Eye on Iran's Protests - February 16, 2023

The Iranian diaspora community gathered in large numbers in major cities, including Los Angeles, Toronto, Paris, and Washington, D.C. last Saturday. Inside Iran, calls for protests to occur today have driven revolutionaries to the streets. Since the protests began in September, 529 protesters have been killed in Iran, including 71 children. An estimated 20,000 people have been arrested, most of whom remain in detention.

The following map highlights the cities in which protest-related incidents (gatherings, strikes, arrests, and deaths) took place yesterday. Such incidents were concentrated in Tehran.

Last week, hackers disrupted a broadcasting by the President of Iran Ebrahim Raisi, and called for protests today, the five-month anniversary of Mahsa Amini’s death and the 40th-day anniversary of the Islamic Republic’s execution of Mohammad-Mehdi Karami and Mohammad Hosseini.

Protests broke out this evening in Iran. Videos have come in from Esfahan, Mashhad, Karaj, and below is Tehran, with chants of “Death to the Dictator.”

Thousands turned out in Toronto to protest against the 44-year rule of the Islamic Republic.

A large crowd gathered at the Lincoln Memorial for the Washington, D.C. March for Iran.

Over 80,000 people attended a rally in Los Angeles in support of the anti-regime uprising in Iran.

Last week, Baloch citizens in Zahedan gathered around Makki Mosque.

Copper mine workers went on strike in Sirjan, southern Iran.

Despite underwhelming turnout, the Supreme Leader of Iran bragged about the number of participants in pro-regime rallies on the 22nd of Bahman, the anniversary of the Islamic Republic.

Hundreds Of Activists Support Mousavi’s Call To End Clerical Rule | Iran International

Groups of Iranian reformist politicians and activists have come out in support of their top dissident figure against the Islamic Republic, demanding a referendum. Over 400 political activists and journalists have signed a statement in support of Green Movement leader Mir-Hossein Mousavi’s call to end clerical rule in Iran. Mousavi, who was a presidential candidate in 2009 and has been under house arrest since 2011, said in a statement on February 4 that fundamental change was required to “save Iran” and proposed elections to appoint a constitutional assembly to write a new constitution and a referendum on the new constitution and its proposed form of government.

Iranian Trade Unions, Civic Groups Set Out Demands For “Freedom, Equality” | Iran Wire

Twenty independent Iranian trade unions, feminist groups and student organizations have issued a joint charter listing their "minimum demands,” including respecting freedom of expression, introducing gender and religious equality and abolishing capital punishment. The signatories said that the Iranian people have taken to the streets across Iran over the past five months to protest “misogyny, gender discrimination, labor slavery, poverty, and national (ethnic) and religious oppression.”

35 members of the U.S. House of Representatives cosponsor the MAHSA Act, which calls for sanctions on the Supreme Leader of Iran and the President of Iran and their respective offices for human rights abuses and support for terrorism.

The Iranian diaspora community is calling for solidarity rallies in Brussels on February 20th to coincide with a European Council meeting. The protesters will demand that the European Council add the IRGC—which leads government repression efforts in Iran—to its terrorist list.

Activists are calling on U.N. diplomats to walk out on Foreign Minister of Iran Hossein Amir-Abdollahian when he addresses the U.N. Human Rights Council on February 27th—as was done for Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov last year.

Yasman Ariani, after being released from prison, published this video of her chanting “Women, Life, Freedom” on her Instagram and wrote: "Either death or freedom."