Friday , 29 March 2024

Indictments Issued Against Dozens Of Protesters

Radiofarda – Nearly one hundred indictments have been filed against those who were detained during the unprecedented uprising that broke out in December 28, 2017, says the head of Tehran’s Justice Department.


A number of the detainees have been charged with “action against national security, Gholamhossein Esma’eili disclosed on Thursday, April 26.

Furthermore, in his interview with judiciary’s website, Mizan, Esma’eili reported that several verdicts concerning last December “riots” have already been issued.

“Action against national security” is among the “vague terms” that the Islamic republic’s judiciary uses to convict dissidents and protesters.

The unprecedented uprising broke out on December 28 in the holiest Shi’ite location inside Iran, the city of Mashhad, and soon spread to more than 100 cities across the country.

During the protests that continued for more than ten days and shocked the regime, at least 22 people were killed and 5000 were detained.

The protests, which started with slogans against unemployment, high prices and poverty, turned into widespread demonstrations against “tyranny”, “dictatorship” and, in many cases, in favor of monarchy and Pahlavi royal dynasty.

Even in Shi’ites holy city of Qom, the stronghold of the clergy and the establishment’s seminaries, protesters chanted slogans, insisting that the regretted for participating in the Islamic Revolution that ended 2500 years of monarchy in Iran, almost four decades ago.

Meanwhile, numerous people, including labor and students’ rights activists were also detained as a “preventive measure”; while scores of legal experts maintained that the Islamic Republic’s own constitution explicitly forbids the authorities to arrest people who “might” commit a crime in “future”.

At least three of the detainees died behind bars and judicial authorities said that they had committed suicide, while in custody. Many local and international defenders of human rights dismissed the allegation and accused the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) and judiciary’s intelligence arms of torturing and killing the detainees.

President Hassan Rouhani’s advisor in economic affairs, Massoud Nili also cautioned that anti-regime demonstrations might flare up again.

In a March 14 interview with the administration-owned daily newspaper Iran, Nili said, “Those demonstrations were a warning that further wider protests might be on the way. Next time, there may not be the chance to control them.”

Earlier, Rahmani Fazli had also cautioned that the roots of dissatisfaction were untouched and only a spark was needed to flare up the protests across the country.

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