A group of clerics, activists, and other prominent figures in Iran’s Kurdish-majority city of Javanrud have called on the Islamic Republic to end its military siege aimed at ending protests.
In a statement read out in a video message, they urged the regime to end “the economic and military siege" of the city, as well as to stop creating the atmosphere of fear and insecurity.
They also mentioned the situation in the country as evidence of the continuation of the "violent crackdown” on people of the city, calling for ending the repression and releasing people who were arrested during recent protests.
They criticized the regime’s increasing use of military force in the city that has led to widespread anxiety, and crisis in the city.
In addition to Javanrud in western Kermanshah province, they also denounced the military atmosphere of other places, especially cities with Kurdish population in western Iran, and Baluchi population in Sistan-Baluchistan province as well as the city of Semirom in the central Esfahan province.
The military checkpoints at the gates of these cities should be removed so that normal life can be restored for the residents of these cities, they added.
Late in December, security forces attacked the memorial services of some of the protesters that were killed earlier in the city, shooting one more person to death. Since then, clashes have intensified between people and the security forces, most of whom are deployed from other locations to the city of about 50,000 residents. According to local sources, regime agents have stepped up the atmosphere of terror and repression, raiding the homes at night without any court order and arresting people.
Erfan Kakaie, Bahaoddin Veisi, Tahsin Miri, Masoud Teimuri, Jamal Azami, Johar Fatahi and Esmail Gol Anbar were killed by government forces during the bloody protests on November 20 and 21 in Javanrud. The ceremony to mark the fortieth day after their death was supposed to be attended by a large crowd of people last Saturday, December 31. Regime forces fired live rounds and tear gas at the people attending the procession, killing a 22-year-old resident identified as Borhan Eliasi.
Iran's Kurdish cities have been at the forefront of the protests that started with the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini from the Kurdish city of Saqqez in mid-September. People in most Kurdish-populated areas in Kordestan, West Azarbaijan and Kermanshah provinces have relentlessly protested and defied government forces since Amini’s death.
The situation is not as tense in other parts of the country, but issuing death sentences as well as long prison terms for detained protesters continues. Pressures on the families of the dead and detained protesters are unrelenting and still there are reports of unexplained deaths of prisoners within a few days after their release.
Meanwhile, following the finalization of the death sentence of Mohammad-Mehdi Karami and Mohammad Hosseini, who are sentenced to death for the alleged murder of a pro-regime Basij member during a protest near Tehran on November 3, the situation at the prison they are being kept in is also tense.
On Wednesday, two members of the Australian House of Representatives -- Keith Wolahan and Aaron Violi -- called on the Islamic Republic to stop issuing death sentences for people arrested in recent protests. They also offered to take political sponsorship for fifteen imprisoned protestors who are facing the death sentence. “Mohammed Mehdi Karami is only 22 years of age and has just been sentenced to death for protesting,” said Wolahan in a letter to the Charge d'affaires of the Islamic Republic in Australia.
Amid increasing pressure on detained protestors, the wave of hunger strikes in prisons is on the rise with the detainees’ health in danger. Armita Abbasi, and over a dozen other female prisoners in Kachouie prison of Karaj, west of Tehran, have gone on hunger strike since Monday to protest their indefinite detention, lack of access to lawyers and the danger of harsh verdicts.
Addressing a group of cherrypicked women from his supporters on Wednesday, he rejected the facts that women are unveiling in public to defy the mandatory Islamic dress code – or hijab. It was forcible enforcement of hijab in society that triggered popular protests since September - the boldest challenge the Islamic Republic has ever faced.
“The absolute brazenness of the West comes into sight when it presents itself as the forerunner of advocacy for women’s rights, whilst it is responsible for flurries of blows dealt to the dignity and prestige of women. This could be explained as utter shamelessness... This is what they suggest by women’s rights and freedom. This is by no means freedom, but rather utter slavery,” Khamenei said.
Despite a massive number of videos and photos of women and schoolgirls unveiling and burning their headscarves in protest to the compulsory hijab as well as the clerical regime, Khamenei claimed that women did not remove their hijab during the protests.
Khamenei’s refusal to acknowledge 110 days of ongoing protests, ignited by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in the hands of hijab enforcement police, has led to an explosion of tweets and posts against him and the regime on social media Wednesday.
During the hour-long session, he almost exclusively talked about women and hijab but stopped short of stating his final opinion about how to enforce hijab in society, which could lead to more protests. Khamenei called hijab a religious must but added that those who do not wear “full hijab” should not be accused of irreligious. Describing hijab as the inevitable duty for all Muslim women, at the same time he emphasized that no Iranian woman should be labeled as non-religious or anti-revolutionary if she fails to fully honor the obligation.
He criticized the intermingling of men and women in Western societies, saying that contrary to the propagated notion, the coexistence has failed to diminish men’s carnal desires and has instead amplified it, resulting in women and girls being sexually harassed on streets, in workplaces, educational centers and even in military facilities. “Sex trade, sexual slavery, violation of all moral and humanitarian principles, and legalization of issues that are forbidden in all divine religions” are now widely prevalent across the West, Khamenei claimed. He failed to mention that all these problems exist also in Iran and “men’s carnal desires” are legalized in the Islamic Republic where they can legally have up to four wives and as many concubines as they desire.
He also opted not to talk about the inequality of men and women in their basic rights. The Islamic Republic’s constitution clearly states that women are considered as inferior to men in terms of inheritance, testifying in courts and in many other areas according to the Islamic law or sharia. Women in Iran are not allowed to travel abroad without the permission of a male guardian, their share in inheritance is half of what male family members receive -- the financial compensation paid to survivors in cases of unnatural death, is also half of that of a man.
Khamenei tried to sound progressive by underlining the importance of employing efficient, experienced, knowledgeable, and wise women at various levels of Iran’s decision-making apparatus, but practically women hardly ever manage to be appointed for top jobs, let alone the jobs that are totally banned for women, such as becoming a judge. He pointed to motherhood and homemaking as the two main and primary roles of each and every woman.
In December, the Islamic Republic was voted out of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) for policies contrary to the rights of women and girls.
In its 2022 report on the Global Gender Gap Index, which was released in July, the World Economic Forum placed Iran at the rock bottom only after Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Congo.