Iran’s nationwide uprising is marking its 119th day on Thursday as protesters are continuing their anti-regime campaign with a focus on night rallies. There are increasing reports of people burning the regime’s propaganda billboards and posters of regime Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, writing anti-regime slogans in graffiti, and launching attacks using Molotov cocktails targeting various regime-affiliated sites, mostly bases of the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) paramilitary Basij units. Statues and posters of former IRGC Quds Force chief Qassem Soleimani have also been constantly targeted in these attacks.
Protests in Iran have to this day expanded to at least 282 cities. Over 750 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 627 killed protesters have been published by the PMOI/MEK.
According to reports circulating on social media, regime authorities stationed a large number of security forces out Gohardasht (Rajaie-Shahr) Prison of Karaj, west of Tehran in the early hours of Thursday morning. Activists say this could have been in preparation for the execution of Mohammad Ghobadlou, a protester arrested in the recent rallies of the ongoing revolution.
Mohammad Broghani is another arrested protester on death row in in Gohardasht Prison and reports indicate that his death sentence has been temporarily halted. Ghobadlou and Broghani were sentenced to execution after being tortured into coerced confessions and without due process even according to the regime’s own laws.
Parents and other people gathered outside Gohardasht Prison in the early hours of Monday, January 9, to protest and prevent the mullahs’ regime from executing the two young men. The protesters began chanting anti-regime slogans in their rally, including: “I will kill those who killed my brother!” and “This is the last message: another execution and there will be more uprisings!”
Iranian opposition coalition NCRI President-elect Maryam Rajavi held an online meeting with French mayors, elected representatives, and personalities to welcome the new year. In her remarks Madam Rajavi emphasized on the continuation of protests across and the need for the international community to support the Iranian people in their plight against the mullahs’ regime.
“In spite of the mullahs’ efforts to contain the uprising in recent months, the clock cannot be turned back,” the NCRI President-elect explained. “The uprisings have shown that Iranians reject dictatorship, be it the Shah or the mullahs. The people’s slogans emphasize the rejection of both forms of tyranny. As we’ve stated, rejection of the Shah’s and mullahs’ dictatorship is the basis for cooperation among those seeking a democratic Iran,” Madam Rajavi continued.
“Iranians expect governments to cut ties with the mullahs. Europe must recognize the Iranian people’s struggle for regime change. Close Iran’s terror embassies in solidarity with the Iranian people and in condemnation of the torture and murder of Iranian youth,” the NCRI President-elect underscored.
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.
