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Iran Uprising at a Glance – Day 92
Based partially on reporting by PMOI (MEK) Network in Iran
Friday, December 16, 2022 – 8 PM GMT+1
- Days: 92
- Protests: 280 cities
- Fatalities: 700+ estimated deaths, 589 identified by MEK
- Detentions: 30,000+
The nationwide uprising in Iran marked its 92nd day on Friday, with the brave Baluchi community of Sistan & Baluchestan Province, located in southeast Iran, taking to the streets again today in line with their continuous anti-regime weekly protests held every Friday.
Friday’s protests began with mass rallies in Zahedan and Rask. Protesters marched after the Friday Prayers and chanted slogans against the regime. “I will kill those who killed my brother!” the protesters chanted as they vowed to avenge the protesters killed and executed by the regime in recent weeks.
They carried placards that read, “No to monarchy! No to [mullahs’ regime]!”, “Democracy and freedom!”
The protesters also chanted, “This is the year Seyed Ali (Khamenei) is overthrown!” and “Death to Khamenei!”
Brave women with nooses around their necks were seen protesting the regime’s executions. They also chanted, “For each person killed another one thousand will rise!”
In Tehran Province, protesters threw Molotov cocktails, targeting the governor’s office in the town of Baharestan located on Saveh road, southwest of the Iranian capital.
In Kermanshah, western Iran, schoolgirls marched, chanting, “Mullahs must get lost!” and “Poverty-Corruption-High prices! We’re going to overthrow the regime!”
In Marvdasht, south-central Iran, defiant youth targeted a regime-associated building.
In Chabahar, southeast Iran, protesters staged a major protest, chanting: “Death to Khamenei!”
Commenting on today’s large-scale protests in Sistan and Baluchistan, NCRI President-elect Mrs. Maryam Rajavi said, “Our Baluch compatriots, especially the brave women of Zahedan, reiterated their call for justice for the martyrs in the fourth month of Iran Protests. With chants of ‘Behind everyone killed, there are 1000’ they vowed to continue Iran Revolution until the regime is overthrown.
In a related development, last night, the United Nations General Assembly adopted its sixty-ninth resolution condemning the regime’s human rights violations in Iran by 80 votes in favor and 29 against. The efforts of the regime’s allies and other human rights violators to prevent the adoption of the resolution failed.
UPDATE: 3:00 PM CET
State Official Argues to Change Moharebeh Rule to Advance Death Sentences
Abbas Kaabi, a member of the Assembly of Experts said today: “In the case of disturbances that lead to disruption of public security, destruction of public and private property, even if they do not lead to killing a person, the final decision and verdict is with the judge, the ruler of Sharia and the Islamic system, who can impose the death sentence on the defendant.”
“Even if the family of the deceased has forgiven the ‘Mohareb’ (person who is charged with waging war against God), it is up to the leader of the society to punish him because he has disrupted public security, and there is no longer a private judgment applicable and the case will not be bound to a private plaintiff,” he added. “Those who use knives, break the windows of cars on the highway, and set fire to the street, are definitely deserving the verdict of ‘Moharebeh’ and shall be executed.”
Following the nationwide uprising in Iran, the regime’s Judiciary has charged dozens of protesters with Moharebeh and issued death sentences to scare off dissent. Mohsen Shekari was hanged for wounding a security agent and barricading a street in Sattarkhan District. His execution triggered nationwide as well as international outrage and even insiders argued that his sentencing was inapplicable to the Moharebeh law.
Meanwhile, the death sentence of Mahan Saderat, another protester was lessened following the alleged waiving of the complaint by Mohammadreza Ghanbartalab, another security force who had testified in court as a plaintiff. On Twitter, Ghanbartalab claimed that he has heeded “the cries of Mahan’s grandmother and the noble compatriots, rather than the enemies’ networks.”
نیمه شب حکم #ماهان_صدرات متوقف و ظاهرا به تعویق افتاد.
صدای مادربزرگ های ماهان و حمایت مردم شریف ایران به مسئولین قوه قضاییه و آیت الله اژه ای و #نه هموطنانم به شبکه های معاند و بیگانه شنیده شد.
امروز همه باهم فارغ از جناح بندی های سیاسی و اعتقادی برای آرامش کشور متحد هستیم.— محمدرضا قنبرطلب (@mrghanbaartalab) December 11, 2022
U.S. Sanctions Chinese Firm Selling Video Surveillance Tech to Iran
The Biden administration on Thursday blacklisted a Chinese video surveillance company that officials say is implicated in the repression of Uyghurs in China and that provided U.S.-made technology to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The blacklisted firm, Tiandy Technologies, has touted its facial recognition software as designed to help Chinese authorities identify Uyghurs or other ethnic minorities, as well as “smart” interrogation tables, NBC News previously reported.
UPDATE: 9:30 AM CET
Scholz at EU Summit: Iranian Government Shoots at Its Own People
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has sharply criticized the Iranian government for its actions against demonstrators. “Who shoots at their own people? The Iranian government is doing that, and that’s why we will continue to position ourselves very clearly there,” said the Chancellor on Thursday on the sidelines of the EU summit in Brussels. “What the Iranian government is doing is unacceptable, it is not justifiable.”
According to human rights activists, at least 18,000 participants in the demonstrations that have been going on for almost three months have been arrested, and more than 475 demonstrators are said to have been killed. In November, demonstrators were sentenced to death for the first time. The second protester was executed on Monday, causing horror and outrage at home and abroad. According to media reports, at least 23 other demonstrators face the death penalty.
Netherlands Summons Iranian Ambassador Over Execution of Protestors
The Netherlands has summoned the Iranian ambassador to account for the execution of two Iranian demonstrators, said Foreign Affairs Minister Wopke Hoekstra. The Tweede Kamer had requested by motion that the Iranian ambassador be called to account for this “as soon as possible.” Germany has already done the same.
Last Monday, a man was publicly hanged after being found guilty of “waging war against God.” He also allegedly killed two members of a paramilitary militia. Last Thursday another man was executed. Mass demonstrations for women’s rights are taking place in Iran, which started after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini. She died in detention after being arrested by the religious police there for not wearing her headscarf tight enough.
Hoekstra planned to ask the ambassador for an explanation and, in addition, “again express our horror at what is happening in Iran.” He emphasized that the Netherlands has been addressing the Iranian regime about this “repeatedly” for months, just like other European countries.
UPDATE: 8:00 AM CET
Iran’s Nationwide Uprising Begins Fourth Month With More Anti-regime Protests
Iran’s nationwide uprising is entering its fourth month on Thursday, marking 91 days of continued protests against the mullahs’ regime by people in cities, towns, and villages checkered across the country. Despite the fact that the mullahs’ regime and their entire security apparatus have gone the distance to silence and quell this movement, the Iranian people, regardless of the natural and expected ups and downs in their protests, are continuing an unprecedented drive.
Protests in Iran have to this day expanded to at least 280 cities. Over 700 people have been killed and more than 30,000 are arrested by the regime’s forces, according to sources of the Iranian opposition People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK). The names of 580 killed protesters have been published by the PMOI/MEK.
Political Prisoners’ Bravery Inspires Protesters – Day 91 of Revolution
On Thursday, December 15, 2022, political prisoners held in Gohardasht prison condemned the executions of Mohsen Shekari and Majid Reza Rahnavard in an inspiring open letter. They publicly slammed the regime while being kept in a prison notorious for implementing death sentences.
“Every day, this revolution is associated with the name of heroic martyrs,” who burn the “suffocated sphere with their shine,” the letter read. “This is the rule of the birth and death of stars; with the martyrdom of each star, new stars are being born… in every alley, street, college, and workplace… Once upon a day in the dungeons, and now, on cranes.”
Washington, DC—December 14, 2022: Iranian Resistance Supporters Rally and Photo Exhibition, Condemning the Execution of Majidreza Rahnavard
Washington, DC—December 14, 2022: Supporters of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) held a rally and photo exhibition to protest against the criminal execution of the young protester, Majidreza Rahnavard in front of the US Congress.
Washington DC, Dallas, Toronto, and Bern: Demonstrations by the Iranian Resistance Supporters, Condemning the Criminal Execution of Majidreza Rahnavard
Washington DC, Dallas, Toronto, and Bern—December 12 & 13, 2022: Supporters of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) held protest demonstrations against the criminal execution of the young protester, Majidreza Rahnavard.
Also, read Iran News in Brief – December 15, 2022