Reporting by PMOI/MEK
Iran, January 16, 2020—The funeral of two victims of last week’s airplane crash turned into anti-regime demonstrations. A crowd who had gathered in Behesht Mohamadi cemetery in Sanandaj, Kurdistan province, to lay Dr. Arvin Moratab and Dr. Ayda Farzaneh to rest chanted slogans against the regime.
Moratab and Farzaneh were aboard a plane that was shot down by the Revolutionary Guards on January 8 as it flew from Tehran to Kiev, Ukraine. Iranian authorities initially claimed that the plane had crashed due to a technical failure, but later admitted that the military had targeted it with two missiles.
The admission sent a wave of outrage across the country and triggered a new wave of protests, barely two months after the regime brutally quelled a nationwide uprising.
Protesters in Sanandaj were chanting, “People didn’t die for us to praise the disgraceful leader,” referring to Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader and the highest authority of the regime.
January 16 – Sanandaj, western #Iran
Funeral of Dr. Arvin Moratab & Dr. Ayda Farzaneh (victims of airplane crash) turns into anti-regime protest.
Demonstrators are chanting, "People didn't die for us to praise the murderous leader."#IranProtestspic.twitter.com/DhSZtr8fxA— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) January 16, 2020
The protesters also made it clear that they want an end to the tyranny of the mullahs. “Death to the tyrant, be it the Shah or the Leader.” The Shah was the dictator monarch who ruled Iran until 1979, when he was overthrown by popular uprisings.
The Iranian regime has engaged in widespread efforts to portray the situation in Iran as a confrontation between the Iranian people and foreign countries such as the United States. But during Thursday’s protests, the demonstrations were chanting, “Our enemy is right here, [the regime] is lying that it’s the U.S.”
January 16 – Sanandaj, western #Iran
During the funeral of airplane crash victims, protesters are chanting, "Death to tyrants, be it the Shah or the Leader," signaling that they want neither the overthrown monarchy nor the mullahs.#IranProtestspic.twitter.com/3nbJdnR9Nm— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) January 16, 2020
The demonstrators answered Khamenei’s remarks about protesters being thugs. “Khamenei, listen. We are the people, not thugs,” the demonstrators were chanting. As to what they think of Khamenei himself, the protesters had a few choice words: “Khamenei is a murderer, and his rule is obsolete.”
“Basiji, IRGC, you’re ISIS to us,” the protesters chanted.
The protests in Sanandaj follow four intense days of student protests in different Iranian cities. While protests began over the regime’s coverup of the Ukraine airplane crash incident, the incident has resurfaced the general feeling of resent toward the corrupt rule of the mullahs. Protesters are braving the odds and defying the regime’s security measures to reiterate their longtime dream of democratic regime change in their country.
January 16 – Sanandaj, western #Iran
Protesters at the funeral of airplane crash victims are shouting, "Khamenei is a murderer, his rule is obsolete."#IranProtests pic.twitter.com/mcG2StRy3Y— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) January 16, 2020
