Open letter by Mina Ahadi to the world’s political organisations, trade unions and human rights bodies:
The regime in Iran has committed a horrific crime. We must act urgently
For over a week, from 15th November, hundreds of thousands of people in Iran in over 130 cities staged massive protests against the tripling of the petrol prices. The protests reflected the deep anger of the people against the repression, poverty, corruption, high prices and the denial of basic human rights that the regime in Iran has imposed on them in the course of its rule.
Within less than 24 hours after the start of the protests, the regime viciously attacked the protesters. The security forces, the paramilitary Baseej and Pasdars, the security services agents and the regime’s ‘plain clothes’ thugs, all armed, descended on the people, killing hundreds and injuring thousands. They used rubber bullets against the protesters’ faces, blinding some, as well as live rounds, killing hundreds.
These horrific crimes of the Islamic Republic against unarmed citizens must be condemned by the world.
With the start of the protests, the authorities shut down the entire Internet network in the country so as to block the spread of the news of the protests, both nationally and to the outside world. However, with the gradual restoration of the Internet, horrific news of the atrocities are emerging:
There are reports that in the south-western city of Mahshahr tanks and personnel carriers were brought onto the streets, killing 17 people, and on 18th November around 40 young protesters, who had taken refuge in a reed bed after fleeing the security forces, are reported to have been shot dead; the bodies of 9 of those have so far been identified. There are reports of over 60 people killed in the city of Shiraz in central Iran, tens of protesters killed in Shahriar, in the suburbs of the capital Tehran, at least 26 people killed in the city of Kermanshah in the west of Iran, and more than 30 people shot dead in various cities in the Kurdistan province. Many protesters are also known to have been killed in Tehran and the rest of the country.
The Islamic Republic authorities have said they will not publish any figures of the number of those killed. However, given what we know so far, we believe over 300 people have been killed, including teenagers as young as 13 and 14. Several thousand are also believed to have been injured and over 10,000 detained. The scale of the atrocity is such that the Islamic Republic dare not publish any figures.
Both the Islamic Republic leader Khamenei and the president Rouhani publicly gave the green light for the protests to be put down right from the start. The heads of all three powers of the Islamic Republic decided in a co-ordinated action to raise the petrol prices. They knew in advance that the price rises would enrage the people, and so had put all their armed forces on standby to brutally attack the protesters.
The authorities are shamelessly even demanding from the families who have had their loved ones murdered by the security forces to pay a fee of 500,000 Tomans ($120) for the return of their bodies. The families are also being asked to give written assurances that they would not hold any funeral services for their loved ones and would bury them in secret. Rarely has a regime behaved so outrageously and vilely towards the citizens.
The arrests are still continuing around the country. Labour activists, student protesters and women’s rights activists who are already known to the authorities for their past activities are being summoned. Various authorities, such as the head of the Judiciary, have said that those detained should be condemned to the maximum penalty, namely sentenced to death. The regime’s newspapers are campaigning for executions and heavy sentencing. The newspaper Keyhan, for example, which is close to Khamenei, has said gallows should be erected. The various ayatollahs are appearing on the state media to say that according to the Quran and the Prophet’s sayings, the “villains”, i.e. the protesters, should not just be executed but slowly tortured to death.
The scale of the atrocities is too large to be described in this letter. This is not the first, and will not be the last, of the Islamic Republic’s crimes. This regime is only in existence through repression and killing. People’s protests will continue in different forms and we will again witness massive protests around the country. The Islamic Republic, which does not respond to any of the people’s political and economic demands, will carry out further atrocities for its survival.
I call on the people of the world, human rights organisations, trade unions and political parties to disseminate the news of the protests of the people of Iran and the atrocities of the regime. I call on them to show their solidarity with the legitimate struggles of the people of Iran and to put pressure on their governments to give a strong response to these horrific crimes. It is not enough just to condemn the Islamic Republic. This regime should be boycotted politically. The world’s governments should recall their ambassadors, expel the Islamic Republic’s diplomats and shut down its embassies. The people of Iran are closely watching the behaviour of the European states and will not accept the slightest appeasement of this regime. The Islamic Republic should see that these horrific atrocities are being met by a massive global reaction.
Mina Ahadi
Spokesperson,
Worker-communist Party of Iran
2 December 2019
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Email: minaahadi26@gmail.com
Tel: 0049 (0) 1775692413
FB: mina.ahadi.50
Twitter: @MinaAhadi9
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