Public Comment

The 40th day after a death is an important occasion for mourning in Iran. February 16 marked the 40th day after the death of the first two young Iranians executed by the regime for their protest demonstrations. To honour their deaths, mass protests took place all over Iran on Thursday, February 16. Protesters shouted “Death to the Dictator,” “Death to Khamenei,” and “Death to the Islamic Republic” in Tehran, Arak, Isfahan, Mashad, Samandaj, Qazvin, Rasht, and Karaj.

Presumably, there were other such protests in the southeastern province of Iranian Baluchistan, where many prior demonstrations have taken place.

Meanwhile, amid many calls for unity among the protesters, there is in fact scarce unity, with some dissidents refusing to have anything to do with prominent reformist politicians who formerly worked for the regime such as ex-president Khatami or ex-prime minister Moussavi, in spite of their having recently denounced the regime and called for a total change of government. Other protesters want nothing to do with exiled Prince Reza Pahlavi, son of the late Shah who was deposed in 1979. Iranian women, who have been in the forefront of the protest movement, have called for women to be leaders of a new government once the regime of the mullahs is overthrown. Shirin Ebadi, a Nobel Peace Prize recipient for her work defending the rights of Iranian women and children in Iran, is perhaps the one individual nearly every Iranian citizen, woman or man, young or old, seems to agree on as a possible future leader. Although Shirin Ebadi is outspoken in calling for an end to the present regime, it is not clear that she would accept any position in a new government. 

Meanwhile, on February 14 about twenty labor unions, student organisations, and civil society groups in Iran published a joint charter proclaiming their vision for a “new, modern, and humane society.” Their vision called for unconditional release of all political prisoners, equal rights for women and men, and a democratic government. Also, on February 11 THE INTERCEPT published an article exposing the brutal cult-like organisation-in-exile known as the Mojahedin e- Kalkh or MEK, led by Maryam Rajavi, wife of MEK’s former leader Massoud Rajavi, who mysteriously disappeared many years ago. Historian Arash Azizii has written that “It is no exaggeration to say that perhaps nothing unites Iranians of today more than opposition to the MEK,” which he calls “a brutal cult.” Nonetheless, the bizarre, cult-like conduct of MEK has not dissuaded many naive American congressmen of both political parties from espousing the MEK as a viable Iranian opposition group in exile. How out of touch can our American congressmen be?!? 

In last week’s article on “A Call for Iranian Unity,” a typo left out several letters of the family name of actress-activist Golshiftah Farahani, misidentifying her last name as Farahi. Likewise, the name of the Islamic Republic’s founder, Ayatollah Khomeini was misspelled as Khomeni. I apologise for these errors.