Iran: Protests Continue In Night Rallies, Student Gatherings – OpEd

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Tuesday marked the 40th day of Iran’s nationwide relentless uprising as people from all walks of life and throughout the country continue to voice their demand for regime change.

Protests in Iran have to this day expanded to at least 198 cities. Over 400 people have been killed and more than 20,000 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 260 killed protesters have been published by the PMOI/MEK.

As in previous days, students held intense protest rallies in at least 30 universities across Iran. Government spokesperson Ali Bahadori Jahromi visited Qom University on Tuesday in his continued propaganda efforts to quiet the protests. He was met with protests by the students, who chanted anti-regime slogans and prevented his speech. “College students rather die than live in infamy!” the students chanted along with other slogans against the Basij and the regime’s state broadcaster.

In Tehran, protests took place in several universities, including Allameh Tabataba’i University, University of Science and Technology, Beheshti University, University of Tehran, Soore University, Azad University, and Tarbiat Modares University. The students marked their protests with anti-regime slogans such as “Freedom! Freedom! Freedom!” “Death to the dictator!” and “All these years of crimes! Death to the mullahs’ regime!” Students Tarbiat Modares University recalled the recent massacre at Evin Prison by chanting, “Tehran has become a prison! Evin Prison has become a slaughterhouse!”

Other cities where student protests took place were Isfahan, Sabzevar, Ardabil, Shahr-e-Rey, Yazd, Ahvaz, and Babol.

Protests were also reported in Tehran’s Teatr-e Shahr Metro Station, where protesters chanted slogans against the regime.

On Monday, college students in numerous cities continued their anti-regime protests. These protests are escalating as students are standing their ground against the regime’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) paramilitary Basij and establishing their hegemony to have more freedoms on campus. As seen in the past several weeks, protesters begin to take to the streets at nightfall where many are seen to start fires and establish control over parts of their cities and towns.

College students in several cities held protest rallies on Monday, including Tehran, Hamedan, Shahrekord, Mashhad. In Hamedan, the students of Hamedan University of Technology went on strike and protested the murder of a classmate Negin Abdolmaleki. She was killed as security forces hit her several times in the head with batons. In Tehran, the students of Azad University held a large rally and chanted, “College students rather die than live in shame!”

Student protests continued throughout the day and spread to many more cities and universities, including Dezful, Isfahan, Khorasgan, Falavarjan, Bandar Abbas, Zahedan, and Ahvaz. Students were chanting “Freedom! Freedom! Freedom!” in several universities. The spokesperson of the government visited the University of Khajeh Nasir in Tehran and tried to deliver a speech but was interrupted by students, who constantly shouted anti-regime slogans and called him out for his hypocrisy.

An important development was at the all-girls Sadr High School in Tehran. Security agents attacked schoolgirls as the agents forced schoolgirls to undergo physical inspection and remove their clothes. Some of the schoolgirls were severely beaten and are in critical condition. Their parents and other residents of the area rushed to the school and held protest rallies. Security forces attacked protesters and fired teargas at them.

Nightly protests resumed in several cities across Iran. In Tehran, protests continued around Sadr High School as well as other districts, where protesters chanted, “Death to the dictator!” and other anti-regime slogans specifically targeting regime Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

In Sanandaj, locals blocked roads with fire and resisted security forces. Protests were also reported in Qasr-e Shirin, Urmia, Bandar Abbas, Maragheh, Damghan, Mahabad, and others.

Iranian opposition NCRI President-elect Maryam Rajavi had an online meeting with Physics Nobel laureate, Prof. John Mather, director of the James Webb Telescope Project, who emphasized, “You must have patience and courage; Iran is controlled by a dictator, so the only way is continuing to resist.”

“We need freedom from criminals. There is no reason a terrorist organization should control the entire government of a country. Why should they be able to tell anyone what to do about everything? They are criminals,” Prof. Mather added. “I strongly support the release of political prisoners. They should not torture people. It is inhuman, insane, evil, and contrary to all ideals of mankind. No one should do that. So, my strongest support for all those arrested for supporting the Iran revolution,” he continued.

The NCRI President-elect praised Prof. Mather for his determined support for the Iranian people and the Iranian Resistance. “I told Prof. Mather, it is commendable that you, as a researcher and scientist, have chosen to defend a resistance movement and its values, such as sacrifice and freedom. I hope that your example serves as a model not only for scientists and the elite but also for politicians,” she emphasized.

Freedom-loving Iranians and PMOI/MEK supporters continued their rallies in Berlin and London on Monday in support and solidarity with their compatriots throughout Iran while also condemning the mullahs’ regime for their brutal crackdown and human rights violations. These Iranians in exile are calling on the international community to adopt a strong policy vis-à-vis Iran and stand by the Iranian people by ending their long-failed appeasement approach.

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 The People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI), also known as Mujahedin-e-Khalgh (MEK). This article was published by PMOI/MEK

Mahmoud Hakamian

Mahmoud Hakamian writes for The People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI), also known as Mujahedin-e-Khalgh (MEK)

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