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Khuzestan in southwest Iran has been the site of large-scale unrest<\/a> since July 15. In the intervening two weeks, the protest has also spread to a number of other regions, including Tehran, Tabriz, Bushehr, and Isfahan. This growth trend will continue, even in the face of violent crackdowns by the regime officials. Those crackdowns will intensify in the days and weeks to come, especially following the August 3 inauguration of the regime\u2019s new president, Ebrahim Raisi<\/a>. \n For years after the 1988 massacre, Raisi compounded his legacy as a hanging judge and an advocate for all forms of corporal punishment. \n The statement emphasized the need to end the \u201cimpunity\u201d that Tehran has long enjoyed in the absence of serious international measures to punish leading officials or institutions for such human rights abuses. Previously, Amnesty<\/a> issued a statement reacting to Iran\u2019s sham election in which it said, \u201cThat Ebrahim Raisi has risen to the presidency instead of being investigated for the crimes against humanity of murder, enforced disappearance, and torture is a grim reminder that impunity reigns supreme in Iran.\u201d \n First day of Free #Iran<\/a> World Summit 10 July 2021 — Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) July 11, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nRaisi was \u201cselected\u201d on June 18, but the vast majority of the Iranian population boycotted the political process, recognizing that regime authorities had already cleared the way for his victory after the regime\u2019s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei made it clear that he had settled on Raisi as his choice to succeed the outgoing regime\u2019s President Hassan Rouhani. By all accounts, that choice was due to Raisi\u2019s long history of supporting and participating in the repression of dissent, particularly that which is associated with the organized opposition group, the People\u2019s Mojahedin Organization of Iran<\/a> (PMOI\/MEK).
\nIn the summer of 1988, the MEK was the prime target in a campaign of mass executions<\/a> that claimed over 30,000 lives. When that campaign began, Raisi was the deputy public prosecutor in Tehran, and he soon became one of the key figures on the regime\u2019s principal \u201cdeath commission<\/a>.\u201d In that capacity, he interrogated political prisoners in Evin Prison and later in facilities across the country in order to determine which of them still harbored sympathy for the MEK<\/a> or resentment against the clerical regime. All those who refused to demonstrate abject submission to the ruling theocracy were sentenced to be executed by hanging or by firing squad.<\/p>\n
\nDespite the complete lack of popular support, Khamenei handed Raisi control over the Iranian judiciary in 2019. This served to set the stage for Raisi to revive his presidential campaign in an entirely non-competitive field.
\nRaisi\u2019s control over the judiciary advanced the regime\u2019s interests over those of the people, and even if it helped to spark nationwide revolt within months of his appointment, it also contributed to the intensity of the regime\u2019s crackdown and forced the protest movement back underground for several weeks. Whereas a previous uprising in January 2018 resulted in roughly 60 deaths over the course of about a month, the November 2019<\/a> uprising was met with mass shootings almost immediately, which killed over 1,500 people in a matter of days.
\nFurthermore, at least 12,000 people were arrested, and Raisi\u2019s judiciary promptly began a torture and extended interrogation campaign, which lasted for months. Amnesty International reported on that crackdown in a report titled Trampling Humanity, and when Iranian authorities began cracking down on the recent Khuzestan protests, the human rights organization issued a statement affirming that it saw \u201cchilling echoes of November 2019, when security forces unlawfully killed hundreds of protesters and bystanders but were never held to account.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nThat impunity will be further reinforced by Raisi\u2019s inauguration, leading to a further increase in repression of the ongoing protests in Khuzestan and surrounding areas. However, there does not appear to be much question about whether those protests will still be going on after Raisi takes office. So far, the activist community has weathered the impact of at least a dozen shooting deaths and perhaps many more. The full extent of the crackdown remains to be determined, in part because Tehran has cut off the internet in order to slow the spread of information.
\nOn July 10, NCRI President-elect Mrs. Maryam Rajavi<\/a> delivered a speech to the first session of the Free Iran World Summit and said, \u201cIn the new era, the hostility and enmity between the Iranian regime and society will intensify more than ever before.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
The clerical regime faces the impasse of impending overthrow; the democratic alternative marches on towards victory. #FreeIran2021<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/ZGs1UrC2gw<\/a><\/p>\n