A human rights group says nearly 30,000 people were arrested for staging protests, political activities, or the expression of their opinions in the Iranian year ending on Monday, March 20.
The report by the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) states that during the 12 months, 29,688 people were arrested in Iran, of which 28,419 were detained for exercising their rights free expression.
328 women's rights activists, 258 trade union activists, 235 ethnic minorities and 169 people of religious minorities were also among the detainees, according to the report.
Iran’s chief judge announced March 13 that 22,000 people arrested during recent protests were "pardoned" and released in the past 6 months but he declined to mention the total number of people arrested.
In the reporting period, the public and Revolutionary Courts across Iran opened 1,075 legal cases against defendants facing political and national security charges, added the report, saying that the courts issued a combined total of 31,164 months in prison and 2,507 months of suspended jail terms.
HRANA also has described the last Iranian year a difficult one for women, reporting that at least 39 women were murder victims of domestic violence while 11 others were beaten, assaulted and injured by the morality police or religious vigilantes imposing so-called proper hijab in the public.
Reformist circles have suggested five top political figures as possible members of the proposed council, as a vehicle to organize forces opposed to the ruling hardliners.
However, the party's leader Hossein Marashi while welcoming the proposal said that forming the council is not possible with the political figures mentioned by others.
Marashi argued that former reformist President Mohammad Khatami, former parliamentary speakers Ali Larijani and Ali Akbar Nateq-Nouri, former president Hassan Rouhani and Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's grandson Hassan Khomeini are not capable of taking the lead to form a council of moderates.
He avoided mentioning his reasons for dismissing the heavyweights, because after all, they are considered fellow reformists.
"A good idea does not necessarily mean that it can happen," said Marashi, adding that many other Iranians also want a moderate government in Iran, but the country's situation is such that moderates cannot have a voice while an all-conservative government is running the affairs of the state. Marashi was likely alluding to the disqualification of reform minded and moderate candidates in the previous parliamentary and presidential elections in 2020 and 2021.
However, he added that the Executives of Construction Party welcomes the idea as it can bring about a balance on the Iranian political scene. He said omitting the moderates altogether is neither possible nor desirable.
The idea of a political comeback by Iran's moderates was first put forward in February when it was said that a moderate council would form a shadow government. However, even then, it was clear for political analysts that under the circumstances it was unlikely that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and radical conservatives around him would ever allow the moderates to become politically active again.
However, as the Iranian government has become weaker after months of protests since September 2022, some politicians including former lawmaker Kamaleddin Pirmoazen have come to the conclusion that this is the right time for Iran's moderates to make a comeback and compete with ultraconservative Paydari Party in the next parliamentary election in early 2024.
Pirmoazen told Ensaf News website that a council of moderates has already been formed unofficially. He argued that the rivalry between the moderates and radicals in Iran will be a confrontation between the advocates of totalitarianism and the supporters of people's rule. He added that "The ruling Paydari Party wants political power only to serve the interests of one small group of people in Iran rather than thinking of bringing about an improvement in people's livelihood, and eliminating poverty.
The politician also argued that the radicals have made the system so rigid it does not even allow traditional conservatives to be politically active and influential. However, the country's current situation, in which over 60 million people cannot survive without cash handouts, calls for political participation of others who wish to improve the situation. A large part of conservatives have now realized how badly the ultraconservative government has damaged the country.
On the other hand, an ultraconservative former lawmaker, Hossein Naqavi Hosseini said some of some of those named as possible members of the Council of Moderates, are not even moderate! Naqavi added, "Among the names you mentioned, only Ali Larijani could be characterized as a moderate. Others, have at times taken radical stances that does not make them moderate."
Pointing out that during recent protests Iranians shunned both reformists and conservatives, Naqavi added that "during the past three decades, ultraconservatives (Presidents Ahamdinejad and Raisi) and reformists (Presidents Khatami and Rouhani) had equal chances to run the country, but none of them were successful. Perhaps that is why some disillusioned politicians are planning to introduce a third group under the name of moderates."
Like in the previous weeks, Mowlavi Abdolahamid delivered a moving Friday sermon, saying that a single ideology cannot and should not be the only dominant view in the country. "One ethnic group and one religion cannot rule the country,” he stated.
Iran is ruled by Shiite Islamic sect ideology and clerics since the 1979 revolution that toppled the monarchy.
Decrying the domination of a single religious view in the country as the cause of Iran's political deadlock, Abdolhamid said that “Iran is a rainbow of ethnicities, religions and pluralities,” suppressed by the ruling religious view for the past 44 years. The Islamic Republic has not been able to establish equality and balance among such a variety of views while ideas have failed the nation.
Implicitly calling for a secular democracy, Abdolhamid said that the Islamic Republic has limited the Iran’s potential with its narrow interpretation of religion in governing the country.
He said that the regime has prevented meritocracy by preventing people of other ideologies from acquiring positions and important roles in the government. He pointed out that Sunni Iranians have no significant role in the judiciary and administration even at local level.
“Our dear Shia friends also complain about such discrimination, saying that that qualified individuals, who are not very committed to religious practices but are capable academics, thinkers and worthy managers have been discriminated against,” he added.
He emphasized that the "rainbow" is the right metaphor for the diversities in Iran, denouncing the dominant religious ideology for not creating equality for other ideas.
"Today, a military and security point of view prevails throughout Iran, but no country whose ruling point of view is security and military will develop," he said. The view of the government should be comprehensive and national, not religious, because the religious view will fail, he noted.
Comparing the current value of the national currency with that of the Pahlavi era before the 1979 Islamic Revolution, he criticized the narrow and religious view of the ruling power of the country that has damaged the principles of Islam in the country.
The Iranian rial has dropped from 70 against the US dollar in 1979 to 470,000 currently.
He condemned "torture, beating, killing and violation of people's rights," saying that the oppression of others is "worse than polytheism and disbelief.”
"The presence of police officers in the streets should be avoided,” he added. “In many countries, when security is high, there is no need for a visible police presence since the people's general trust in the government is strong."
Activists reported a large presence of security forces in the restive city as hundreds of demonstrators took to the streets, chanting "Freedom, Freedom, Freedom," "We don’t want the Islamic Republic" and "Political prisoners must be released."
Zahedan is the provincial capital of Sistan-Baluchestan Province, home to Iran's Sunni Baluch minority of up to two million people.
Residents have been holding protest rallies every Friday since September 30 when security forces killed nearly 90 people, in the deadliest incident so far in the nationwide demonstrations triggered by the September death in custody of a 22-year-old Kurdish woman, Mahsa Amini.
