– These days the security service calls protesters to threaten them. In addition, the number of arrests has increased. That’s what student activist “Sohrab” tells news from the capital Tehran. He has been anonymised for his own safety. Sohrab was himself imprisoned during the uprising in Iran almost a year ago. Now he fears that the regime will execute more people to prevent people from taking to the streets again. Expelled from the university Recently, academia has been under increased pressure from the Iranian authorities. One of those who have felt the consequences is student activist “Amir” from the city of Mashhad. He was imprisoned and expelled from the university after protesting the regime. news anonymises him for his safety. – I value freedom, justice and equality. I am willing to pay the price for my values. No punishment will change that, he says firmly. The regime will see far less of this: Students at Al-Zahra University in Tehran break the dress code for women. The picture was taken in April. Photo: Instagram (@1500tasvir) According to leaked documents from the hacker group Giyam ta Sarnegouni, 643 students have been banned from the university only from December to February. The hacker group is linked to the controversial exile group Mujahedin-e-Khalq. In the same period, 281 students are said to have been temporarily suspended. A further 2,843 students are said to have been summoned by the disciplinary committee in the country and risk punishment. news has seen the documents, but cannot verify them. news can still see that Amir’s name is on the lists. Another leaked document claims that the authorities will employ 15,000 people loyal to the regime at the universities. Professor Ali Sharifi-Zarchi lost his job shortly after he made statements critical of the regime. Photo: Twitter (@SharifiZarchi) Professor Ali Sharifi-Zarchi of the prestigious Sharif University described that plan as a disaster. The following week he lost his job. And he is not alone in that. According to the media house Iran International, at least ten professors were dismissed or suspended in the course of a couple of days in August, allegedly for speaking critically of the authorities. Taking to the streets across the country on September 16, 2022, Iran was thrown into a revolutionary upheaval after Jina Amini, better known as Mahsa Amini, died in the custody of the morality police. She was arrested because the police thought she wore her hijab too loosely. Authorities say she died of a heart attack, but witnesses say she was beaten. Amini’s father has also said that he saw blood and bruises on his daughter’s body while she was in a coma. Mahsa Amini in a coma at Kasra Hospital in Tehran before she died. A spark was ignited in the population. On the same day, several people gathered outside the hospital in Tehran in protest. Demonstrations spread to all the country’s provinces under the main slogan “Woman, life, freedom”. Then the protesters targeted the regime with slogans such as “Death to the Islamic Republic” and “Until the mullah becomes a corpse, this country will not become a homeland”. It was the biggest protest since the 1979 revolution transformed the country from a Western-allied monarchy into an anti-Western theocracy. Large demonstrations broke out against the regime in Iran after Amini’s death in September 2022. But the regime fought back. In the months that followed, more than 600 were killed and 22,000 arrested, estimates the research institute FDD. Arresting families of those killed After the crackdown, the unrest subsided. But as the anniversary of the uprising approaches, many survivors have been arrested and imprisoned. According to Iran Human Rights (IHR), this applies, among other things, to Farzaneh Barzehkar, the mother of Erfan Rezaei, who was killed in the uprising last year. This is one of the pictures Farzaneh Barzehkar, the mother of Erfan Rezaei, has published to remember her murdered son. Photo: Instagram (@Erfan_Rezaei_Navaei) Several media also report that Mashallah Karami, Nasrin Alizadeh and Mahsa Tavana have been imprisoned. What they all had in common was that they wrote about their murdered family members on social media. – We see an escalation in the repression of activists and families of killed protesters. The regime is fighting for its survival, so they are doing everything they can to prevent new protests, which this time could get out of control. That’s what Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam says. He is the head of the human rights organization Iran Human Rights. Closed profiles Other critics have disappeared from social media. Mahmonir Molaei-Rad, the mother of the murdered nine-year-old Kian Pirfalak, received national hero status when she gave a speech critical of the regime at her son’s funeral. She reached over half a million followers on Instagram. Then her profile disappeared. So did the profiles of slain Hananeh Kia’s family and fiance, after they were all jailed last week. The Instagram profiles of Hananeh Kia’s father, mother, little sister and fiancé before they were deactivated. Photo: Instagram CNN has previously written about how the Iranian authorities have probably accessed and deactivated the accounts of protesters. – Have no other choice In the coming months, many commemorations are expected for the demonstrators who were killed in the previous uprising. That could mean more unrest. – The stage is set for new nationwide protests. But it’s like a place full of fuel barrels, which won’t ignite unless there’s a spark, Amir describes. He believes that the authorities have been preparing for several months and that they are trying to prevent local demonstrations from spreading to the whole country like last time. New demonstrations are expected in many of the world’s cities on 16 September. The picture is of an Iranian exile in Canada who recently demonstrated against executions in Iran. Photo: ADRIAN DENNIS / AFP A few days after news talks to Sohrab and Amir, there is news from the city of Mazandaran. The death row protester Javad Rouhi has died in prison. Both Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch write that he was tortured in prison before he died. Sohrab may have been right that the regime would kill more protesters before the anniversary. Javad Rouhi was sentenced to death for participating in demonstrations. In the end, he is said to have died from torture in prison. Photo: Instagram (@1500tasvir) But news of death and repression does not weaken Sohrab’s will to fight. – There is an intense love for the liberation of my country, which means that I and other Iranians have no other choice but to continue, he declares. – Nor does it only benefit us that we succeed, it also benefits you. The Islamic Republic is not only an enemy of Iranians, but an enemy of the free world. The Iranian embassy has not responded to news’s inquiry about this matter.
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Iran tightens its grip before the anniversary of the uprising – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
