Sociologists Say Lack Of Public Trust Driving Iran Protests

In a statement published on Tuesday, they said that 44 years after the establishment of the Islamic Republic the country's economic, political and social situation has plunged into a "vortex of crisis and disintegration." 

They added that no clear and attainable prospect can be envisioned to end the current situation within the existing political framework, calling for building a new, modern and humane society after the Islamic Republic.

They described about five months of street protests as an attempt to end the existing inhumane situation, noting that their efforts against the misogyny and gender discrimination, unrelenting economic insecurity, poverty and labor exploitation, as well as ethnic, class and religious subjugation have been suppressed by the regime. 

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Outlining 12 main demands, they called for the release of all political prisoners, prohibition of criminalizing political, union, and civil activities, public trial of the leaders and perpetrators of the violence against protesters, unrestricted freedom of opinion, expression and thought, assembly, and social media as well as policies to preserve natural resources and ending environmental degradation.

In their charter, they also demanded abolition of the death sentence and prohibition of torture as well as a secular constitution. They said the organizations and institutions tasked with repression should be dismantled and the powers of the government should be limited.

They also urged normalization of foreign relations at the highest levels with all the countries of the world and equal rights for women and LGBTQ+ community. 

The Coordinating Council of Iranian Teachers' Trade Association, The Independent Iranian Workers Union, The Union of Student Organizations, Defenders of Human Rights Center, Haft Tappeh Sugar Cane Mill Labor Syndicate, and Council for Organizing Oil Contract-Workers' Protests were some of the signatories of the charter. 

Moreover, a group of families of those killed by the Islamic Republic announced the establishment of a council to push for justice and setting up “an independent judiciary." In a video statement released to media on Wednesday, they said as long as "the mullahs' hellish regime” persists, more people will be slaughtered “for the crime of patriotism and seeking freedom.”

“We, the families of the petitioners, whose loved ones have been murdered by the regime of the Islamic Republic of Iran for 43 years, demand the establishment of a judiciary independent of the political system, after the overthrow of the regime inside the country.” they added. 

On Valentine's Day, February 14, families of protesters killed gathered at their graves with flowers and red balloons and other symbols to mark the day of romance and love. Social media is full of photos of the families who marked the day in memory of their loved ones killed by the regime. 

Canada-based activist leader Hamed Esmaeilion, whose daughter and wife were killed by the IRGC in the shooting down of Flight PS752 in 2020, tweeted in memory of his lost wife and daughter in their last Valentine’s Day together. He said that his daughter was excited that he bought flowers for her too and kept them until they dried. 

According to human rights groups, the Islamic Republic has killed over 500 people, including at least 70 children, during its crackdown on the ongoing protests. 

In their historic joint event in Washington on February 10, eight prominent opposition figures held a joint forum, signaling the emergence of a leadership council in the diaspora to campaign for international support in favor of Iran’s protest movement. They also called for support from democratic countries to change the regime in Iran and establish democracy. The group is also working on a charter for a transition to an Iran after the Islamic Republic that would be ready at the end of the month. They said “the world must prepare itself for a day without the Islamic republic."

The 83-year-old autocrat made the remarks Wednesday during a meeting with a group of people from Iran’s East Azerbaijan Province and said that voice of the Iranian people during the anniversary was louder than all other voices.

His remarks come as most European diplomats boycotted the government-organized anniversary events and reports from Iran say the turnout in rallies was much lower than in previous years.

Coinciding with the anniversary, dozens of cities around the world witnessed protests against the clerical regime on Saturday, February 11.

Just in Los Angeles, an estimated 80,000 Iranians held a massive rally to show anger at Khamenei and his regime’s brutality.

However, Khamenei claimed, “This last Saturday was a historic day. People literally created an epic across the country.”

“Of course, there are and there were opposing and dissident voices. The enemies – the world’s media empire, which is in the hands of the Zionists and the Americans – tried to make the [opposing] voices prevail, but no; [they] could not. The voice of the nation prevailed over the voice of others.”

Iran has been the scene of anti-regime protests since September following the death in custody of Mahsa Amini. Security forces have killed over 500 people and arrested thousands of others.

Khamenei has been blaming the United States and its allies for instigating the protests.

Reza Hosseini Ghotbabadi, a lawmaker, charged that the administration's behavior contradicts Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's call for giving hope to the society.

He added that some of Raisi's aides and ministers lack the managerial experience for running the affairs of the state. He further charged that blaming all the country's problems on the previous governments rather than accepting responsibility for the shortcomings is unethical.

He said Raisi should have been familiar with the issue of financial corruption as the country's former Judiciary Chief and should have prevented wrongdoing while he was in that capacity. Meanwhile, he warned that the next government in Iran might also blame Raisi and his cabinet for the country's problems.

Ghotbabadi said elsewhere that Raisi and his aides believe themselves to be the only wise individuals in Iran and that they are not prepared to consult with others including the parliament about the affairs of the state.

"The government makes all decisions secretly among insiders. But chaos will continue in Iran as long as the administration refuses to work with the parliament.”

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Meanwhile, in similar statements, Rasoul Montajabnia, the secretary general of the pro-reform Republicanism Party said in an interview that some Iranian officials see themselves as the essence of the political system and impose a minority's views on everyone. "They believe that they are the system and insist that protecting the system is the most important thing to do," he said.

Referring to former Prime Minister Mir Hossein Mousavi and Former President Mohammad Khatami's statements about the need for essential changes in the system, Montajabnia said differentiation should be made between the regime and those who are or have been working within this system.

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He added that the mistakes and naivety of radicals within the system has weakened the constitution and tarnished the image of the regime. Nonetheless, he said that in the 1990s he had opposed the idea of changing the system. "Of course, the system needs to be reformed but not all of the current problems have their roots in the nature of the system," Montajabnia said.

Until recently this has been the position of all reformists who have tried for 25 years to reform the Islamic Republic. However, Mousavi and a few hundreds of other reformists have come out demanding constitutional change that could effectively put an end to the Islamic Republic in its current form.

In another development, responding to hardliners such as the editor of Kayhan daily, who have said that people's participation in the revolution anniversary rallies on February 11 show that no change should be made in the constitution, the former chairman of the Tehran City Council Mohsen Hashemi said that those who took part in the revolution anniversary rallies do not represent the majority of Iranians.

He warned: "Economic, social and cultural indicators point to an alarming state, so, please stop putting more holes in the boat!" He pointed out that in a city like Tehran even if 500 thousand people turned up for the rallies, this is hardly five percent of the city's population. So, we need to consider the demands and views of the other 95 percent."

"Another point to consider is that the views of that five percent should not be taken as the entire nation's support for government policies," Hashemi added. Meanwhile he warned that a majority of Iranians are living under the poverty line, and this means that they are being drowned in economic problems.

Around 200 students and at least one teacher in 12 different girls’ schools have reported symptoms such as nausea, headaches, coughing, difficulty breathing, heart palpitations, and lethargy since November 30 when 18 students of a secondary school fell ill with similar symptoms. Two weeks later 51 students fell ill in the same school again.

The education department had to close all schools in Qom for two days last week after several other schools were affected, causing a public scare. When students returned Sunday after the weekend and a public holiday Saturday, 37 girls in three different schools fell ill again.

In a commentary Tuesday published by Qom News, Nafiseh Moradi, an Islamic studies researcher at Tehran’s Al-Zahra University, speculated that ultra-religious groups with beliefs similar to those of the Taliban in Afghanistan may be behind the mysterious poisonings.

Moradi said the Taliban’s ban on girls’ education may have inspired the ultra-religious in Qom to carry out attacks on schools for girls to instill fear in students and their families with the ultimate aim of keeping them at home. She advised the authorities to hold classes online until the perpetrators of these terrorist attacks are identified.

Some of the students have had to be hospitalized for up to a week due to the severeness of their symptoms but most others were released within hours. In some cases, symptoms have lasted for weeks.

“We don’t want unsafe schools!”, “Schools must be secured,” “Answer us Mr. Governor!”, hundreds of protesters chanted while also calling the governor “scoundrel” for failing to investigate and address the poisonings in several girls schools.

The city of Qom with a population of over 1.2 million is home to most of Iran's religious seminaries and the popular shrine of Masoumeh, sister of Imam Reza, the eighth imam who is buried in Mashhad.

“You must ensure the safety of our children,” one of the parents shouts in a video posted on social media while others cheer. He says his solution to the problem is not sending his children to school anymore.

So far, authorities have not found the cause of the mysterious illness. Some of the victims have reported falling ill after an aroma, resembling tangerines, filled the air in the classrooms.

Deputy head of Qom Medical Sciences University, Dr. Majid Mohebbi, told the Revolutionary Guards linked Tasnim news agency Monday that MRI and other tests carried out on the affected students all came out normal, and nothing was detected in samples taken from the students and the classrooms. He also stressed that the cause of the illness could not be carbon monoxide poisoning from the heating systems.

Tasnim and other state media refrain from mentioning that the mysterious poisonings happen only in girls’ schools, but many believe it may be intentional targeting of female students. According to Qom News, authorities have been trying to hush the media reporting of the incidents and their cause.

Mojtaba Zolnuri, the representative of Qom in the parliament, has said that there is no doubt that the poisonings is intentional and “a matter of [national] security.”

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Karin Deutsch Karlekar, director of PEN America’s Expression at Risk programs, released a statement Tuesday saying Khandan’s summoning is another attempt to intimidate and silence Sotoudeh.

“The summons recently issued to Reza Khandan, which will pull him away from his family and into Iran’s notorious and overcrowded prisons, is an outrage,” reads the statement.

“For more than a decade, his wife Nasrin Sotoudeh has been a leading voice of conscience in Iran, working, writing, and speaking out against injustice and in support of fundamental human rights and the rule of law,” added Karlekar.

Kalekar also called for a review and cancellation of Khandan’s sentence.

Khandan was summoned February 13by the judiciary to serve his prison term. He was sentenced to six years in jail in 2019, along with Farhad Meysami, a doctor and civil activist, but the implementation of his sentence was postponed.

He was summoned a few days after his wife's interview with the CNN about Iran's protests.

In this interview, Nasrin Sotoudeh emphasized that despite government repressions, the people of Iran still want a referendum and a regime change.