US Senate Introduces Resolution Against Iran’s Persecution Of Women
A bipartisan resolution at the US Senate has called on Iran to end its violent crackdown against peaceful protestors following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini.
A bipartisan resolution at the US Senate has called on Iran to end its violent crackdown against peaceful protestors following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini.
Senators Chris Coons (D-Del.) -- the co-chair of the Senate Human Rights Caucus -- and James Lankford (R-Okla.) introduced the resolution on Thursday condemning the death of the Iranian woman, whose killing earlier in Sptember by Iran’s “morality police” sparked nationwide protests. The resolution urges the Islamic Republic to end its “systemic persecution of women."
“This resolution sends a clear message that the United States stands behind the rights of women and peaceful protesters in Iran and reaffirms that our commitment to human rights, women’s rights, and democratic freedoms is core to our values and foreign policy,” Coons said.
Senior members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee have also voiced support for the popular protests in Iran.
Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ), who is the chairman Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said on Thursday that Iranian protesters should know that people in the US and everywhere in the world see and praise their courage against the violent, oppressive and misogynistic regime of Iran, expressing hope to see a free Iran that is in peace with its neighbors and people.
Jim Risch (R-Idaho) ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the protests indicate Iranians’ desire for a free and peaceful country, adding that the Biden administration's blind pursuit of a new nuclear deal will only empower the regime.
Activists believe the daytime protest on Saturday, at the beginning of the week in Iran, will show the power of their movement. So far, most protests have started in the evening hours lasting till midnight.
Images and reports also say that some women have already shed their hijab and appear in the streets without a headscarf, not just in Tehran but even in other locations.
Another development is that calls for commercial strikes seem to have produced results, as shops closed in some areas on Thursday. Activists are urging workers and businesses to go on strike to put more pressure on the government.
Authorities have arrested around 20 journalists and several celebrities who have voiced support for the protests.
State television is organizing relatively open debates focused on the issue of hijab, trying to portray the protests as a single-issue movement, while protesters everywhere are calling for a regime change, chanting against dictatorship and the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Some observers have commented that the regime is concerned about the situation as protests pop up in many cities and towns and security forces show signs of fatigue after almost two weeks of daily protests.
International pressure is also increasing, especially from European leaders and government. Germany is reported to be seeking European Union human rights sanctions on individuals involved in suppressing dissent. A report in the Washington Free Beacon on Wednesday also said that the Biden Administration regards the nuclear talks with Iran as having failed.
We will update information on protests Thursday night in Iran, starting at 21:00 local time.
Iran International cannot verify the full authenticity or details of videos posted on Twitter, but we use our best judgement to share what we believe is not disinformation.
Our live coverage of Thursday protests ended at 01:15 local time on Friday.
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A new video from Sanandaj in western Iran. Protesters are in the streets as gun shots ring out.
A woman in Yasooj, Ilam Province in southwest, shved her head during protests on Thursday. Security forces used firearms and arrested her. She was taken to an unknown location.
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Young protesters in the streets of Qom, the most important Shiite religious city in Iran where the main seminaries are located. They are chanting, "Don't fear anything, We are together".
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Another video from Qom showing tear gas being fired at protesters.
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Gunshots are heard in the western city of Sanandaj. Video quality is poor but the screams point to possibly protesters getting hurt.
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Demonstrators pulled down a propganda banner in the northern city of Noshahr Thursday evening and cheered.
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"Justice, Freedom, Hijab by choise" was a slogan chanted in a demonstration on Thursday in the religious city of Mashhad. Interestingly, some women with full hijab were among the protesters.
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A video shows two homemade explosive devices thrown at the Prisons' Organization headquarters in Tehran at 22:00 on Wednesday.
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Security forces Thursday raided the home of famous former football (soccer) player Hossein Mahini to arrest him but he was not home. They confiscated all the electronic equipment of the family.
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Large protest in Kermanshah, a provincial center in western Iran. Crowds are chanting that Khamenei's son will never succeed his father, after rumors that the top leadership has been grooming Mojtaba Khamenei to become Supreme Leader after his ailing 83-year-old father dies.
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Protesters in Sanandaj, Kurdish-populated city in western Iran, chanting "Death to Khamenei".
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There is visual evidence of businesses shutting their doors in protest. Activists have been calling for strikes to put further pressure on the government. The picture below is from district of shoemakers in Tehran but there were also commercial strikes in Esfahan.
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The video below shows all businesses closed on Amir-Kabir Boulevard in Esfahan on Thursday.
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Funeral of a protester killed in Rasht that took place on Thursday. Mourners are performing a religious ceremony by beating their chests.
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One technique people use to amplify the protests is for people who drive honking horns. It is difficult for security forces to identify which car is honking in a street full of traffic.
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Protest in the northern city of Rasht Thursday evening, with possible clashes taking place neaby with security forces.
Officials, who only refer to the protests as “riots” and blame “foreign enemies”, claimed Thursday that ‘rioters’ are back in their homes, and all is quiet now, before protests resumed in the afternoon.
“The recent riots have ended, and security has been established in Tehran which has been secure in the past few nights,” governor of Tehran Province, Mohsen Mansouri said Thursday. “We will take action against celebrities who fanned the fire of the riots,” he said.
Authorities also say they have arrested some of the “leaders of the riots” in various cities and threatened to take action against celebrities many of whom have published posts on social media supporting the protesters’ cause and condemning violence against them.
Reports on social media Wednesday, however, portrayed a different picture. These reports said protesters were staging smaller flash mob style protests in many areas amid the very heavy presence of security forces and plainclothes agents, who had turned out in large numbers on foot and on motorbikes, amid serious disruption of the internet.
Various reports point to a situation of physical and psychological fatigue for security forces, as protesters seem determined to persevere.
Disruption of the internet has seriously affected uploading of footage from protests on social media platforms all of which are now blocked. Some new footage of protests from previous days is still emerging on social media. Mostafa Faghihi, managing director of Entekhab website, in a tweet Wednesday said he had to try various VPNs for five hours to finally access his Twitter account at four in the morning.
Calls to strike have come from various groups, including teachers and university students. In a video posted on the union’s Twitter Wednesday a truck driver says some drivers have been on strike for three days but have not been able to inform others of their call to strike due to internet disruptions. On Thursday, the coordination council of contracted oil industry workers issued a statement saying they would go on strike if suppression of protesters and arrests continue.
Meanwhile, media have been gagged from reporting the protests altogether. There were no photos and no headlines referring to the protests on the front pages of newspapers, but a few have ventured some mild criticism of the situation. Hardliner newspapers such as the IRGC-linked Javan newspaper, however, beat on the drums of revenge against celebrities for siding with protesters. “The Law’s Priority Is Punishing Rioter Celebrities”, Javan printed across its front-page Thursday.
Authorities have also targeted journalists. Niloufar Hamedi from the reformist Sharq newspaper, who had reported Mahsa’s case from the hospital with a photo of the young woman in coma was arrested several days ago whileElaheh Mohammadi, a journalist with the reformist Ham Mihan newspaper, who had reported the funeral of Mahsa Amini, the young woman whose death in custody sparked the protests, from her hometown Saqqez in Kordestan Province, was also arrested Thursday.
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) on Wednesday published a list of 16 journalists arrested in Iran since the protests began.
