The UK Representative of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), Dowlat Nowrouzi, addressed the recent popular protests in Iran during an online Q&A session on Tuesday, May 12. In her remarks, Ms. Nowrouzi highlighted the recent protests by two major sections of the Iranian society: Teachers and laborers.
“The country is in turmoil and during the last month Iran has witnessed major protests by teachers and workers calling for higher salary, better living conditions, an end to the rampant corruption in the country but also the right to freedom of assembly and expression as well as the release of imprisoned colleagues. These protests come despite heavy repression and suppressive pre-emptive measures by the government and its security forces,” Nowrouzi said.
“While Iran’s central bank set the country’s official poverty line at 3 million tomans per month, a teacher in Iran earns only one million tomans per month while workers in many cases earn less than one million toman per month,” Nowrouzi explained in response to questions asked via Twitter. She noted that the regime is spending billions of dollars in Syria and Iraq at the same time that its people are suffering widespread poverty.
Addressing the recent protests in the city of Mahabad, she said, “The courageous struggle by Farinaz Khosravi in Mahabad in face of the aggression by the Iranian regime agents show that women in Iran have no security, no right to privacy and even no right to choose their clothing. But the Iranian women refuse to accept this subjugation and are in the forefront of the anti-regime protests as we saw in 2009 nationwide uprisings in Iran that not only asked for the people’s vote but also demanded freedom, democracy, human rights and socio-economic and political justice.”
Nowrouzi explained, “The very fact that these protests continue in Iran despite the regime’s suppressive measures is a sign that this regime is weak. And despite their internal disagreements, all of the regime’s factions are united behind and support the current suppressive measures to quell these popular protests … the number of executions in Iran during Rouhani’s tenure is in fact much higher than that of his hard-line predecessor Ahmadinejad. Today, Iran is the world’s leading executioner per capita.”
Regarding the resistance’s major upcoming event in Paris, she added, “On 13 June, tens of thousands of Iranians will gather in Villepinte, Paris to support regime change by the people of Iran and their legitimate Resistance movement. The international community, the Western leaders, and the media need to hear the voice of Iranians and the Iranian people who desire and demand change in their country … The regime in Iran does not want and is incapable of reforms. It confronts people’s legitimate demands with torture, public lashing, mass arrests and public executions.”
She concluded, “The West and the international community are making a big mistake by decoupling Iran’s appalling human rights situation from the nuclear talks. Any final nuclear deal as well as the continuation of diplomatic and economic relations with Iran must be made conditional to clear improvement of human rights situation in Iran, an end to the executions and the release of all political prisoners. And as [NCRI President] Maryam Rajavi has said, the regime’s dossier of systematic human rights violations must be referred to the UN Security Council for holding those responsible accountable for their crimes against humanity.”
