– We are not going to give up, says 23-year-old “Avin” to news. She has been imprisoned, threatened and beaten up. But she is back on the streets of Iran, and has no intention of stopping. Now she fears even harder fire from the Iranian regime. Because behind the security forces’ heavy uniforms and sharp weapons, she sees a new type of men she has not seen before. She thinks the regime is bringing people from the prisons. – I have seen security personnel with tattoos, it is not common. I have seen strangers in small towns where everyone knows everyone. They bring in military personnel from other places, says Avin. Demonstrations in Tehran soon after the death of Mahsa Amini. The protests started in the Kurdish areas, but quickly spread to the whole country. Photo: – / AFP – Can create division in the regime Kaveh Hassanpour of the human rights organization Hengaw says the same. He says that their informants have seen changes in the security apparatus in Iran. That there is a change in who uses violence, and how. – Many in the security apparatus are tired. They will no longer beat their own population. We have information that they are bringing people from Iraq, because Iranian forces will no longer participate in the violence, says Hassanpour to news. If true, it is a sign of unrest and internal tensions within the authoritarian Islamic regime. That’s what Kjetil Selvik, researcher at the Norwegian Foreign Policy Institute (Nupi), says. He too has heard unconfirmed reports that Iran has mobilized forces from Iraq to take part in the battles against the demonstrators. – This is one of the cards the regime can use. It can be difficult to get Iranian security forces to fire on their own countrymen. Increased use of violence against one’s own people can create division in the regime, says Selvik. The Iranian embassy vehemently denies the claims. They write to news that these are “shameless and baseless claims.” Ayatollah Khamenei, supreme leader of Iran. The picture is from 2011. Photo: – / Afp Refusing to give in Iranians all over the country have protested against the regime since September. The demonstrations are larger and more widespread than at any time since the revolution in 1979. Avin is one of thousands of young Iranians who have been protesting, day after day, against Iran’s repressive regime for the past eleven weeks. – We just want freedom, she says on the phone from Iran. It is dangerous for the 23-year-old to talk to journalists. Avin is not her real name, but news knows her identity. She has been thrown into prison, groped, threatened and tortured. She broke free. She thinks it’s too late to turn back now. She tells news that there is no going back. She believes Iranians have seen too much to give up the fight. – What I see in Iran now is that people know a lot, people know what is going on. This has been a turning point. We have grown 40 years in these weeks, says Avin. A woman in Tehran during the protests in 2017. The ongoing protests are bigger than at any time since the 1979 revolution. Photo: STR / AFP – We stand together Avin is Kurdish, like Mahsa Amini, who has become the very symbol of the ongoing demonstrations . After 22-year-old Amini died in moral police custody on September 14, Iranians have protested in the streets. The reason why the young woman was arrested is said to have been that she was wearing the legally required hijab in the wrong way. It was in the Kurdish areas of Iran that the protests started, but the demonstrations quickly spread to the whole country. Iran is a country with many different ethnic and religious groups, among them Persians, Kurds, Baluchis, Arabs and Armenians. Everyone is represented in the streets, says Avin. – Nobody follows any political groups. We only want freedom and are united in this one desire. We stand together and support each other in a way I have never seen in Iran before, she says to news. It was women who first led the way in the protests. They cut their hair and shared it on social media, to show support for Mahsa Amini. They walked without a hijab in the streets. In recent weeks, there have been most men in the streets. It is also said that most men were among those killed. This is shown by the figures of the Kurdish human rights organization Hengaw, which follows the demonstrations closely. They are working to document the number of injured and killed in Iran. Kaveh Hassanpour of the organization Hengaw is trying to get in touch with an informant who is helping to document the injured and killed in Iran. The regime warns against civil war – It has become more dangerous to protest, says Kaveh Hassanpour, board member of Hengaw. He still believes that the protesters will not be intimidated. – Iran’s younger generation is in the streets. They protest on social media. They speak out about the oppression, says Hassanpour. The rhetoric from Iran’s leaders has also hardened recently. Recently, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian warned that the demonstrations could lead to civil war. He said that it was the West that was behind it. Iranian authorities are warning people of the chaos that will follow if the protesters get their way. They have mentioned the civil war in Libya and Sudan as a scenario. Avin rejects the warnings. – People in Iran do not believe in the horror scenarios, she says. At the same time, she is fully aware that it is Iranians themselves who have and must have control. – This is not about someone coming and taking over, but about the people governing themselves. That is what we want. A woman without the mandatory hijab in the streets of Tehran in mid-October. Photo: – / AFP – Never been so pressured as now Researcher Kjetil Selvik says that what we are seeing in Iran now is something completely new. – This is about a new generation of Iranians who are very fearless, says Selvik. So far, over 450 people have been killed in the protests, according to the human rights organization HRANA. Many of them are under the age of 18. Over 18,000 Iranians are said to be imprisoned. A short time ago, the first death sentences came against protesters in Iran. The Islamic Republic of Iran has responded to popular protests with violence and repression before. But the violence against the protesters has increased in recent weeks. Researcher Kjetil Selvik at NUPI. Photo: Eskil Wie Furunes / news Selvik believes that the violence now also has a cost for those who rule Iran. – The regime has never been under such pressure as it is now. They are unable to put it down, the protests re-emerge again and again. The violence has a large cost, and probably creates strong tensions within the regime. Does it mean the beginning of the end of the authoritarian regime? No, Selvik thinks. At least not yet. – There are no indications that the Iranian regime is about to fall or collapse now. But they are in new and unknown waters, says the researcher. For the regime to fall, at least one of three things must happen, according to Selvik: There must be open conflict between different centers of power. The security forces refuse to carry out orders, will not shoot their own. Management is unable to give clear orders. “Woman, life, freedom” is written on the grave of one of those killed in Mahabad, Iran. Photo: Privat Thinks the regime will fall Kaveh Hassanpour, however, sees no other way out in Iran than a regime change. – The generation that is in the streets now will not go back on their demands. They want freedom, prosperity and happiness, which the regime cannot give them. He does not believe that reforms or compromises are an option. – The Islamic regime cannot agree to remove the hijab requirement. It is contrary to their Islamic agenda. Therefore, I am sure that the regime will fall, says Hassanpour. Avin hopes he is right. – We want democracy, we want freedom and the removal of the hijab.
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– There are new faces in the streets – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
