Large-scale executions, impunity for the perpetrators, persecution of grieving loved ones: the results are grim in Iran, two years after a popular uprising that many hoped would be a turning point in the history of the Islamic Republic.
Whether they find themselves in exile or behind bars, anti-regime activists nevertheless want to believe that the protest movement was born after the death in custody of Mahsa Amini – a 22-year-old Iranian woman who was arrested in September 2022 for not complying with the strict did not observe respects. code Islamic dress – will not have been for nothing.
The protesters, led by women, denounced the compulsory wearing of the veil and religious conservatism and defied Iranian power for months, at the cost of severe repression: at least 551 people were killed, and thousands more arrested, according to human rights -NGOs.
If today’s protests are limited and sporadic, the government continues to crush them methodically: Iran executed ten men sentenced to death in cases related to the movement, the last of whom, Gholamreza Rasaei (34), in August, a hung for a few days. after the new president, Massoud Pezeshkian, took office.
Human rights groups also condemn the increase in executions for all kinds of violations, which are intended to create fear and dissuade opponents from any protest.
It is therefore from the Evien prison, near Tehran, that the 2023 Nobel Prize winner Narges Mohammedi, who has been detained since November 2021, announced on Sunday that 34 prisoners had started a hunger strike. “defeat theocratic despotism” et “oppressive government policy”.
« Coups d’etat », “slap”
According to the Norway-based organization Iran Human Rights (IHR), at least 402 people were executed in the first eight months of the year.
“Countless people in Iran are still suffering from the consequences of the authorities’ brutal repression”confirms Diana Eltahawy, d’Amnesty International.
According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), relatives of dozens of people who were killed, executed or imprisoned during the protests were threatened, harassed and themselves arrested on false accusations.
“Iranian authorities abuse people twice: they execute or kill a family member, then arrest their family members for demanding accountability”laments Nahid Naghshbandi, researcher on Iran at HRW.
Among those in prison is Mashallah Karami, the father of Mohammad Mehdi Karami, who was executed in January 2023 at the age of 22 in a case related to the protests. Mr. Karami, who led a campaign to save his son’s life, was sentenced to six years in prison in May, followed by nine years in August.
Meanwhile, the authorities are working hard to enforce regulations on the compulsory wearing of the hijab, the abolition of which has been a key demand of the protesters. Amnesty notes “Visible increase in patrols on foot, motorcycle, car and police vans in public spaces”.
To strengthen this system, Parliament should soon pass a bill aimed at it “support the culture of chastity and hijab”.
While personal vehicles have long provided a safe space for Iranian women, they are now being targeted in their cars, often using recognition technology.
UN experts accuse Iran of“amplifier” oppression against women, especially through the repeated use of violence, “coups” or “slap” as sanctions.
“Lost Legitimacy”
A UN fact-finding mission concluded in March that the authorities’ repression of protests amounts to “crimes against humanity”but no one responsible was ever held accountable.
“Two years after the protests, the leaders of the Islamic Republic have not restored the status quo ante or regained their lost legitimacy”says Roya Boroumand, co-founder of the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center, based in the United States.
If the protest movement has shaken the regime, it has also highlighted the divisions within a heterogeneous opposition, unable to get along, in Iran and abroad.
In Paris, several hundred people gathered in the center of the city on Sunday to support Iranian civil society and the protest movement.