One hundred days after they began, the longest-running antigovernment demonstrations in Iran since the Islamic revolution of 1979 have rocked the authorities, but at a high cost to the people.
According to the Human Rights Activists News Agency, more than 500 demonstrators, including 69 children, have been slain (HRANA). Following what Amnesty International called “fake trials,” two protestors have been executed and at least 26 others face the same fate.
Although statewide protests have swept Iran in the past – once in 2017 lasting until early 2018 and again in November 2019 – the present rallies are unique in that they encompass individuals from all sectors of society, with women taking the lead under the motto “Woman, Life, Freedom.”
Some Iranian celebrities have committed irreversible actions in favor of the protests, resulting in their detention or exile.
After condemning the killing of a teenage protester, Taraneh Alidoosti, a well-known Iranian actress, is being incarcerated in the infamous Evin prison. Previously, she released a photograph of herself without the required headscarf and holding a banner with the demonstrators’ slogan.
Asghar Farhadi, who directed Taraneh Alidoosti in his Oscar-winning film The Salesman, commented on Instagram, “I have worked with Taraneh on four films and now she is in prison for her rightful support of her compatriots and her resistance to the unfair punishments being imposed.”
Mr. Farhadi said, “If demonstrating such support is a crime, then tens of millions of people in this country are criminals.”
“Threats of death”
Pegah Ahangarani, an additional notable Iranian actress who has fled the country, said, “Both sides have been radicalized, the dictatorship in its crackdown and the film industry in response.”
“Iran cannot return to the pre-Mahsa Amini era,” referring to the Kurdish Iranian lady whose murder on 16 September in the custody of Iran’s morality police prompted the protests.
Hamid Farrokhnezhad, an additional well-known Iranian actor, relocated to the United States earlier this month and promptly compared Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to Franco, Stalin, and Mussolini, labeling him a “dictator.”
Ali Karimi, one of Iran’s most renowned former players and a resident of Dubai, supported the demonstrations. According to him, Iranian intelligence officers threatened to assassinate him, prompting him to move to the United States.
On his Instagram account, Karimi is currently one of the most vociferous critics of the Iranian regime, with over 14 million followers.
Ali Daei, an additional Iranian football hero, had his jewelry store and restaurant closed by the Iranian judiciary when he publicly supported a statewide strike.
The use of petrol bombs by protestors distinguishes the current demonstrations from earlier ones.
These have been employed against Basij militia bases and Hawza, or religious seminaries for Shia Muslim clerics.
Turban-flinging
Generation Z in Iran has been at the vanguard of these protests, defying strict Islamic law and establishing new fashion trends, such as the burning of headscarves.
Young protestors have also adopted the practice of “turban tossing,” which involves sneaking up behind Shia Muslim clerics, knocking off their turban, and fleeing.
Arshia Emamgholizadeh, a 16-year-old boy, was arrested in the northwestern city of Tabriz last month on suspicion of “turban tossing.”
He was detained for ten days before his release. Two days later, he committed himself, which his family attributes to the abuse he received in prison. A source close to the family informed that Arshia had been thrashed with batons and given strange medications during his confinement.
In addition to repressing demonstrators, Iranian authorities have used the bodies of those who have died in detention or been murdered as bargaining chips to quiet the families of victims.
Fearing such pressure, the brother of a protester who was slain snatched his body from a mortuary and drove it around the city for hours.
Mehran Samak, 27, was shot in the head in the northern city of Bandar Anzali after blaring his car horn on November 29 to celebrate Iran’s elimination from the World Cup.
Another family claims to have discovered startling traces of torture on the remains of their 23-year-old son, Hamed Salahshoor, who died in captivity and was unearthed 18 miles (30 kilometers) from their hometown.
homicide and torture
To date, two men have been hanged after being convicted of broadly defined national security crimes related to the protests. Human rights organizations have criticized these executions as egregious abuses of justice.
Many individuals on death row claim they were tortured.
The Kurdistan Human Rights Network, a non-governmental organization, reported that a Kurdish-Iranian rapper sentenced to death, Saman Yasin, attempted suicide on Tuesday. The rights group has previously asserted that Yasin was subjected to torture while detained. Saturday, the Supreme Court of Iran upheld an appeal against his death sentence and retried him.
Sahand Noormohammadzadeh, a 26-year-old amateur bodybuilder, claims that he was exposed to multiple mock executions in prison.
Mr. Noormohammadzadeh was sentenced to death in November after being convicted of “hostility toward God” (defined under Iranian law as “creating public insecurity” with a weapon). During a protest in Tehran on September 23, he was accused of obstructing traffic by ripping down guardrails and blocking a roadway. He refuted the charges.
Three of the radiologist’s ribs were fractured and penetrated his lung. Dr. Hamid Ghare-Hasanlou was found guilty of the capital offense of “corruption on Earth.”
Amnesty International was informed by a credible source that Dr. Ghare-Hasanlou was tortured and ill-treated to elicit a “confession”
