THIS PAGE WILL BE UPDATED WITH THE LATEST NEWS
UPDATE: 9:00 PM CET
Iran Uprising at a Glance – Day 175
Based partially on reporting by PMOI (MEK) Network in Iran
Thursday, March 9, 2023 – 8 PM GMT + 1
- Days: 175
- Protests: 282 cities
- Fatalities: 750+ estimated deaths, 664 identified by MEK
- Detentions: 30,000
On Thursday March 9, Iran’s nationwide uprising marked its 175th day after women in different cities across Iran, joined by others, marked International Women’s Day by taking to the streets and launching anti-regime protests.
People in the Narmak and Sattarkhan districts of Tehran, and the city of Rasht held demonstrations to and chanted anti-regime slogans, including:
“Death to the dictator!”
“Basij & IRGC, you are our ISIS!”
“This is the year Seyed Ali (Khamenei) is overthrown!”
“With or without the hijab, we’re headed for a revolution!”
“The movement continues!”
In Tehran, regime authorities deployed anti-riot units that began firing shot tear gas and shotgun pellet rounds to disperse the demonstrators.
In the city of Karaj, west of the capital Tehran, locals chanted “Death to the dictator!”
In Rudsar, northern Iran, protesters torched a poster of the eliminated IRGC Quds Force chief Qassem Soleimani.
In a decisive response to the regime’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and his president Ebrahim Raisi on International Women’s Day and the poisoning of girl students and suppression of teachers. MEK-affiliated resistance units set on fire bases of the IRGC and its Basij units in the cities of Islamabad and Hamedan western Iran, Shahriar west of Tehran, Bandar Azali, northern Iran, Qom, central Iran, and the Basij intelligence headquarters in southern city of Shiraz.
In another development, reliable information obtained from within the Iranian regime by NCRI, revealed the key components of a plan to confront any disturbances that may occur during the Fire Festival in Iran, on the last Tuesday of the Iranian month of Esfand, leading to the Iranian New Year, Nowruz, on March 21. The plan has been communicated to the country’s repressive organs for implementation and underlines that the Fire Festival must not be celebrated in open areas, squares, or streets.
Finally, today, H.Res. 100, titled, “Expressing support for the Iranian people’s desire for a democratic, secular, and nonnuclear Republic of Iran, and condemning violations of human rights and state-sponsored terrorism by the Iranian Government” and sponsored by 225 bipartisan members (an absolute majority) of the US House of Representatives, was introduced by Rep. Tom McClintock, a senior member of the House Judiciary Committee and 11 of his colleagues. NCRI President-elect, Mrs. Maryam Rajavi addressed the conference in a video message.
UPDATE: 5:30 PM CET
US Intelligence Community Says Protests Have Challenged Iran Regime’s Stability
On March 8, the website of the US Senate Intelligence Committee published the Annual Threat Assessment report of the US intelligence community.
The report reads in part: In late 2022 and early 2023, the Iranian regime faced some of the most widespread and prolonged protests since the 1979 revolution. These protests were sparked by a cultural issue—rather than an economic or political one—but have since grown to encompass overall grievances with the Islamic Republic and have included a wide swath of society.
Iranian officials are concerned about the protracted protests and perceive that foreign meddling is prolonging the unrest.
Even if Iran has contained this round of protests through violence and intimidation, compounding crises in the coming year probably will further challenge the regime’s legitimacy and staying power. With Iran’s depreciating currency and annual inflation rates of almost 50 percent in late 2022, Tehran probably faces an economic downturn that the IC assesses could prolong or reignite unrest and result in greater instability.
UPDATE: 8:30 AM CET
Letter to the Editor. Answer: “Iran Must Become a Secular Democratic Republic”
Reza Pahlavi has not distanced himself from either his father’s or grandfather’s human rights violations such as execution, torture, and persecution of dissidents and ethnic minorities such as Kurds. Since 2011, Reza Pahlavi has, according to his own statement, been in direct contact with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and other paramilitary groups in Iran on several occasions.
Reza Pahlavi has also spent most of his time in the media spotlight vilifying other opposition parties. Incorrectly calling minorities’ democratic aspirations for self-government separatism and describing oppositionists as extremists has no unifying effect.
After several legal instances where the verdicts were uniform in all instances, they were removed from the terror list in 2009 in the EU and in 2012 in the USA. NCRI’s 10-point program stipulates a secular democratic Iran with self-rule for the Kurds.
In gatherings and conferences with politicians in the West, the NCRI has been advocating just this and a terrorist classification of the IRGC since 2010. Maryam Rajavi is democratically elected by the NCRI as the leader of the organization. Furthermore, the NCRI has also exposed the regime’s nuclear program.
Protests Surge in Iran Over Regime-backed Gas Attacks Targeting Schools
People across Iran took to the streets in many cities on Tuesday protesting the recent chemical gas attacks targeting schools and universities, especially all-girls facilities. Popular anger is escalating as more people, if not all, are pointing fingers at the regime and its security forces.
People consider it impossible that a nationwide campaign of gas attacks targeting schools could continue for months without the knowledge of at least some in the mullahs’ regime and their vast security apparatus. To add insult to injury, reports indicate school authorities and the regime are busy covering up the attacks after they have been carried out.
Iranian Political Prisoners Pay Tribute to Women’s Struggle on IWD2023
Iranian political prisoners in Evin, Gohardasht and Central Karaj prisons sent messages on International Women’s Day, paying tribute to Iranian women in their 44-year struggle for freedom and equality. In their letter from Evin Prison, a group of supporters of the opposition People’s Mojahedin (PMOI/MEK) wrote:
“On International Women’s Day, we pay tribute to the brave women who rose up against the mullahs’ misogynistic regime and laid down their lives for the Iranian people’s democratic revolution. We are speaking about a generation that has been forging ahead for 44 years in the battlefields and medieval prisons of the clerical regime.
“Challenges and Triumphs: Examining the State of Women in Iran on International Women’s Day”
International Women’s Day is an opportunity to celebrate the achievements of women and to highlight the ongoing struggles that women face around the world. In Iran, women continue to fight for their rights, despite the many obstacles they face. It is essential for the international community to support Iranian women and to hold the regime accountable for its human rights violations. Only then we can hope to see meaningful change for women in Iran.
Iran has a long history of women’s rights activism, dating back to the early 20th century. However, the rise of the mullahs’ regime in 1979 brought significant changes to Iranian society, including the imposition of strict gender segregation and dress codes, and the removal of many women’s rights.
Chemical Poisoning Endangers the Safety of Iranian Students
The Noor School of Art in Qom was targeted by a chemical attack for the first time on November 30, 2023. Since Wednesday, March 1, 2023, these chemical attacks have been growing exponentially, with attacks spreading to 100 schools on Saturday, December 4, and to 100 cities on Sunday, March 5. On Monday, March 6, the attacks reached all parts of Iran, including many deprived areas that are hardly found on the map.
In these small cities, there aren’t even respiratory resuscitation facilities available for these students. Furthermore, these chemical attacks, which initially targeted girls’ schools, have now spread to boys’ schools, and at the time of this report’s publication, girls’ student dormitories have been subjected to chemical attacks. It’s important to note that these statistics only cover the period prior to the report’s publication.
The Heroic Iranian Women To Be Remembered on the 8 of March
The uprising of the Iranian people against the dictatorship of Khamenei since September 2023 has been a huge leap in the history of the Iranian women’s movement. The uprising that was named after Mehsa Amini ( a young Kurdish girl who killed the morality police forces) quickly put it in the eyes of all of Iran and the patriarchal world that now it is Iranian women who have stood up against the tyranny of the religious authority.
The upstanding women who paid and are paying the price of Iran’s democratic revolution by enduring suffering and torture; Those who were arrested and tortured or subjected to vicious attacks, those whose eyes became blind, and those who died under torture.
Ottawa, Canada—March 5, 2023: MEK Supporters Rally to Support the Iran Revolution and Celebrate International Women’s Day
Ottawa, Canada—March 5, 2023: Freedom-loving Iranians and supporters of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) held a rally and expressed solidarity with the nationwide Iran protests. The demonstrators also emphasized the Iranian people seeking a democratic republic and rejecting any kind of dictatorship, be it the mullahs or a return to that of Shah’s regime.
Vienna—March 6, 2023: MEK Supporters Rally in Support of the Iran Revolution and Against the Appeasement Policy With the Mullahs
Vienna, Austria—March 6, 2023: Freedom-loving Iranians and supporters of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) rallied in solidarity with the Iranian people’s uprising and condemning appeasement policy with the mullahs’ regime.
Iranian Resistance supporters in Vienna demanded to refer Iran’s regime dossier to the Security Council to adopt effective sanctions against the mullahs.
Also, read Iran News in Brief – March 8, 2023
