New wave of anti-regime protests in Iran.

Photo by Tianlei Wu on Unsplash.com 

A new wave of protest has hit Iran, as hundreds of citizens swarm the streets of more than 100 cities to call for the fall of the Islamic Republic.

Protests began on the 28th of December, as a reaction to a further depreciation of the Iranian currency against the US dollar, compounded by inflation soaring to over 40% and citizens lamenting chronic mismanagement of basic services and worsening living conditions. Protests started among shopkeepers of the capital, who were soon joined by university students. They have by now become nationwide, spanning more than 100 cities across the country. Protesters are demanding respect to their human rights, freedom and dignity, and calling for an end to the extremist religious rule of the Islamic Republic. Protests have been largely peaceful, with citizens marching on the streets while chanting slogans against the government, banging on pots and pans, and lighting cigarettes on pictures of the ayatollah set on fire.

Iran’s security forces have responded with violent repression. Reports describe the unlawful or disproportionate use of force through “rifles, shotguns loaded with metal pellets, water cannons, tear gas, and beatings”. Officers are carrying out mass arbitrary arrests and subjecting many people to enforced disappearances, which places thousands of people at risk of torture and ill-treatment. Several protesters have been killed, and even more injured. Numbers are hard to confirm, but US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency denounces at least 538 people killed and more than 10600 detained. Authorities, however, deny responsibility for the killings.

Supreme leader Khamenei expressed that “rioters should be put in their place”. Iran’s attorney general declared that people who were caught protesting or with possible affiliation to protesters could be charged with the accusation of being an enemy of God, which in Iran is punishable with the death penalty. The Head of the Judiciary ordered to expedite the trials of protesters, and authorities have already obtained coerced confessions by detainees.

Starting from the 8th of January, the government furthermore imposed an Internet and telecommunications blackout, to prevent citizens from communicating and organising and also, as some speculate, to hide the extent of human rights violations that authorities are perpetrating against citizens. There are reports that security forces are taking advantage of the shutdown to intensify their use of force. Sporadic communications manage to escape the crackdown, as activists use Starlink satellite Internet services to reach the international community, but there is worry that these connections could be traced by the government. Human rights organisations have been denouncing the Internet shutdown as a breach of the rights to peaceful protest and to information.

Reactions are trickling down from the international community, with peaceful protests in other countries in support of the Iranian population, and human rights organisations calling for urgent global action. The EU declared its readiness to impose further sanctions on Iran if necessary. US President Trump threatened US intervention if Iranian authorities kill peaceful protesters, however Iran warned that it intends to retaliate in case of an US attack.

written by Alessia Milillo