THIS PAGE WILL BE UPDATED WITH THE LATEST NEWS
UPDATE: 8:00 PM CET
Iran Uprising at a Glance – Day 128
Based partially on reporting by PMOI (MEK) Network in Iran
Saturday, January 21, 2023 – 8 PM GMT+1
- Days: 128
- Protests: 282 cities
- Fatalities: 750+ estimated deaths, 637 identified by MEK
- Detentions: 30,000
Iran’s nationwide uprising marked its 128th day following a massive demonstration in Zahedan, the capital of Sistan & Baluchistan Province in southeast Iran the day before. People in other cities, such as Rask and Khash, and Galikesh in northeast Iran, also took to the streets chanting slogans specifically targeting regime Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and his entire crackdown apparatus, including the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and the paramilitary Basij units.
January 20 – Rask, southeast #Iran
Protesters chanting: "Death to the dictator!"
"Khamenei, have some shame! Let go of the country!"#IranRevolution2023#مرگ_بر_ستمگر_چه_شاه_باشه_چه_رهبر pic.twitter.com/X9hh6sndVv— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) January 20, 2023
In Mashhad, the capital of Khorasan Razavi Province in the northeast, CNG stations were closed as regime officials refuse to provide for the Iranian people’s basic necessities.
January 20 – Ardabil, northwest #Iran
Protesters attacked the regime's local judiciary building using Molotov cocktails.#IranRevolution2023#مرگ_بر_ستمگر_چه_شاه_باشه_چه_رهبر pic.twitter.com/2MDLVnDtHt— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) January 21, 2023
There were also reports of people in other cities, such as Tehran, Mashhad, Bandar Abbas, and Sanandaj chanting anti-regime slogans and celebrating the European Parliament’s recent resolution calling on the European Union to designate the IRGC as a terrorist organization.
Sanandaj, western #Iran
"Death to the IRGC!"
People are celebrating the European Parliament's resolution calling on the EU to #BlacklistIRGC.#مرگ_بر_ستمگر_چه_شاه_باشه_چه_رهبر pic.twitter.com/Rrd1nOQjmQ— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) January 20, 2023
Also today, a young protester wrote graffiti on a wall in the capital Tehran, “This is the year Seyed Ali (Khamenei) is overthrown!”
#Iran
Protester writes in graffiti:
"This is the year Seyed Ali (Khamenei) is overthrown!"#IranRevolution2023#مرگ_بر_ستمگر_چه_شاه_باشه_چه_رهبر pic.twitter.com/yDCyx7OlVS— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) January 21, 2023
In Rameshk, Kerman Province, in south-central Iran, people had to wait in long lines to purchase cooking/heating gas.
Rameshk, Kerman Province, south-central #Iran
People waiting in long lines to purchase cooking/heating gas.Reminder:
Iran has the world's second largest natural gas reserves. pic.twitter.com/8EZXdbiBIs— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) January 21, 2023
On Friday, January 20 in Ardabil, northwest Iran, defiant youths torched the city’s local judiciary building using Molotov cocktails.
January 20 – Ardabil, northwest #Iran
Protesters attacked the regime's local judiciary building using Molotov cocktails.#IranRevolution2023#مرگ_بر_ستمگر_چه_شاه_باشه_چه_رهبر pic.twitter.com/2MDLVnDtHt— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) January 21, 2023
In a rather bizarre development during yesterday’s Friday prayer congregation in Zahedan, an IRGC plainclothes agent, who had posed as a protester, was detained by the security personnel of the city’s Makki Grand Mosque and protesters. He was carrying a placard, saying that Reza Pahlavi was his “representative.”
January 20 – Zahedan, southeast #Iran
Protesters arrested a regime agent spying on their ranks.#IranRevolution2023#مرگ_بر_ستمگر_چه_شاه_باشه_چه_رهبر pic.twitter.com/gOrinZ4Pmv— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) January 20, 2023
In the past few days, including last night, Resistance Units affiliated with the Mujahedin- Khalq (MEK projected pictures of the Resistance’s leadership, Massoud and Maryam Rajavi on walls in Rasht, northern Iran, Tabriz, northeast Iran, and in the capital Tehran.
Tech Workers Fight for Iran Protesters as Big Tech Plays It Safe
AT A COMPANY-WIDE meeting in October, Google CEO Sundar Pichai expressed concern and heartbreak over Iran’s deadly crackdown on human rights protests. “To our Iranian Googlers, know that you have our full support,” Pichai said, answering a question submitted by a staffer about the swelling revolt. The query had been upvoted by thousands of workers, according to four employees.
Google by then had spun up a cross-company task force to focus on Iran, just as it had after Russia’s attack on Ukraine, the arrival of the pandemic, and other major events. Teams were endeavoring to keep services like Maps and Meet video chats accessible through government throttling in Iran. Demand for the company’s Outline virtual private network was growing to millions of Iranians seeking uncensored internet access. And security staffers reviewed and suspended a few popular Android apps in Iran that violated policies meant to keep users safe. On Google’s internal chat boards, workers celebrated Pichai’s acknowledgment and the company’s efforts.
UPDATE: 1:00 PM CET
The Fire of Uprising Still Aflame, Insider Warns
Sadegh Zibakalam, a state-affiliated analyst and an enabler of the crackdown on universities in Iran in the early 1980s, warned that “there is a blazing fire of protests under the ashes that will be ignited by a stronger wind more than ever before”.
Today, in a column in the state-run Etemad Online, he wrote:”The causes and reasons that constituted to the recent protests are not over. On the contrary, I believe that the continuation of the typical wrong policies will make the dimensions and inclinations of the next demonstrations much more sweeping. If there are no changes and reforms and the system continues to follow the same approaches of the past, we will not go anywhere. I am afraid for the future of the state already.”
He added: “For 43 years, they have tried to limit the student movement through the creation of the Basij student organization and state-affiliated student associations but instead of being limited it has only expanded. Even the students of public universities all over Iran are coming up with demands like the students of Sharif University, Allameh University, Science and Technology University, etc.”
UPDATE: 8:30 AM CET
European Parliament Calls for ‘Unconditional Release’ of Belgian Aid Worker in Iran
The Parliament “strongly condemns” the conviction of Vandecasteele, the continued detention of Swedish-Iranian scientist and guest lecturer at Brussels VUB university Ahmadreza Djalali and “the cynical use of hostage diplomacy to force the release of convicted terrorist Asadollah Assadi.“
Assadi is officially an Iranian diplomat and was sentenced to 20 years in prison in Belgium in 2021 for a planned terror attack in Paris.
MEPs demand the “immediate and unconditional release and safe repatriation” of Djalali and Vandecasteele, as well as seven French citizens imprisoned in Iran.
Iran Protests Resume as Baloch Take to the Streets Again Despite Crackdown
The Baloch people of Sistan & Baluchestan Province are taking to the streets in continuous anti-regime protests with locals chanting slogans specifically targeting regime Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and his entire crackdown apparatus, including the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and the paramilitary Basij.
Protests in Iran have to this day expanded to at least 282 cities. Over 750 people have been killed and more than 30,000 are arrested by the regime’s forces, according to sources of the Iranian opposition People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK). The names of 637 killed protesters have been published by the PMOI/MEK.
Donya Farhadi Commemorated 40 Days After Security Forces Murdered Her
On the 126th day of the nationwide uprising in Iran, the people of Izeh commemorated Donya Farhadi on Thursday, January 19, 2022, forty days after her death. Donya Farhadi, 22, was a student of architecture at Azad University of Ahvaz, the capital of Khuzestan Province, southwestern Iran. Her family found her lifeless body on December 15, 2022, on the shores of the Karun River. Donya Farhadi disappeared on December 7, 2022, after a quarrel with members of Basij at the university.
Brussels—January 18, 2023: MEK Supporters Rallied to Support the Iran Revolution and Demanded to Designate the IRGC as a Terrorist Organization
Brussels, Belgium—January 18, 2023: Freedom-loving Iranians, supporters of the Iranian Resistance (NCRI and MEK), demonstrated in Front of the Belgium Foreign Ministry and demanded to designate the IRGC as a terrorist organization. They also expressed solidarity with the nationwide Iran protests.
Commemoration of January 20, the Anniversary of the Release of the Last Group of Political Prisoners From Shah’s Prisons in Paris, Stockholm, and Berlin
January 19, 2023: Freedom-loving Iranians and supporters of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) in Paris, Stockholm, and Berlin commemorated January 20, 1979. On this day, the people of Iran released the last group of political prisoners from the prisons of Shah’s dictatorship.
Stockholm—January 19, 2023: MEK Supporters Rally in Front of the Swedish Court, Seeking Justice for the 1988 Massacre Victims
Stockholm, Sweden—January 19, 2023: Freedom-loving Iranians, and supporters of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) and the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) held a rally on the fifth day of the appeal trial of the executioner Hamid Noury in front of the court. They are seeking justice for more than 30,000 martyrs of the 1988 massacre.
Also, read Iran News in Brief – January 20, 2023
