(Updated: 10:00 pm CET)
The nationwide uprising in Iran is entering its second month on Monday, marking the 32nd day of these continuous anti-regime protests.
Protests in Iran have to this day expanded to 193 cities. Over 400 people have been killed and more than 20,000 are arrested by the regime’s forces, according to sources of Iranian opposition People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK). The names of 224 killed protesters have been published by the PMOI/MEK.
On Monday, the first reports came from Qezel Hesar prison in Karaj. Reports indicate that inmates at the prison were chanting “Death to Khamenei!” in the prison yard. Sirens and gunshots could be heard from outside. At around 10 am local time, 50 prison guards were stationed on the rooftops of the prison’s buildings with firearms and were aiming at the inmates. The prison warden was seen on the rooftop, shooting birdshots with a shotgun. This incident comes merely two days after a massive crackdown in Evin Prison, in which the regime has killed and injured numerous prisoners.
On Monday, student protests were reported in several cities.
In Shahrekord, the students of Islamic Azad University expressed their will to continue the protests and the path of all the protesters who have been killed by the regime’s security forces. “For whoever is killed, there are one thousand more [rising]!” the students were chanting. In Ardabil, security forces attacked the demonstration of the students of the University of Medical Technology. And in Tehran, the students of the University of Medical Sciences held a protest rally against the regime and its oppression of protesters.
Student protests continued throughout Monday. In Bushehr, the students of Khalij-e Fars University held a protest rally and chanted “Death to the oppressor! Be it the Shah or [Khamenei]!” reflecting the Iranian people’s rejection of both the mullahs’ and Shah dictatorship. In Shahrekord, students at Islamic Azad University chanted, “Freedom! Freedom! Freedom!” a slogan that is becoming all the more popular across Iran. In Isfahan’s Najafabad, the students of Islamic Azad University chanted “Mullahs’ must get lost!” And Tehran, the students of Tehran University and Islamic Azad University held protest rallies and called for unity and strike.
Nightly protests took shape in several cities on Monday. In Piranshahr, northwest Iran, people barricaded roads with fire and overturned dumpsters to prevent the movement of security forces. In Sanandaj, protesters also blocked roads with fire. In Kerman, protesters torched a regime propaganda poster. In Abdanan, people held protest rallies in the streets.
College students across the country took to the streets on Sunday chanting slogans against the regime and especially condemning the mullahs’ Saturday night attack on Evin Prison.
Incoming reports from Iran indicate at least 60 inmates were killed and injured after being attacked by Evin Prison security forces and anti-riots. This attack was launched in response to Evin inmates in wards 7 and 8 taking to the prison yard and voicing support for the ongoing Iranian uprising and chanting slogans specifically targeting regime Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Security forces used live bullets, pellet rounds, tear gas, and flashbang grenades were used in the attack. Fifty inmates of Ward 8, where political prisoners are held, were transferred out of this section; 15 of which were taken to the Evin clinic for the severity of their wounds and the remaining were transferred to Gohardasht Prison in Karaj, a city west of Tehran. One report indicates 11 PMOI/MEK supporters were transferred out of Ward 8 while other PMOI/MEK supporters were under fire and attack. Some of the prisoners who suffered wounds from pellet rounds in their abdomen and legs had yet to receive medical treatment as of Sunday morning local time.
One eyewitness report from Evin Prison indicates the resulting blaze of Saturday night’s attack complete engulfed Ward 7 and inmates found shells of live ammunition at the site. Another report from Ward 4, where ordinary and political prisoners are held, including PMOI/MEK supporters, the inmates broke the doors and ran out after coming under fire of live bullets and tear gas.
The turmoil, anti-regime slogans, and attack on the prisoners continued until 1:30 am Sunday. Plainclothes agents and members of the regime’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) entered Evin Prison and began surrounding the wards to prevent the prisoners who had reached the rooftop from fleeing the facility. The plainclothes agents and IRGC members were seen indiscriminately shooting at all windows, a report indicates. The regime’s security forces were also shooting at the windows of homes nearby Evin Prison from which people were chanting anti-regime slogans. These homes were targeted with live bullets, pellet rounds, and tear gas.
Iranian opposition NCRI President-elect Maryam Rajavi once again emphasized that the international community needs to take action in this regard, adding “news from Evin Prison indicate the prisoners have been shot by live ammunition and pellets. Once again, I reiterate, the United Nations and UN Security Council must hold the regime and its leaders in Iran accountable for the crimes they commit every day.”
“Several prisoners were killed or injured after security forces shot and used tear gas against Evin prisoners. The fate of some others is unknown. The regime first claimed four prisoners had walked on landmines to cover up its crime but later said they had been killed by smoke. All indications are that the fire in Evin was a pre-meditated plan. The UN and UN Security-General must hold the clerical regime’s leaders accountable for the crimes they commit every day. They stop at nothing to preserve their rule, like the 1988 massacre of 30,000 political prisoners,” Madam Rajavi highlighted.
Fresh news from #EvinPrison indicate the prisoners have been shot by live ammunition and pellets. Once again, I reiterate, the @UN and UNSC must hold the regime and its leaders in #Iran accountable for the crimes they commit every day. pic.twitter.com/DXxRmMWVaZ
— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) October 16, 2022
Protests began on Sunday with students in dozens of universities across the country returning to the streets to voice their opposition to the regime. In Tehran alone, several universities saw protest rallies. At University of Tehran, College of Engineering, students were chanting, “All these years of crimes! Death to the mullahs’ regime!” They also chanted, “Tehran has become a detention center! Evin has become a slaughterhouse!” in protest to the regime’s attack on prisoners in Tehran’s Evin Prison.
At Tehran’s Kharazmi University, the students were chanting, “Proud college students! Support! Support!” They were subsequently attacked by Basij and plainclothes agents but stood their ground.
Students of Khajeh Nasir Toosi University also held protest rallies. At Karaj’s Kharazmi University, the students were shouting, “Say it: Freedom! Freedom! Freedom!”
In Rasht, the students of Gilan University of Medical Sciences also protested the killings at Evin Prison and chanted, “They killed, shot, and [intentionally] burned Evin!”
At Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, the students reflected the national solidarity in their slogans, shouting, “Azerbaijan is aware & supports Kurdistan!” At Shahrekord, students of Islamic Azad University were shouting, “Proud Iranians! Support! Support!” Protests were also reported in Mashhad’s Ferdowsi University.
These protests began following the death of Mahsa Amini. Mahsa (Zhina) Amini, a 22-year-old woman from the city of Saqqez in Kurdistan Province, western Iran, who traveled to Tehran with her family, was arrested on Tuesday, September 13, at the entry of Haqqani Highway by the regime’s so-called “Guidance Patrol” and transferred to the “Moral Security” agency.
She was brutally beaten by the morality police and died of her wounds in a Tehran hospital on September 16. The event triggered protests that quickly spread across Iran and rekindled the people’s desire to overthrow the regime.