Iran: A Nation Rent Asunder

Women burn headscarves during a protest over Amini's death in the city of Qamishli, Syria, on Monday. (Orhan Qereman/Reuters)

"The spark that lit the recent Iranian protests -- which increasingly displays all the hallmarks of a revolution -- was the murder of a 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman named Mahsa Amini at the hands of Iran's 'morality police'."

"They had detained her because her hijab did not meet the Iranian regime's strict standards."

"The protests that have gripped the country after Amini's death are the stuff of nightmares for the geriatric clerics and military thugs that have run Iran since 1979."

"Unlike in previous protests where the people chanted for economic relief or fair elections, the message from the streets has been clear: "Death to the dictator".

"There is perhaps no better symbol of the system's cruelty than its current president, Ebrahim Raisi, a man who by all accounts was directly involved in sending approximately 5,000 political prisoners to the gallows in a massacre n 1988."

Kaveh Shahrooz, lawyer, human rights activist, senior fellow, Macdonald Laurier Institute

A demonstrator holds a photo of Mahsa Amini during a protest outside the Iranian Embassy in Nicosia, Cyprus, on Tuesday. Amini died after being arrested by Iran's morality police for allegedly violating its strictly enforced dress code. (Philippos Christou/The Associated Press)

 

Several days ago state-organized demonstrations in several cities in Iran countered anti-government unrest resulting from the death of the young Kurdish-Iranian woman who was murdered in police custody. Marchers in these demonstrations called for the execution of anti-government protesters. The Iranian military has warned the Iranian public it planned to confront "the enemies" causing the unrest. The pro-government demonstrators condemned anti-government groups as "Israel's soldiers", shouting "Death to America" and "Death to Israel".

Mahsa Amini's death last week has spurred Iranians to stage mass protests country-wide, outraged that morality police arrested her for wearing "unsuitable attire". The Iranian military messaged that "These desperate actions [demonstrations] are part of the evil strategy of the enemy to weaken the Islamic regime". And it was the intention of the military to "confront the enemies' various plots in order to ensure security and peace for the people who are being unjustly assaulted".

 

A demonstrator cuts his hair during a protest in Nicosia, Cyprus, on Sunday. (Yiannis Kourtoglou/Reuters)

 

According to Iran's Intelligence Minister, "Seditionists' dream of defeating religious values and the great achievements of the revolution will never be realized". In Amini's home province of Kurdistan anti-government protests were particularly resonant. In towns in the northwest of Iran where many of Iran's ten million Kurds live, a general strike in protest was held. The Islamic Republic is in the grip of crises, both internal and external. Some 46 cities in Iran along with towns and villages have seen protests, unnerving authorities.

 

People participate in a protest in New York City on Tuesday. Amini's death in police custody has sparked demonstrations in Iran and worldwide. (Stephanie Keith/Reuters)

 

Dozens of protesters and police have been killed since September 17 when the protests began, with over 1,200 demonstrators arrested. Authorities are restricting internet access, detaining journalists and placing tight controls on all levers of government power. Protesters' capacity to organize and share videos with the outside world has been limited by Instagram, LinkedIn and WhatsApp restrictions; the last Western social media apps in the country. Short video clips have emerged, however, some of security forces firing at protesters and women defiantly snipping their hair off, burning hijabs.

The feared basij motorcycle-riding volunteer forces allied with Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard have attacked demonstrators. Demonstrators have also set fires, flipped over police cars, fighting back against riot police. Independent observers like human rights activists face threats, intimidation and arrest. The public has received government text messages warning of criminal charges for joining demonstrations.

Western sanctions have wiped out savings of a generation in the country, with the economy cratered. Iran's currency value has plummeted from 32,000 rials for a dollar in 2015, to 315,000 rials for a dollar in 2022. Iranian youth attempt to go abroad at whatever cost, leaving the struggle to make ends meet behind them. The 2021 presidential election where Ebrahim Raisi, a protege of Ayatollah Khamenei, saw the lowest electorate vote in the history of the Islamic Republic.

Both in the military and economic sphere, the Revolutionary Guard, answerable only to the Grand Ayatollah, has become ever more powerful during recent tensions with the West. According to the U.S. Treasury, the Guard has smuggled "hundreds of millions of dollars" of sanctioned oil into the international market. Both the Guard and the senior theocracy hold financial and political incentives to protect the status quo, even in the face of the current and growing mass protests by the Iranian public.

Iranian pro-government protesters wave their national flag during a rally in Tehran on Sunday against the recent anti-government protests in the country. (AFP/Getty Images)