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Iran’s uprising, about to enter its fourth month, is gearing into a new phase as regime Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and the entire mullahs’ apparatus are resorting to the brutality of executing people who have taken to the streets to practice their God-given right of freedom of assembly. In less than a week the regime’s so-called judiciary has carried out the executions of Mohsen Shekari and Majidreza Rahnavard, both under the mullah-fabricated charges of “Moharebeh,” or “waging war against God.”
State media have been reporting that both Shekari and Rahnavard confessed to their charges, although it is common knowledge that regime authorities torture prisoners in to obtaining coerced confessions.
Through these barbaric measures the regime ruling Iran is actually desperately seeking to install fear in the Iranian society and silence the ongoing protests. The international community has an obligation to hold this murderous regime accountable and recognize the Iranian people’s right to self-defense.
Protests in Iran have to this day expanded to at least 280 cities. Over 700 people have been killed and more than 30,000 are arrested by the regime’s forces, according to sources of Iranian opposition People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK). The names of 580 killed protesters have been published by the PMOI/MEK.
On Tuesday morning, people began gathering in Mashhad to hold a ceremony for Majidreza Rahnavard. Authorities dispatched security units to the site, blocked roads, and even closed the door of a local mosque where people sought to hold their ceremony. The locals gathering for the event began chanting slogans against the regime’s and its oppressive security forces, including: “So many years of crimes! Death to the mullahs’ regime!”
Other anti-regime protests were held by students of the capital’s Sureh University, in the city of Tabriz by students of the Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, and in Mashhad by students of Alzahra University.
December 13 – Mashhad, northeast #Iran
Locals gathered for a ceremony to commemorate #MajidrezaRahnavard are seen chanting:
"So many years of crimes! Death to the mullahs' regime!"#IranRevolution2022pic.twitter.com/8lbPDOmWO5— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) December 13, 2022
In the city of Shush in Khuzestan Province, southwest Iran, locals gathered to hold a ceremony for Abbas Mansouri, a protester who allegedly committed suicide after being released from prison where he was placed under severe torture.
Schoolgirls in the city of Kamyaran in Kurdistan Province of western Iran took to the streets protesting and chanting: “Khamenei is a murderer! His rule is illegitimate!” High school students in the cities of Shiraz and Ahvaz were also holding similar protest rallies. In Saqqez, the hometown of Mahsa Amini, protesters were in the streets again chanting “Death to the dictator!” referring to Khamenei himself.
On Tuesday night, locals in the Ekbatan district of the Iranian capital began protesting in the streets and chanting: “Our compatriots didn’t die for us to comply with the murderous [Khamenei]!”
December 13 – Saqqez, western #Iran
Protesters chanting: "Death to the dictator!"#IranRevolution2022 #MajidrezaRahnavard pic.twitter.com/F4NM7XMUp4— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) December 13, 2022
On Monday, students in Tehran held protest rallies at Allameh Tabataba’i University and National University. In Shiraz, students paid tribute to Majid Reza Rahnavard by holding a protest rally and chanting, “Majid Reza you’re asleep, but we’re all awake now!”
In Mashhad, people installed posters in Majid Reza’s hometown to honor his memory. Locals gathered at his grave, where authorities had secretly buried him the previous night, and chanted, “Majid Reza is a martyr for the nation.”
People in the cities of Mashhad and Tehran have been taking to the streets on Monday night to protest the execution of Majidreza Rahnavard. They’re seen chanting anti-regime slogans and vowing more protests and uprisings in response to the regime’s atrocities.
December 12 – Tehran, #Iran
Protesters chanting: "You took #MajidrezaRahnavard away and brought back his corpse!"#IranRevolution2022 pic.twitter.com/3FYJ3EbzJE— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) December 12, 2022
Freedom-loving Iranians and supporters of the Iranian opposition PMOI/MEK have been rallying in 11 different cities across Europe condemning today’s execution of Majidreza Rahnavard and voicing solidarity with the ongoing protests and revolution throughout Iran. This includes the cities of Berlin, London, Aarhus, Stockholm, Geneva, Hanover, The Hague, Cologne, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Copenhagen, and Buchen.
December 12 – Berlin, Germany
Freedom-loving Iranians and supporters of the #Iran opposition PMOI/MEK rallied to condemn today's execution of #MajidrezarRahnavard and voice solidarity with #IranRevolution2022. pic.twitter.com/1IOfAgspwH— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) December 12, 2022
Iranian opposition coalition NCRI President-elect Maryam Rajavi condemned the horrific execution of Majidreza Rahnavard and called on the international community to take “effective and concrete measures against the religious fascism ruling Iran to stop executions, torture, and killings in Iran.”
“The bloodthirsty Khamenei took the life of Majidreza Rahnavard, another courageous young man in Mashhad, to save his falling regime. He tries in vain to fend off the resentment of 85 million Iranians but only expedites the religious dictatorship’s inevitable downfall. Majidreza Rahnavard was executed in public only 3 weeks after his arrest & after brutal torture. The United Nations, the UN Security Council, the European Union, and member states must take effective and concrete measures against the religious fascism ruling Iran to stop executions in Iran, torture, and killings. Words are not enough; the clerical regime’s embassies must be shut down, the Intelligence Ministry and Revolutionary Guards declared terrorist entities, and MOIS/IRGC mercenaries expelled. Dealing with such a disgraceful regime tramples the values of human rights,” the NCRI President-elect explained.
Declaration of national mourning and protests over the executions of #MajidrezaRahnavard and #MohsenShekari, the heroes and martyrs of the Iranian people’s uprising pic.twitter.com/jLeVaHnchh
— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) December 12, 2022
The protests in Iran 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.
