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For the people of Iran 2021 ended while the situation of human rights deteriorated drastically. The report below Sheds some light on how the ruling theocracy stepped up crackdown on every aspect of life to preserve its grip on power.<\/p>\n
Iran Human Rights Monitor\u2019s annual report on the human rights situation in Iran<\/a> is the primary source for this summary.<\/p>\n In 2021, people from all walks of life held daily protests across Iran. Besides, there were at least three significant protests in three provinces, Isfahan (center), Khuzestan (southwest), and Sistan and Baluchistan (southeast). These protests pointed to the explosive state of Iranian society.<\/p>\n To maintain control, the Iranian regime\u2019s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, decided to close ranks. In June 2021, Khamenei selected Ebrahim Raisi, a notorious human rights abuser, as the regime\u2019s president. He also appointed Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Ejei<\/a> as the Judiciary Chief. Ejei is a ruthless criminal who served as Raisi\u2019s deputy when the latter was the Judiciary Chief from 2019 to 2021.<\/p>\n In 2020, Khamenei also appointed the ex-State Security Force Commandere Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf as the Speaker of a handpicked parliament. The trio of Raisi, Ejei, and Ghalibaf, have but one goal: intensifying the atmosphere of terror and repression to stifle all form of dissent. This new power arrangement also reflects the regime\u2019s paranoia in the face of the people\u2019s looming uprisings and the existential threat they pose to the regime\u2019s survival.<\/p>\n The violent crackdowns on protests in recent months, and the surge in the number of executions since June 2021, are testaments to Iran\u2019s worsening human rights situation on the one hand and reflect the desperation of the ruling mullahs on the other.<\/p>\n Protests erupted across Iran in 2021 due to the economic and social crises plaguing the nation. Three major protests lasted for up to several weeks. In response, the Iranian regime\u2019s forces opened fire on unarmed locals, killing at least 40 protesters, and wounding 100 others.<\/p>\n On July 15, protests began in Khuzestan province, southwest Iran, due to severe water shortages and the regime\u2019s destructive policies that have created the water crisis. The protest, initially in protest against the water shortage, quickly took on political overtones, as the throngs of people began chanting anti-regime slogans, defiantly calling for the regime\u2019s overthrow. The suppressive forces opened fire on the unarmed protesters. The people in several other cities across Iran held protests in solidarity with the people of Khuzestan.<\/p>\n On November 26, following days of sit-ins and large-scale protests, the regime\u2019s security forces attacked the farmers and locals in Isfahan, who were demanding their right to irrigation water. The security forces used pellet guns, shooting people mainly in the eyes. As a result, many protesters, mainly the youth, lost their eyesight.<\/p>\n Iran\u2019s Covid-19 death toll is rapidly reaching half a million. Hundreds of Iranians die every day, nurses commit suicide due to the work pressure, and hospital beds are filled with patients, while hundreds of other people with severe conditions languish in hospital yards and corridors. The current Covid-19 tragedy was preventable.<\/p>\n Fearing another uprising that could end in his regime being toppled, Khamenei, and his officials launched criminal Covid-19 policy. The regime used the strategy of mass human casualties to create a barrier against the tide of uprsings.<\/p>\n Khamenei called this virus a \u201ctest\u201d and \u201cblessing,\u201d his regime officials denied the existence of Covid-19 in Iran for months, and when they had to announce its arrival, they tried to downplay it.<\/p>\n This policy reached its peak in January 2021, when Khamenei banned certified American and British vaccines, citing some conspiracy theories.<\/p>\n Mansoureh Mills, a researcher for Amnesty International, described Khamenei\u2019s ban on vaccines as being \u201cin step with the authorities\u2019 decades-long contempt for human rights, including the right to life and health.\u201d<\/p>\n Khamenei also profited from banning vaccines because one of his financial institutions, the \u201cHeadquarters to Execute Imam Khomeini\u2019s Order\u201d, was tasked with producing the so-called \u201cdomestic\u201d vaccines, which not only failed to help, but also, had severe side effects.<\/p>\n 2021 ended with a much higher number of executions. According to Iran HRM, 357 were executed in Iran in 2021, meaning 107 more executions than 2020. The actual number is much higher as the Iranian regime secretly carries out many executions. In December, at least seven women and three juvenile offenders were hanged.<\/p>\n While the number of executions has surged since Raisi became the regime\u2019s president, the so-called \u201cmoderate\u201d government of Hassan Rouhani ended its eight-year term with nearly 5,000 executions, including 144 executions in 2021. In December, the regime hanged Heydar Ghorbani, a Kurdish political prisoner, despite international outcries to stay his execution.<\/p>\n In addition to executions, the Iranian regime secretly murdered political prisoners in prison. This phenomenon is known as \u201csuspicious deaths.\u201d Sasan Niknafs was another prisoner of conscience who died in the Greater Tehran Penitentiary on June 7, 2021, due to critical physical conditions. Regime authorities refused to provide him medical treatment.<\/p>\n In September, Shahin Naseri<\/a>, a young prisoner who had witnessed the torture of the Iranian wrestling champion Navid Afkari<\/a>, executed for participating in the 2018 uprising, died suspiciously in the Greater Tehran Penitentiary.<\/p>\n According to Iran-HRM, as least 77 Iranians were killed in 2021 due to arbitrary killings. Most of these victims were deprived porters in the Kurdistan region of Iran and fuel porters in Sistan and Baluchistan. Besides, At least 107 people were injured because of border guards\u2019 indiscriminate shootings. The Iranian regime arbitrarily kills deprived porters under the pretext of combatting corruption and smuggling, while the IRGC and Khamenei control Iran\u2019s largest smuggling network.<\/p>\n The regime continued and double downed on its systematic violation of ethnic and religious minorities\u2019 rights throughout 2021. It arrested dozens of Kurdish citizens because of their cultural activities. From November 11 to 14Intelligence Ministry agents embarked on a wave of arrests of Kurdish citizens in various cities, including Baneh, Marivan, Saqqez, and Sanandaj. These arbitrary arrests were not limited to Kurdish minority. From May 14 to 17, at least 26 citizens of Arab descent were arrested in Ahvaz and Mahshahr.<\/p>\n The Iranian regime also arrested and handed down heavy sentences to Iran\u2019s Baha\u2019i community members. According to Iran-HRM, \u201cfollowing the announcement of the results of the 2021 national entrance exams, at least 17 Baha\u2019is were disqualified and prevented from continuing their education because of their faith.\u201d<\/p>\n In addition to Baha\u2019is, dozens of Iranian Christian converts received heavy sentences.<\/p>\n On December 17, the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly adopted the 68th UN Resolution condemning the gross and systematic violation of human rights in Iran.<\/p>\n This resolution once again highlighted that the Iranian regime has never ceased its human rights violations. The appointment of human rights abusers such as Raisi and Mohseni Eje\u2019i to top positions in Iran is a testament to what could be described as the \u201ccrisis of impunity in Iran.\u201d<\/p>\n Raisi was one of the leading regime officials during the 1988 massacre of over 30,000 political prisoners, mostly members and supporters of the People\u2019s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI\/MEK).<\/p>\n In reaction to Raisi\u2019s presidency, Amnesty International\u2019s Secretary General Agn\u00e8s Callamard 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<\/p>\n This impunity is primarily due to the international community\u2019s silence and inaction to hold Tehran accountable for human rights violations.<\/p>\n In a letter published in December 2020, seven UN experts called the 1988 massacre \u201ccrimes against humanity.\u201d The letter underlined: \u201cThe failure of these [international] bodies to act had a devastating impact on the survivors and families as well as on the general situation of human rights in Iran and emboldened Iran to continue to conceal the fate of the victims and to maintain a strategy of deflection and denial that continue to date.\u201d<\/p>\n As the Iranian Resistance has long stressed, the dossier on four decades of crimes against humanity and genocide committed by this regime, especially the 1988 massacre of 30,000 political prisoners and the massacre of 1,500 demonstrators in 2019, must be referred to the UN Security Council, and the leaders of this regime, and above all, Ali Khamenei, Ebrahim Raisi, and the Judiciary Chief, Gholam Hossein Mohseni Eje\u2019i, must be prosecuted in an International Court.<\/p>\n In the words of Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the NCRI\u2019s president-elect, \u201cThe international community must shun this regime and end impunity for its criminal leaders.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" For the people of Iran 2021 ended while the situation of human rights deteriorated drastically. The report below Sheds some light on how the ruling theocracy stepped up crackdown on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":53,"featured_media":252829,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45,15],"tags":[129,276,1197],"class_list":{"0":"post-253754","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"category-human-rights","9":"tag-iran","10":"tag-iran-human-rights","11":"tag-iran-human-rights-2021"},"yoast_head":"\nIran\u2019s Restive Society and Regime\u2019s New Power Arrangement<\/h3>\n
![\"Teachers-protest\"](\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Teachers-protest.jpg\" "\\"Teachers-protest\\"")
Iran Protests and Regime\u2019s crackdown<\/h3>\n
\nOn February 22, 2021, protests erupted in Sistan and Baluchistan province, southeast Iran, after the regime\u2019s security forces gunned down dozens of deprived fuel carriers. On February 23, despite the heavy presence of the regime\u2019s security forces, locals in the city of Saravan rose up and clashed with the regime\u2019s oppressive forces. They also stormed the governorate.<\/p>\n![\"Iran-covid-5\"](\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Iran-covid-5.jpg\" "\\"Iran-covid-5\\"")
<\/h3>\nDepriving People Of their Right to Life<\/h3>\n
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Increasing Number of Executions<\/h3>\n
\nSeveral political prisoners were also executed in Iran in 2021. Javid Dehghan, was hanged in Zahedan Central Prison on January 30, 2021. The Iranian regime executed Ali Motiri, on January 28, 2021. Hassan Dehvari and Elias Qalandarzehi, were hanged on January 3, 2021. On February 28, 2021, the regime executed four Arab political prisoners.<\/p>\nSuspicious deaths of prisoners<\/h3>\n
\nIn February 2021, Gonabadi Dervish, Behnam Mahjoubi, died. He had been transferred to the hospital following food poisoning in Evin Prison. Eight days later, on February 21, he was announced dead in Tehran\u2019s Loghman Hospital. The regime authorities deliberately denied Behnam medical care.<\/p>\nArbitrary killing<\/h3>\n
Ethnic and Religious Minorities<\/h3>\n
Conclusion<\/h3>\n