this prison alone. 

Other reports indicate that four death row inmates from Qezel Hesar prison in Karaj, a large city west of Tehran, were transferred to solitary confinement today in preparation for their execution. Their families are gathering outside the prison, demanding a halt to the execution of their loved ones. 

The courageous residents of Zahedan, the provincial capital of Sistan & Baluchestan in southeastern Iran, took to the streets after Friday prayers, launching a new round of rallies against the regime and expressing their protests the executions that took place today in Esfahan. 

The demonstrators also held up a sign that read “Monarchism – mullahs’ regime! 100 years of crimes,” rejecting any return to the monarchical dictatorship overthrown by the Iranian people in the 1979 revolution. 

In response to the mullahs’ brutal wave of executions, courageous young people across Iran have launched a new campaign of anti-regime attacks and actions in the capital, Tehran, and eight other cities. These attacks and actions include. 

– Attacking a branch of the regime’s so-called judiciary in Mashhad. 

– Attacks on the paramilitary bases of the IRGC Basij in the cities of Tehran, Arak, Kermanshah, and Urmia 

– An attack on the so-called “Khomeini Relief Committee” in Urmia. 

– An attack on a branch of the regime’s Bonyads (economic foundations) in Bandar Anzali, which are involved in looting the local population. 

– An attack on a so-called “Islamic cultural center” in Esfahan, which the regime uses to promote the mullahs’ ideology of hatred, misogyny, and fundamentalism.

Hamid Enayat

Hamid Enayat is an Iranian human rights activist and analyst based in Europe.

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