The Iranian regime arrested 38 protesters as “elements and leaders of seditions” in Tehran and five other cities over the weekend, state-run media reported.
On Sunday, the Mehr state-run News Agency quoted the Chief of Special Police in western Tehran as saying that eight people who were “identified as elements and leaders of seditions” were arrested on Sunday.
He also claimed the detained citizens invited others to protests in Eslamshahr and Shahriar, both in western Tehran, through social media platforms.
The Isfahan Chief of Police said that three people were detained in Baharestan. They were also accused of inviting Iranians to participate in protests in November.
In another report, a human rights group advocating the rights of Iran’s Baluch minority said that a man identified as Shahab Malahi was arrested in the southern city of Minab over November protests.
On Saturday, state-run news agencies said that 26 people were detained in Kerman, Savojbolagh, Tehran and Kazerun as the “elements and leaders of seditions”.
The reports claimed that the 13 people detained in Kerman were the “main elements behind the blockage of roads” during nationwide protests in November.
In Kazerun, the Chief of Police claimed that a person who was the “main elements behind the destruction and torching of a seminary and 11 banks” was detained.
The Savojbolagh Chief of Police said that five people who were involved in November’s protests in the city were identified and detained. He also said that they had “confessed” to their crimes.
The Chief of Police of Eastern Terhan also said that seven people who were involved in protests were detained in Varamin, Pakdasht and Pardis.
Reports indicate that at least 12,000 Iranians were detained during and after nationwide protests that erupted over increased gasoline prices in November.
Several accounts from prisons across the country have shed light on the brutal use of torture against detained protesters by the regime including the sexual abuse of minors.
The Statistical Centre of Iran recently released a report about incomes and economic conditions of Iranian families after the gas price hikes in mid-November. The report reveals that the expenditure of the livelihood basket, in comparison to last month, has raised by 4.1 percent among lower-income deciles.
While the rich segments of the society, who don’t even receive government aids, only faced a 3.1-percent increase in the expense of their needs. Analysts argue the economic shock that took place by the fuel price hikes caused catastrophic results in the livelihoods of poor and low-income people. In addition, the monthly inflation of basic needs like food and drink has raised by 6.9 percent for the poorest decile of the society. however, the figure for the rich decile is estimated to rise by 2.9 percent alone. Growth of transportation cost is another impact of the gasoline price rise on Iranian families’ livelihood basket. In the transportation sector, inflation is estimated at 14.7 percent across the country, 14.1 percent in urban areas, and 17.9 percent in rural areas.
The Growing Trend of Point to Point Inflation Rate in Iran
The latest report of the Statistical Centre also shows that between October 20 and November 20, the monthly inflation rate was 1.6 percent, while it rose to 3.2 percent during November 20-December 20 periods. The point to point inflation rate also increased by 0.8 percent in the same period. Notably, the increase of the monthly inflation index to 3 percent is the highest inflation rate since March until now. In addition, before raising the gas price, the country was experiencing a decrease in point to point inflation index. However, the recent spike of gasoline price changed the trend from a shrinking to growth.
The Impact of Raising the Petrol Price in Iran’s Inflation Rate
Factually, the diversion of these factors, monthly inflation index and point to point inflation rate, displays the impact of the gas price hikes on the country’s inflation. In this context, economic experts envisage that the impact of raising the petrol price will emerge in upcoming months. Earlier, the chief of the Central Bank of Iran estimated the maximum impact to be 2 percent, and he said that it is expected to contain some part of this amount if the currency and money market remain stable. However, its prospects that given the stability of the government financial system and Central Bank monetary system, the inflation rate will reach 35 percent by the end of next year.
Rural Inflation Surpasses Urban Inflation
The latest report of the Statistical Centre says that from November 20 to December 20, the average growth of prices of consumer goods and services in urban areas of Iran was 3 percent in comparison to the previous month in the Persian calendar. This figure was 27.6 percent during the same period last year and 39.3 percent during the past twelve months. Meanwhile, the inflation growth in Iran’s rural areas was 4.2 percent in proportion to last month, 28.9 percent toward the same period in the last year and 43.9 percent during the past twelve months.
The Pressure of Inflation on Needy Strata of the Iranian Society
In this regard, the needy segments of society bear more economic pressures. The report declares a 4.1-percent increase in the expenditure of livelihood basket of low-income people, who classify as the tenth decile. However, rich people, who consistently remain in the first decile, face the lowest figure of rising prices by 3.1 percent toward their goods. The poor and low-income people deal with a 6.9-percent increase in prices of food and drinks, while the first decile faces less than half of this amount—2.9 percent alone.
Spike of Inflation through Transportation Channel
The report of the Statistical Centre of Iran portrays the genuine impact of raising the gasoline prices on the country’s official inflation. Statistics show that the decision made by the heads of branches caused the prices of the transportation sector to rise by an estimated 14.7 percent. Notably, transportation accounts for 9.41 percent of Iranian families’ livelihood basket. Therefore, it is forecasted that the consequences of fuel prices spikes will be repeated in the transportation sector. It is significant that raising gas prices in the transportation sector caused more effects in rural areas rather than urban areas.
The Impact of Inflation on the Iranian People’s Capacity in Purchasing Food and Drinks
According to the official narrative of the statistical institute of Iran, the average price of food and drinks has increased by 4.2 percent compared to the last 30 days. It also experienced a 28.7-percent rise in comparison to the same period in the previous year, in addition to the 55.7-percent increase of prices toward last year.
In conclusion, contrary to officials’ statements who were vowing that raising gas prices won’t affect other prices, the society is dealing with a relentless increase in prices of essential needs. Therefore, needy segments of Iran’s population should bear more discrimination and economic pressures. In such circumstances, any mistake by the rulers is potential to trigger another round of protests that may eradicate the pillars of the 40-year corrupt ruling system.
Iranian regime security forces shot protesters from rooftops in Javanrud, western Iran during the November 2019 uprising
Iran, December 20, 2019—A month has passed since the November protests erupted in 191 cities following the gas price hike in Iran. As witnessed, the Iranian regime did not tolerate the anti-government protest. This time, however, the regime found its dictatorship on the brink of collapse and perpetrated another crime against humanity by savagely gunning protesters down. The regime even used helicopters, tanks, heavy machine guns, snipers, etc., and directly targeted protesters in the chest and head.
Thanks to tireless PMOI/MEK Resistance Units efforts and rebellious people inside Iran, to date, the PMOI/MEK has been able to gather the names of 547 out of over 1,500 protesters killed by the regime’s forces (figures up to December 20, 2019): 400 in Tehran province, 320 in Kermanshah province, 270 in Fars province, 240 in Khuzestan province, 120 in Esfahan province and 100 in Alborz province and many more in other provinces.
As of November 16, over 4,000 have been injured and more than 12,000 arrested while the whereabouts of most of them remains unknown. News received from inside Iran indicate that many protesters’ tortured bodies are being found in rivers and elsewhere.
A month later, the regime’s Supreme National Security Council refuses to publish any statistics about the number of protesters killed, injured or even the number of arrested. This measure also made some rows in the regime’s parliament, sparking disputes between factions of the regime and discussing the fact that suppression may expedite the collapse of their regime.
On December 17, the state-run Jamaran website wrote, “[Mahmoud Sadeghi, a member of the regime’s parliament] asked the regime’s Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli if it was not possible to shoot the protesters from the waist down [and not shots in the head and chest]? The Interior Minister answered, ‘Well, we had some shots in the leg!’ The answer delivered in cold blood shocked the representatives.”
Another side of the uprising that has remained in the shadows and has not been echoed in the media as it should is the shocking circumstances of those wounded.
The Iranian regime security forces used shotguns, axes, clubs, knives, etc. on a wide scale to suppress the protesters. But getting injured is not the end of the story for a protester. It is just the beginning of pain, sufferings and a new fight.
As experienced before, and as was expected, the regime attempted its utmost to trap and hunt down anti-regime protesters it could not arrest in the scene in any possible way.
Hospitals are the main ambushes for the regime to identify and capture protesters. Therefore, the wounded are practically denied enjoying any treatments in hospitals despite the fact that many wounded are in dire need of surgery and care. Talking to wounded protesters, they prefer to suffer at home or even lose their organs, rather than face an unknown and darker destiny.
One protester said, “… security forces targeted me with pellet gun fire. 18 pellets are in my hands and legs, but I could not go to a hospital because they arrested all injured individuals there. Now my right hand’s fingers are numb. There are also some shots in my right foot’s joint and my left elbow.”
Another witness from Tehran reported to the PMOI/MEK, “One of my relatives was hospitalized in Tehran’s Labbafinejad hospital… There were three wounded protesters shot by shotgun in my relative’s room under treatment, but security forces apprehended the three!”
A reporter of the PMOI/MEK website, also shot by shotgun and beaten with clubs has also the same story.
Mojahedin website reporter shot by pellet guns during the November uprising
The story of wounded protesters during uprisings in Iran is not an untold story in Iran’s society, and has been repeated during and after any uprisings in Iran. In the 1980s, the Iranian regime security forces and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) arrested many PMOI/MEK wounded members in hospitals. Elsewhere and in many cases IRGC forces even executed them on the scene at point-blank range or took them directly to interrogation rooms or placed them before death squads in prisons.
But a new phenomenon has widely emerged in Iran’s society among the Iranian people after the November uprising. Not only one cannot see fear or desperation among the wounded protesters, we are witnessing mothers, youth, fathers and even the elderly with gunshot wounds proudly talk about their painful wounds and sufferings, and are committed to put an end to the mullahs’ dictatorship very soon.
27 December 2019 is a strange day in the media. Twitter is abrim with a very abnormal image from a very well-known news magazine with a long history, Newsweek.
On its cover of Newsweek’s 27 December 2019 edition, it is written, “IF IRAN FALLS ISIS RISES AGAIN”! There is also a portrait of the Iranian regime’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
This expression was so ridiculous that many Iranians and non-Iranian people on Twitter couldn’t tolerate it and expressed their frustration about it.
The question is how an international news magazine can allow itself to judge and express itself in such an unprofessional way? Didn’t they know really what they do? How can someone allow itself so easy to play with the future of a great nation? And didn’t they know really about the roots of the problems in the Middle East?
Surely, we must say that they’re very well informed about everything. In the 21 century, it’s not very difficult to be informed and follow the news around the world.
From 15 November the Iranian people revolted against the totalitarian regime in Iran in more 191 cities, according to the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI). By searching the text of the article, the word “separatists” is written four times beside ISIS.
Saying that “separatists” or other ones, have and will take advantage of any unrest in the country!” If we just look at the widespread nature of the protests and the number of cities, we will see that quoting such an unrespectful remark shows that the writer of this text is really not well informed about a nation, or in the worst-case situation, is cooperating with a regime.
In reality, when Iranians in 191 cities have taken part in the protests, the issue is not at all related to a ‘separatist’ agenda, rather an entire nation is taking it upon itself to overthrow their despotic leaders.
Newsweek has closed its eyes on the brutality of this regime which has killed more than 1500 people and arrested more than 12000 people - numbers that are said warily because two days after the protests started, the regime cut off the Internet.
"Any collapse or weakening of a state in the region is likely to fuel into more instability in the region," the article adds as if reading from the mullahs’ talking points.
In reality, Iran’s regime has all but destroyed three other nations – Iraq, Syria and Yemen - in sectarian conflicts in the past 15 years, thus Newsweek’s claim is utterly shameful.
Just looking at the number of pro-Iranian militias that are responsible for death and destruction in Iraq is enough to show who is the main cause of the disaster in the Middle East:
Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF)
Badr Organization (formerly known as the Badr Brigade)
Kataib Hezbollah
Asaib Ahl al Haq
Harakat Hezbollah al Nujaba
Imam Ali Brigades
Kataib Sayyad al Shuhada
Saraya al-Salam
And of course, in Syria, Iran’s regime is supporting the Syrian dictator Bashar Al-Assad through its terrorist proxy forces:
"Kataeb al-Baath" (The Baath Phalange, named after the ruling Baath party)
"Suqur al-Sahraa" (The Desert Falcons)
"Nussur al-Zaoubaa"
"Jaysh al-Wafaa" (The Army of Loyalty)
"Dareh al-Sahel" (Shield of the Coast)
"Dareh al-Areen" (Shield of the Lion's Lair - Assad means "lion" in Arabic)
The Syrian Resistance Group
"Al-Hosn" (The Fort)
"Dareh al-Watan" (Shield of the Nation)
"Al-Maghawir" (The Commandos): a force of hundreds of members from tribes in the Badiya desert region. Funded by Iran.
The Shaitat tribe militiamen (also known as "Ussud al-Sharqiya", or Lions of the East)
Abu al-Fadl al-Abbas: a group of 3,000 Iraqi volunteers who defend the Shia holy site of Sayyida Zeinab south of Damascus.
Afghan "Fatimids": up to 3,000 men have fought in Daraa province in the south.
And last but not least, Lebanese Hezbollah.
In truth, ISIS has carried out huge crimes in the region. But just looking at the many militias that the Iranian regime has built, there is no doubt that the main winner of the acts and the existence of ISIS is the Iranian regime and no one else.
Looking at the number of people killed by these militias and comparing it to those killed by ISIS is a fact enough, more than 500,000 people have died in Syria as a result of a war fueled by Iran’s regime.
In Iraq, no one can say the exact number, but since the beginning of Iraq’s protests earlier this year, more than 400 people have been killed by Iranian-backed militias. The process of the events in the Middle East shows that the main winner of the existence of ISIS is the Iranian regime.
While the people of Iran chant in the Iran protests: “leave Syria, and think about us”, it is clear the Iranian regime made all this to survive the anger and the demands of the Iranian people. So, this article is just supporting the Godfather of ISIS.
While the real reason for the establishment of ISIS and who really supported it remains disputed. But the main winner was the Iranian regime.
What the Iranian people will say is that they don’t want anyone to judge and lie about the situation in Iran. In Iran, there are no “separatists”. Even after 40 years of this regime, they didn’t succeed to separate the Iranian people. And Iran will not be another Syria.
Newsweek’s cover of 1943 has reason to suggest that we should not forget, and there is no difference between dictators. If one dictator was bad for Europe and their people, now the dictator in Iran is bad too, for the Iranian people and the entire region.
The Iranian people have decided to bring about regime change, and nothing can stop them, even such a worthless and senseless article, which is not taking any responsibility with regard to the events that such an article can cause, only to secure some well-known economic interests.
As more information is trickling out every day about the slaughter of defenseless people in Iran during the November 2019 protests, undeniable evidence sheds light on the crimes committed against humanity.
Iranian officials are gradually acknowledging the crimes security forces have committed. On December 11, 2019, Amir Hossein Ghazizadeh Hashemi, member of the Iranian regime’s parliament, confirmed the brutal slaughter of the citizens of Mahshahr during the protests.
“A lot of people were killed in Mahshahr,” Ghazizadeh said in remarks carried by the state-run ISNA news agency.
Ghazizadeh tried to justify the killing by accusing the protesters of “trying to damage the main energy lines of the country.” But he admitted, “A group of innocents might also have been hurt in the incident.”
Hashemi also claimed, “We know exactly the identity of those killed” and how they got weapons, but he did not mention any figures.
Nearly a month after the nationwide November Iran protests the Islamic Republic has yet to publish the number of protesters killed by security forces.
In another such confession, a state-run news website confirmed that security forces had opened fire on the people of Shiraz. With the scale of the killings becoming evident, many officials are trying to distance themselves from the regime’s crimes in fear of the wrath of the people.
On December 10, 2019, Bahram Parsai, an MP from Shiraz, addressed Iranian regime president Hassan Rouhani, saying, “What measures did you consider to avoid killing the people? What preventive measures did you take before opening fire on the people?”
Parsai also called it unwise to describe the protesters as “rioters,” a term that the highest Iranian authorities have been using to refer to the people who have taken part in the protests.
A clerical regime’s official also spoke out about the killing of a nurse at a hospital as she was standing by the window.
Mohammad Javad Baqeri, the Friday Prayer leader of the city of Asalem in Gilan Province and representative of the mullahs’ supreme leader in this city, revealed that at one of Tehran hospitals, an innocent nurse was directly shot in the forehead as she was watching the protests from a window and attempted to shoot films.
In his sermon at the Friday prayer on December 6, 2019, Baqeri brazenly said, “They don’t give you candies amidst the fight and clashes. There are bullets. Someone was telling me last night that (in one of the early days of the protests) he was in a busy hospital in Tehran. A female nurse went to the window. She said she wanted to take films (from the protests). As she was attempting to take a film from the protests outside, a bullet struck her right in the middle of her forehead!”
The Iranian regime brutally cracked down on nationwide protests that erupted on November 16 after the regime tripled the price of gasoline. At least 1,000 protesters were killed, around 4,000 were wounded and injured and 12,000 were detained. Many of the detainees are under torture and several have died in prison.
آخوند روحانی امروز به مجلس ارتجاع رفت تا لایحهٔ بودجهٔ سال ۱۳۹۹ را ارائه کند. وی در سخنرانی خود این بودجهٔ را که اساساً با تشدید فشار بر مردم سرهمبندی شده، بودجهٔ استقامت و مقابله با تحریمها نامید و بهطور مضحکی ادعا کرد: «بهرغم تحریم توانستهایم کشور را بهخوبی اداره کنیم».
بر اساس متن کوتاه شدهای از سخنان خامنهای که سایت مجلس رژیم منتشر کرده، رئیسجمهور ارتجاع، بدون هیچ اشارهای به قیام خونین آبان که طی آن مردم ایران در ۲۰۰شهر کشور علیه حکومت آخوندی قیام کردند، از «ایام شعف ملت ایران و نمایندگان ملت برای حضور در یازدهمین دوره انتخابات مجلس» سخن گفت.
آخوند روحانی که اساس اظهارات خود را بر دروغ و وارونهگویی گذاشته بود، همچنین به فاجعهٔ سیل در آغاز سال جاری اشاره کرد، اما این فاجعه را رحمت خداوندی نامید و گفت: «آغاز سال جاری همراه با رحمت خداوندی و بارشهای پربرکت آسمانی بود و البته مشکلاتی برای مردم در ۲۱استان ایجاد شد».
روحانی در ادامهٔ وارونهگوییهای خود ادعا کرد که دولت او در همهٔ شاخصهای اقتصادی پیشرفت داشته، از جمله مدعی شد که نرخ تورم ۵۲درصدی را به ۲۷درصد کاهش داده است. وی همچنین بدون اشاره به رکود اقتصادی و تشدید روند نابودی تولید با نرخ رشد منفی ۹ و ۴دهم درصدی مدعی شد «صنایع بورس رشد ۳.۷درصد در تولید و ۱۴.۵درصد در ارزش و فروش داشته است».
روحانی از رشد تولیدات کشاورزی هم صحبت کرد و گفت: «حرکت دولت در زمینه کشاورزی، آب و برق صحیح بوده و آنچه دشمنان دنبال میکردند، که همان شکست اقتصاد کشور بود، ناموفق ماند». اما او توضیح نداد که پس چرا وزیر کشاورزی دولت او با مطرح شدن احتمال استیضاح وی در مجلس ارتجاع، چند روز پیش استعفا داد؟
روحانی همچنین بر سر کارمندان منت گذاشت که حقوق ثابت آنها در سال جاری ۲۰درصد افزایش داشته و تلاش شده در سال آینده هم ۱۵درصد افزایش یابد. این در حالی است که بر اساس آمارهای ارائه شده توسط ارگانهای خود رژیم تورم در سال جاری حدود ۴۲درصد بوده و کارشناسان اقتصادی رژیم افزایش این نرخ را در سال ۹۹، پیشبینی کردهاند.
روحانی در ارائهٔ ارقام کلی بودجه که عمداً برخی را به ریال و برخی را به تومان بیان میکرد، رقم کل بودجه را ۴میلیون و ۸۴۵هزار و ۹۶۸هزار میلیارد ریال اعلام کرد که با نرخ دلار در بازار آزاد حدوداً معادل ۳۶میلیارد دلار است. به گفتهٔ تلویزیون رژیم این بودجه بر اساس صادرات ۵۰۰هزار بشکه در روز تنظیم شده که کارشناسان خود رژیم آن را بهکلی غیرواقعی میدانند.
روحانی از بیان رقم کسری بودجه خودداری کرد، اما سایت حکومتی مشرق (۱۷آذر) نوشت: کسری بودجه ۹۹ با مالیات کشیدن از حقوق دستمزد بگیران تأمین میشود.
Pictures of some of the martyrs of the November Iran Protests-2019
Published on .
IRAN UPRISING – NO. 36
CALL ON THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY TO HALT IRAN REGIME’S CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY
The People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) announced that the number of those killed during the Iranian people’s nationwide uprising that engulfed 176 cities has surpassed 450. The actual figure is higher. But the regime is desperately trying to conceal the true dimensions of its horrific crimes, using different tactics such as cutting off the Internet and refusing to hand over the bodies of those killed to their families or preventing funerals for them.
The wave of arrests is continuing. Tehran’s prisons, including Evin and Fashafouyeh, are overflowing with detainees and facing severe space shortages. In many cities, the detainees are being held in grade or high schools and government buildings. At the same time, the regime’s Judiciary officials in various provinces such as Tehran, Khuzestan, and Fars are speaking of holding special courts for those arrested. Speaking at Tehran’s Friday prayer Congregation on November 22, Ahmad Khatami, a member of the Assembly of Experts’ Presidium, described those arrested as saboteurs who have waged war on God. He demanded that the Judiciary give them maximum punishment. Previously, Khamenei’s mouthpiece, the daily Kayhan, wrote on November 18, “Judicial bodies say execution by hanging for the leaders of the recent riot are certain.”
The international community’s silence and inaction is unacceptable. The UN Security Council must declare that the religious fascism ruling #Iran is engaged in crimes against humanity. #IranProtests
Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), described the killing of the protesters as a manifest case of crime against humanity. She demanded urgent action by the world community so that the murder and suppression of the protesters are halted immediately. She called on the United Nations to quickly dispatch fact-finding missions to Iran. Mrs. Rajavi added that the regime leaders must face justice for perpetrating crimes against humanity. Silence and inaction, she said, are both a violation of international conventions, laws ad standards, and embolden the regime to continue its crimes and expand them to the region.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
November 26, 2019
Names of 154 protesters killed:
Tehran – Ms. Mina Sheikhi
Tehran – Ms. Golnaz Samsami
Tehran – Sajjad Baqeri
Tehran – Fereidoun Kazemi
Tehran – Ali Behboudi
Tehran – Ali Morad-manesh
Tehran – Abdollah Ajarloo
Tehran – Ali Dahlir
Tehran – Yashar Alizadeh
Tehran – Peyman Nouri
Tehran – Mahmoud Vali-e Elahi
Tehran – Moussa Shahsavand
Tehran – Ali Shahsavand
Tehran – Hamzeh Shahsavand
Tehran – Khosro Bakhtiari
Tehran – Saeed Yousefi
Tehran – Hossein Yami
Tehran – Hossein Issavand
Tehran – Seyed Qassem Hosseini
Tehran – Erfan Faeqi
Tehran – Mehrdad Moin
Tehran – Qods – Hossein Shahbazi
Tehran – Qods - …. Alizadeh
Tehran – Qods – Javad Babai
Tehran – Islamshahr – Iman Rassouli
Tehran – Islamshahr – Mohsen Jafarpanah
Tehran – Islamshahr – Arash Kohzadi
Tehran – Islamshahr – Mohammad Mehdi Haghgouy
Tehran – Shahriar – Reza Hassanvand
Tehran – Shahriar – Ebrahim Mohammad-pour
Tehran – Shahriar – Ms. Azadeh Zarbi
Tehran – Shahriar – Mehdi Paapi
Tehran – Shahriar – Hossein Ghadami
Tehran – Shahriar – Mehdi Da’emi
Tehran – Shahriar – Ehsan Shiri
Tehran – Shahriar – Milad Najahvand
Tehran – Shahriar – Aliollah Amini
Tehran – Shahriar – Qassem Rezai
Tehran – Shahriar - …. Yar Mohammadi
Tehran – Shahriar – ….. Momeni
Tehran – Shahriar – Seyed Mohammad Hossein Tahaei
Tehran – Baharestan – Ms. Fatima Habbibi
Tehran – Baherestan – Gol Agha Nouri
Alborz Province – Hadi Sartipi
lborz Province – Pedram Jafari Kamijani
Alborz Province (Fardis) – Ashur Kalna (Christian)
IRAN UPRISING – NO. 36
