Arrest of Political, Civic Activists and Artists, Reflection 0f the Desperation and Fear of the Islamic Republic!
Statement of Six Democratic Republican Organizations and Parties
We, the Six democratic republican organizations and parties, condemn all these arrests and increase in the wave of intimidation, repression and social and political restrictions in the Iranian society by the Islamic Republic. We press for the release of all political prisoners and ask all freedom-loving forces to raise their voices against the arrests and support the popular protests.
Mohammad Rasulov and Mustafa Al-Ahmed, two well-known Iranian filmmakers, were accused of "connection with the anti-revolution" and "causing inflammation and disrupting the psychological security of the society" during the collapse of the Abadan Metropol, and Mustafa Tajzadeh, a well-known political activist, accused of "rallying and conspiring to act against security of the country, distributing lies to disturb the public mind" were arrested by the security forces of the Islamic Republic.
Mohammad Rasulov and Mustafa Al-Ahmad are among the signatories of the protest statement "Lay down your gun" in which more than a hundred Iranian filmmakers asked the military forces to lay down their weapons and "Return to the nation’s arms" during the collapse of the Abadan metropolis on May 22.
Mustafa Tajzadeh was imprisoned for 7 years after the 2009 election and was released from prison in 2016. In the past months, he participated in clubhouse debates and criticized the policies and practices of the regime and Ali Khamenei and the need to change the political structures of the Islamic Republic.
In the past months, the Islamic Republic arrested a number of labor movement activists and teachers and sent them to prisons in order to silence the street protests. Reza Shahabi and Hassan Saeedi, two members of the Syndicate of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company (SWTSBC), have been in Ward 209 of Evin Prison for about two months. Reza Shahabi and Hassan Saeedi have been on hunger strike for 28 days and 19 days, respectively. Eskander (Soran) Lotfi, a member of the Kurdistan Teachers' Union and the spokesperson of the Iranian Teachers' Union Council, went on a dry hunger strike in solitary confinement due to being pressured to make forced confession. Seven Kurdistan teachers’ union activists are still in custody. Narges Mohammadi, Saeed Madani, Mehdi Mahmoudian, Mohammad Nourizad, Hashem Khastar, Keyvan Samimi, Ismail Abdi, Farhad Maysami, Rasul Badaghi, Mohammad Habibi, Jafar Ebrahimi, Anisha Asdalahi, Keyvan Mohtadi,... are still in prison.
On the other hand, in the past few days, the leaders of the Islamic regime have once again launched the headquarters of “commanding the right and forbidding the wrong” (Amr be Maruf va Nahy az Monkar) and sent patrol cars to the streets to control women’s hijab. This time, the attacks have gained wider dimensions. In some provinces, including Razavi Khorasan and Fars, they have taken steps to deprive women of the most basic citizenship rights.
The Islamic Republic is plunged into the whirlpool of widespread crises and is increasingly facing popular protests. The heads of the regime are extremely terrified and are worried that they will drown in this vortex. Ali Khamenei talks about the "God of the 80s" in such a situation that it was a decade of repression, terror and killing. In that decade, thousands of noble and innocent people were handed over to the death squads. Unaware of the fact that our society is not in the conditions of the 80s. Popular movements are progressing and the regime is in a state of desperation and is facing multiple and intertwined crises. Ali Khamenei and his repression organs want to transmit their fear to the society by making widespread arrests and setting up headquarters of “commanding the right and forbidding the wrong” so that the society stays silence. However, people's fear has faded and the effectiveness of repression organs has decreased. The regime is no longer able to return people to their homes. People continue their protests in the streets and are not willing to be confined at home.
The arrest of Mustafa Tajzadeh, who calls himself a structural reformer and tries to reform and change the structure of the Islamic Republic within the framework of its constitution and actually wants the well-being of the system, shows that the regime basically does not believe in the necessity of reform and tries to block it. This disastrous situation will end with the transition from the Islamic Republic and the establishment of a republic based on democracy, separation of religion and government and human rights.
We, the Six democratic republican organizations and parties, condemn all these arrests and increase in the wave of intimidation, repression and social and political restrictions in the Iranian society by the Islamic Republic. We press for the release of all political prisoners and ask all freedom-loving forces to raise their voices against the arrests and support the popular protests.
Political-Executive Boards of:
United Republicans of Iran
Iran National Front - Europe (Samane Sixth)
The Left Party of Iran (People’s Fadaian)
Social Democratic and Laïc Republicans Party of Iran
Iran National Front Organizations - Abroad
Union for Secular Republic and Human Rights in Iran (USRHR)
July 9, 2022
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