Iranians Regret Voting For Islamic Republic In 1979, Says Lawmaker

Iranian state media reported Monday that Khademalsharieh had competed at the World Rapid Chess Championships without wearing the hijab which under Iran’s Islamic dress codes is compulsory.

The twenty-five-year-old International Master (IM) and Woman Grandmaster (WGM) since 2013 is yet to comment on her move. Khademalsharieh, 25, ranks 804 in the world, according to the International Chess Federation (FIDE) website.

Khademalsharieh is the latest of several Iranian female athletes such as sport climber Elnaz Rekabi to appear at competitions unveiled since the nationwide uprising sparked by the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa (Jina) Amini who was arrested by morality police for what authorities deemed as “improper hijab”.

The protests mark one of the boldest challenges to Iran's leadership since its 1979 revolution and have drawn in Iranians from all walks of life. Women have played a prominent role in the uprising. Many among them have removed their headscarves, and in some cases burned them, and inspired both men and women to be brave.

Iran's female chess players have been defying hijab rules for several years. Dorsa Derakhshani, International Master and Woman Grandmaster since 2016, was barred from the national team after refusing to wear a headscarf in 2017 Gibraltar Chess Festival when she was a temporary resident of Spain. The 19-year-old chess player then moved to the United States where she attended Saint Louis University to officially represent the United States.

In 2020, Iran Chess Federation expelled veteran chess player Mitra Hejazipour, also a Woman Grandmaster since 2015, for removing her hijab during the World Rapid & Blitz Chess Championship in Moscow in 2019. The 27-year-old Iranian athlete was sacked after superbly playing for her home country for eighteen years. She is playing for France now.

Female athletes defy the hijab rules receive great support and even called heroes by people but endure much pressure from the authorities.

Rekabi was greeted by a cheering crowd when she returned home from the competitions in October. Shortly after her arrival at the airport, the state media published a video interview of her at the arrival hall in which, seemingly under pressure and threat, she had to call her hijab had “inadvertent” dropped. At the time of the interview, she looked distressed and was surrounded by officials and plainclothes security agents.

Niloufar Madani, a member of the national Iranian speed skating team stepped on a podium in Turkey on November 6 to receive the top award while not wearing a headscarf.

She was arrested by the Islamic Republic’s agents after returning to Iran and later a statement attributed to her was published in which she said she appeared unveiled in public by mistake. Most Iranians believe that such statements are made under the pressure of regime agents.

In November, Parmida Qasemi, a member of Iran’s archery national team, also removed her hijab during the awards ceremony of Persian Gulf Cup in Tehran before the unbelieving eyes of Iranian sport officials. However, she also claimed she had not noticed her hijab drop during the ceremony.

Iran’s deputy sports minister, Maryam Kazemipour, in November accused female athletes of acting “against Islamic norms” and said she regretted that they had chosen to show defiance.

Before drowning himself in the Rhone River in Lyon, Moradi, 38, posted a video on social media in which with the river in the background he said his suicide was not prompted by personal issues. He had taken the decision to take his own life in protest because life meant nothing to him when the clerical regime continued to suppress his people.

Divers pulled out his body around 6:30 pm from the river but he could not be resuscitated despite emergency services’ many efforts.

The video in which he also said farewell to the people of Lyon where he used to live with his wife has shocked many.

“Now in my country there is a very big movement against government violence. We have an Islamic regime that tries to drill things into people’s heads. The police attack people very violently during the demonstrations. Sadly, we have lost many young daughters, sons, teenagers and even kids. We have to do something,” he said in his message.

“It’s like a challenge to show that the Iranians are so tired of this situation. We want to change our country to a democratic country with equal rights for women and men.”

“When you watch this video, I will be dead. But I am happy because I chose this path without any stress. I’m not sad. I decided to do this to show everyone that we Iranians need help,” concluded the tragic video.

“We will show no mercy to the hostile opponents,” President Ebrahim Raisi said in a speech to members of the Revolutionary Guards Basij militia and supporters of the regime in Tehran Tuesday,

Raisi also accused the exiled Mujahedeen-e Khalq Organization (MEK), which he referred to as hypocrites, as well as monarchists and “all anti-revolutionary currents” of being behind the current protests which began in mid-September following the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody.

The regime has already shown an iron feast in dealing with peaceful protesters two among whom it has executed while dozens of others face a risk of being hanged after unfair trials without due process.

Security forces have cracked down heavily on protesters, killed over 500 hundred and arrested over 18,000 so far.

Raisi once again claimed that the protesting youths have been“deceived” by those who are hostile to the Islamic Republic. “The nation’s arms are open to embrace all those who were lured [to protest],” he said while reiterating that the people on the streets are rioters. “The recent riots were [similar to] the Battle of Trench [fought by the Prophet Muhammad against his foe Abu Sufyan] with everyone joining in [with the enemy].”

Raisi stated that the Islamic Republic will not back down from its position as it is determined only to “move forward” under the leadership of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Within the past couple of months Iranians have been calling for the downfall of the Islamic regime, blaming the Supreme Leader as the main culprit behind the killing of hundreds of innocent demonstrators.

Alicia Kearns, chair of the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, said Monday that the Iranian regime had shown it would “happily” arrest people as it seeks to blame foreign countries for escalating anti-government protests.

In a statement on Monday, the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) said that it had arrested seven people with “direct links” to Britain in the central Kerman province including some dual nationals. The IRGC also alleged that the network, which called itself ‘Zagros’, acted under the direct guidance of elements in Britain to organize and carry out “subversive conspiracies” during the ongoing protests.

Iranian state media claim that the seven people who were apprehended were arrested while trying to escape the country.

“If I was a British foreign national in Iran, I would absolutely be leaving, because there is evidence that they will use them in any game of chess they can and they will face brutal repression. I would encourage anyone who is Western to try to leave Iran as safely as they can,” added Kearns.

Iran’s foreign ministry has alleged the arrests of citizens linked to Britain proved that London has played a “destructive role” in recent protests in Iran.

The British foreign ministry said it was seeking further information from Iranian officials on reports that British-Iranian dual nationals had been detained.

Following Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s lead, Iranian officials claim that the ongoing antigovernment protests across Iran – ignited by death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini -- are instigated by foreign enemies.

Female and male victims including some as young as eighteen have told Iran International TV that sexual violence against detained protesters is quite widespread. Their stories are very difficult to verify due to victims’ fear of disclosing personal information and retribution against them and their families.

One of the victims said she and others who were arrested with her were stripped naked in front of male officers at Vali Asr Garrison in Tehran, groped in the genital area, sprayed with cold water, and repeatedly tased to force them to consent to make so-called televised “confessions” against themselves and others. “They threatened us with rape,” the victim who was freed on bail after twenty days said.

“There were two female and two male officers in the van [that took us to Enghelab Police Station]. The men body searched us in the most disgusting manner,” another female victim from Tehran who was arrested with others on Enghelab Avenue said, adding that the male officers told them to shut up when they protested to being touched by them when there were female officers present.

A victim from the religious city of Mashhad in northeastern Iran, said she and eleven others were stripped in front of male officers and then forced to squat jump while the officers “frenziedly laughed.” Others have also said officers had groped their backsides and squeezed their breasts during arrest and interrogations. Many say they were threatened with rape or even rape of their family members.

These incidents have been reported from detention centers, prisons, and sometimes in places outside the official system such as warehouses out of town in several major cities including Esfahan, Rasht, Tehran, Karaj, Bandar Abbas, Ahvaz, Tabriz, Sanandaj, Amol, and Mashhad.

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There are some reports of much worse violence. Armita Abbasi, a young woman of 20, was reportedly raped brutally after being arrested on October 10. She was taken to a hospital in Karaj on October 18 by security forces with multiple injuries including internal bleeding, a shaved head, and evidence of repeated rape. Reportedly, they tried to pressure the doctors to attribute the rape trauma evidence to a time prior to her arrest. Her trial, according to her mother, has been scheduled for January 26.

Influential Sunni cleric Mowlavi Abdolhamid Esmail-Zehi in his Friday sermon December 23 referred to reports of rape and torture of detainees. In a tweet on December 5, Abdolhamid had said the accounts of sexual assault on female detainees to humiliate them or to force them to make false “confessions” against themselves corroborate the allegations made by the media and urged the judiciary to investigate such allegations.

Ladan Boroumand, cofounder and research director of the Abdorrahman Boroumand Foundation for the Promotion of Human Rights and Democracy in Iran, told Iran International that the government is using sexual violence to demonstrate that it knows no boundaries when it comes to achieving its goal of suppressing the protest movement, to humiliate the detainees, and to instil fear in other people.

In a report on December 21 entitled “Brutal Repression in Kurdistan Capital”, Human Rights Watch said it has documented serious abuses, including sexual harassment and assault against detainees. Two women arrested together during the first week of protests in September told the global rights watchdog that security forces beat, sexually assaulted, and threatened them with rape during arrest and while they were held at the police station.