Reporting by PMOI/MEK
Iran, April 9, 2021—The Iranian regime’s security forces arrested a number of family members of the martyrs of Iran’s nationwide protests of November 2019 on Wednesday, April 7.
The security forces stopped a bus in Isfahan and arrested more than 20 members of the families of protesters killed during nationwide protests in November 2019 and June 2009.
The arrestees were on their way to join a protest rally against the disgraceful economic deal with China. They chanted “No to selling of Iran and no to the Islamic Republic.”
Also, on Wednesday, a member of the Majlis (Parliament) from Tabriz Ahmad Alireza Beigi acknowledged the killing of innocent protesters during the November 2019 anti-regime protests. “The damages of the events of November 2019 could have been prevented, and the hands of the Interior Minister (Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli) is stained with the blood of the people,” Beigi said.
On April 6, in a recently published video clip, former MP Mahmoud Sadeghi acknowledged the Iranian regime’s deliberate killing of people in the streets during anti-regime protests of 2019. According to Sadeghi, these killings were under the supervision of Ali Shamkhani, the regime’s Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council.
“In some committees that were created to discuss the events I asked if there was any sign of opposition groups, but they said no. I told Mr. Shamkhani that these are people. They are killing people in the street, what are you doing? Will you continued to kill if they remain in the streets? Shamkhani said yes we are following orders,” Sadeghi acknowledged.
Background
During the November 2019 nationwide protests, the regime’s suppressive forces have gunned down 1500 protesters in the streets. The protests began on November 15 following the tripled gasoline price. On the same night, the Iranian people, frustrated from economic constraints, poured into the streets in different cities to voice their outrage at the government’s policies.
From the early morning of Saturday, November 16, people began lighting fires in the streets, turning off their vehicles to block roads, and closing highways and other paths leading to the country’s cities. The protests quickly spread to more than 190 cities across the country and turned into a nationwide rally against the regime.
Demands for the decrease in gasoline prices turned into slogans against regime supreme leader Ali Khamenei, calling for regime change. “Death to Khamenei,” “Death to the dictator” and “Dictator, let go of the country,” slogans that were previously a taboo under the suppressive rule of the mullahs, were chanted by large crowds in the streets of many cities.
Despite the regime’s brutal repression of the protesters, the families of the martyrs of the November 2019 uprising have become a strong community and they are drawing solidarity and support from communities throughout Iran and across the world.
