Following the murder of Ms. Mahsa Amini by the mercenary thugs of the Supreme Leader’s regime, widespread popular protests have spread [like wildfire] across the cities of Iranian Kurdistan and throughout Iran. Reliable reports have been received indicating an intensification of protests by the people in the cities of Sanandaj, Mahabad, Oshnoye, Saqqez, Marivan, Bukan, Piranshahr, Kamyaran, Tehran, Isfahan, Rasht, Mashhad, Hamedan, Kermanshah, Tabriz, Shiraz, Qom, Kerman, Zanjan, Qazvin, Arak, Urmia, Gohardasht, amongst other locations in the country. In many cities of Iranian Kurdistan, shopkeepers and bazaar merchants have also ceased trading. These protests have also extended to university campuses, including Tehran University, Tarbiat Moalem, Allameh Tabatabai, Amir Kabir, and Kharazmi [universities] as well as the Medical Science Faculty at Tabriz University.
The leadership of the regime and its security organisations, who initially claimed that Mahsa Amini had not been murdered at the hands of the “Guidance Patrol” mercenaries, but had died due to a cardiac arrest [natural causes], have once again underlined – through days of brutal and bloody attacks upon the crowds of protesters, as well as a large number of arrests – that they [the ruling regime] are the main cause of repression, violence, and terror in our country. According to the reports, at least four compatriots have been killed and 75 protestors injured after the regime’s security forces opened fire on them. The regime, afraid of the spread of these protests and following the trends of previous protests, has seriously disrupted all internet and mobile phone connections, and has effectively set up a state of martial law in many cities in Iranian Kurdistan.
Our Party, in its statement of 17 September 2022, emphasised that the tragic death of Mahsa Amini, at the hands of the criminals of the Islamic Republic government, once more amply demonstrated the clear reality that with the continuation of the current unpopular regime, there can be no hope of ending the repression and the violent and bloody suppression of [the Iranian] people’s rights and freedoms.
Last year, we witnessed the ongoing courageous protests of different social strata, from workers and toilers to teachers, retirees, women, youth, and university students against this ignorant and criminal regime. Protests which have been spreading day by day with clearer slogans that reflecting the true wishes of the people. These slogans have included, “Down with the dictator!”, “Down with the institution of the Supreme Religious Leadership!”, “Khamenei is a murderer, his rule is null and void!”, “Death to the oppressor, whether he is a king or a Supreme Leader!”, “From Kurdistan to Tabriz; Our patience has run out!”, “If we don’t stand together, we will die one by one!” and “This is our final message; Our target is the regime itself!”. The prominence of women in these recent popular protests and their slogan, “Women, Life, Freedom!”, showing their special justice-seeking demands, are of particular significance.
While expressing solidarity with the courageous struggle of the people of our country against the theocratic regime of the ‘Supreme Religious Leader’, the Tudeh Party of Iran once again emphasises that the path to overcome the current authoritarian regime is by way of united action and a cohesive joint struggle of a broad spectrum of social strata, and all progressive and freedom-loving forces, to bring an end to the current tyranny and pave the way towards the establishment of a national democratic government. All members, supporters, and sympathisers of the Tudeh Party of Iran, along with all freedom loving people of our homeland, are standing firmly and resolutely with our oppressed and desperate people in this difficult struggle against the ruling dictatorship.
The Tudeh Party of Iran calls upon all forces that defend peace, freedom, and socialism in the world to support the just and legitimate struggle of the Iranian people for peace, freedom, democracy, national sovereignty, and social justice – and against dictatorship and discrimination based on race, religion, and gender.
Forward towards a united anti-dictatorship front for freedom, peace, independence, social justice, and the establishment of the national democratic republic!
The Tudeh Party of Iran
20 September 2022