On May 25, the Iranian regime’s suppressive forces raided a party following a graduation ceremony in Qazvin and arrested 35 young men and women. On that same day, all of them were condemned in the regime’s sham courts to 99 lashes and the sentences were immediately carried out by criminals dubbed “Moral Security Police”.
Mullah Sadeq Niaraki, the criminal prosecutor of Qazvin, said in this regard: “It was deemed as necessary for the force of the judiciary system to be implemented… In less than 24 hours the process for interrogation, investigation, trial, sentencing and implementation of the sentences was accomplished… so that this would serve as a lesson to those who breach the social norms.” He went on to threaten: “The youth and juveniles should be aware of the consequences of their criminal acts since the arrest of people in mixed parties and their condemnation and punishment will be a criminal record for them and will create problems for them in their education, job and profession” (Website associated with Qazvin Province Department of Justice – May 6).
Similarly, in past days, the suppressive forces in Neyshabur, Kerman and Sorkhrud (in Mazandaran Province) conducted similar raids on festivities arresting 141; mostly young men and women.
These criminal measures and oppressive remarks, before all else, indicate the shaky and vulnerable state of a regime that cannot even tolerate private festivities of the people and is in incessant fear of an uprooting uprising by the people, especially by women and youths. This fact was vividly pointed to by Mullah Makarem Shirazi, a close Khamenei associate, who noted: “If we don’t manage the youths in the society through cultural means, many matters will get out of our hands… an important threat is awaiting us” (Regim website Tabnak – May 6, 2016).
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
May 27, 2016
