THIS PAGE WILL BE UPDATED WITH THE LATEST NEWS
THIS PAGE WILL BE UPDATED WITH THE LATEST NEWSUPDATE: 10:00 PM CEST
Iran Uprising at a Glance – Day 35
Based partially on reporting by PMOI (MEK) Network in Iran
Thursday, October 20, 2022 – 9 PM CET
- Days: 35th day
- Protests: 193 cities
- Fatalities: 400+ estimated deaths, 241 identified by MEK
- Detentions: 20,000+
Amid a severe Internet blackout, videos and images of demonstrations submitted or posted on the internet indicate an increasingly daring generation confronting the regime’s mobilized terror and intimidation campaign across the nation.
While strongly condemning the regime, the Coordinating Council of Iranian Teachers declared that Saturday, commemorating the 40th day of Mahsa Amini’s murder, is going to be a National Day of Mourning and called for various protest activities inside the country.
Today, Tasnim news agency, affiliated with the IRGC’s Qods Force, quoted Shafi’ie, the Intelligence Chief of the Khorasan Razavi province, as saying that he has evidence that shows the MEK had a direct role in organizing the recent protests.
October 20 – Tabriz, northwest #Iran
Locals continuing the nationwide protests against the regime on the 35th night of the uprising.
Protesters chanting: "Death to the dictator!"#IranRevolution2022#مهسا_امینی #آزادی_آزادی_آزادی pic.twitter.com/RhevYxl1WG— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) October 20, 2022
October 20 – Firuzabad, south-central #Iran
Locals are on strike and continuing the nationwide protests against the regime on the 35th day of the uprising.#IranRevolution2022#مهسا_امینی #آزادی_آزادی_آزادیpic.twitter.com/Pvq14rSBbZ— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) October 20, 2022
October 20 – Isfahan, central #Iran
Workers of the Entekhab Industrial Group are on strike.
This is the 35th day of the nationwide uprising against the mullahs' regime.#IranRevolution2022#مهسا_امینی #آزادی_آزادی_آزادی pic.twitter.com/xu0hhJGqAJ— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) October 20, 2022
Eyewitness reports from MEK-affiliated Resistance Units
“We went to Gohardasht with our group. We were nine women and men. We started to chant slogans against the regime in one of the streets and shouted, “Death to the oppressor, be it the Shah or the Leader [Khamenei]”. We left our mobile phones at home as a security precaution. The security forces attacked and one of the women was arrested. We all counterattacked to release her. The security forces were 10 uniformed police. One of them seemed sympathetic and helped us to get away. We succeeded in freeing our friend. When I was telling my mother about this, she gave me her motherly advice, saying, “Don’t you be afraid of those thugs. It is like 1979 now and everyone is turning against the regime.”
Former MOIS Official Warns of a Rebellious Generation
On October 20, in an interview with the state news agency ILNA, Mohammad Sadegh Kushki, a former interrogator of the Iranian regime’s Ministry of Intelligence offered an analysis of the nationwide uprising.
This former MOIS official, who has a lot of experience torturing and interrogating political prisoners, said: “In my opinion, the riots and events of the last few weeks that we have witnessed in our country have a “central core” and an ‘external layer’. All kinds of people can be found in the external layer of these developments and disturbances. The central core is formed by the young generation of our country. In my opinion, this generation is suffering from abnormality.”
This generation is like a gunpowder barrel that has been ignited by other currents, however, it also has the ability to explode and rebel against everything, even family bonds. In this regard, around this central core, we have of course witnessed the existence of terrorist groups such as Komeleh, KDP, and the MEK. However, as I said, the central core is an abnormal group and generation.”
UPDATE: 9:30 PM CEST
UK Sanctions Iran Over Kamikaze Russian Drones
The UK is today (20 October) implementing new sanctions on Iranian individuals and businesses responsible for supplying Russia with kamikaze drones used to bombard Ukraine.
Russia is using drones to attack both civilian targets and critical infrastructure in Kyiv and across Ukraine, with the intention of cutting off Ukrainian people from energy, heating, and water.
UPDATE: 5:30 PM CEST
Ukraine: EU Sanctions Three Individuals and One Entity in Relation to the Use of Iranian Drones in Russian Aggression
The Council today added three Iranian individuals and one Iranian entity to the list of those subject to restrictive measures for undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty, and independence of Ukraine. This is in view of their role in the development and delivery of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) used by Russia in its war against Ukraine.
Today’s decision is a signal of the EU’s resolve to respond swiftly and decisively to Iran’s actions supporting Russian aggression against Ukraine. The EU condemns the delivery of Iranian drones to Russia and their deadly deployment in the war of aggression against Ukraine. The EU will continue to respond to all actions supporting Russian aggression.
Zelensky Accuses Iran of Engaging in ‘Blood Money’ Deal to Arm Russia
Tehran may want to talk with Ukraine about claims that it’s arming Russia with deadly “kamikaze” drones but — in an exclusive interview with Canadian media — President Voldomyr Zelenskyy said Wednesday he doesn’t trust the words of Iran’s leaders.
The Ukrainian president sat down with both CBC News and CTV News for a roundtable interview at his office in Kyiv. Zelenskyy told Canadian reporters he doesn’t believe Iran’s public denials.
“They’re killing our people,” Zelenskyy said. “So what trust can we talk about?
EU-Iran Sanctions Violated: 60-year-old in Court
The trial against a 60-year-old entrepreneur from Norderstedt for violating the EU-Iran sanctions began on Wednesday with the reading of the charges before the Hanseatic Higher Regional Court in Hamburg. In the state protection proceedings, the federal prosecutor accuses the German-Iranian of having delivered spectrometer systems and other laboratory equipment to Iran in 2020 without the necessary export license.
In addition, he is said to have sold laboratory equipment that did not require a permit to Iranian companies, which, as suspected intermediaries for the Iranian nuclear and missile program, were subject to a so-called ban.
UPDATE: 2:30 PM CEST
EU Agrees on New Iran Sanctions Over Drone Deliveries to Russia -EU Presidency
BRUSSELS, Oct 20 (Reuters) – European Union members have agreed on new measures against Iran over its supply of drones to Russia, the Czech presidency of the EU said on Thursday.
“EU ambassadors agreed on measures against entities supplying Iranian drones that hit Ukraine,” the Czech EU presidency said in a tweet.
“EU states decided to freeze the assets of three individuals and one entity responsible for drone deliveries (and) is also prepared to extend sanctions to four more Iranian entities that already featured in a previous sanctions list.”
UPDATE: 11:30 AM CEST
NCRI-US Conference on Iran Protests: One-Month Overview, Projection, Policy Implications
On Wednesday, the National Council of Resistance of Iran U.S. Representative Office (NCRI-US) held a press conference reviewing the nationwide Iran protests, which have lasted for over a month. The NCRI-US also shed light on the uprising’s implications and presented a series of policy recommendations for the international community to support the Iranian people’s protests.
Ms. Soona Samsami, the NCRI’s Representative in the U.S., along with Mr. Alireza Jafarzadeh, the Deputy Director of the NCRI-US, made elucidating remarks about the current uprising in Iran.
“The regime has admitted to at least 2,000 of its agents being beaten and wounded in acts of self-defense by the protesters. In fact, what is happening in Iran today has all the hallmarks of a revolution in the making. We have passed a historic inflection point with people’s fear dissipating and fear reigning in the regime, a point of no return,” Ms. Samsami said.
“Since the uprising started in mid-September 2022, the main questions were for how long this could go on if the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) would directly get involved, and how effectively the regime can stop it as quickly as possible,” Mr. Jafarzadeh revealed.
The full report of this important press conference can be found here.
UPDATE: 10:00 AM CEST
News Roundup on the Uprising from Wednesday, October 19
University students continued their demonstrations earlier on Wednesday, as nationwide protests started at around 6 PM local time across Iran, despite an intense and heavy crackdown by regime intelligence operatives, plainclothes IRGC and Basij forces, and uniformed security forces acting in tandem to quell the uprising.
Strikes by oil and petrochemical workers that started last week spread to more plants, including contract workers at the South Pars natural gas fields that produce around 70 percent of the country’s energy needs.
Protests were reported in Tehran, Esfahan, Arak, Ilam, Kermanshah, Sari, Zahedan, Dehgolan, Urmia, Darreh Shahr, Bandar Abbas, and several western cities with Kurdish-majority populations and in the south. The regime shut down mobile Internet access, affecting the number of videos and photos being posted on social media.
October 26 will be the 40th day since the Iranian morality patrol killed Mahsa Amini. Upon tradition, Iranians commonly honor the 40th day after a person’s death. Protesters have already called for demonstrations to mark the 40th-day commemoration.
IRGC-affiliated Fars News Agency reported that most arrested protestors are younger than 35. It stated that 42 percent of arrested protestors were under the age of 20, 48 percent were between the ages of 20 and 35, and 10 percent were over the age of 35. Fars added that two percent of total detainees were government employees.
Iran’s universities are a hotbed of protest and students have been at the forefront of opposing the regime. That may be a reason why Ali Khamenei met with handpicked university science faculty and students to placate the resistance to his regime. Khamenei paid lip service to the academic elite at a time when scores of leading students, some winners of scientific Olympiads, are languishing in his prisons on political charges.
In an interview with state television Channel 1, Kazem Gharibabadi, the Judiciary’s deputy for international affairs, displayed the regime’s exasperation over the defiant reaction of the youth in the nationwide uprising, and revealed that “more than 1,300 buildings, motorcycles, vehicles, and banks have been destroyed and 5,000 members of the suppressive forces have been beaten and injured,” during the uprising after attacking protesters.
October 19 – Sari, northern #Iran
Locals continuing the nationwide protests against the regime on the 34th night of the uprising.#IranRevolution2022#مهسا_امینی #آزادی_آزادی_آزادی pic.twitter.com/mbvRQCpM8Y— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) October 20, 2022
October 19 – Tehran, #Iran
Activists are reporting clashes between protesters and regime security forces in the capital's Ekbatan district.#IranRevolution2022#مهسا_امینی #آزادی_آزادی_آزادیpic.twitter.com/0YjBl7uAgY— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) October 19, 2022
October 19 – Tehran, #Iran
Sayyad Shirazi Residential Complex
Members of a special anti-riot unit launched an attack on locals in this area on the 34th night of the nationwide uprising.#IranRevolution2022#مهسا_امینی #آزادی_آزادی_آزادی pic.twitter.com/V5z4OWxvVD— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) October 20, 2022
Resistance
The NCRI-US office held an in-person and online press briefing for members of the press and media on Wednesday in the NCRI’s Washington DC office to discuss the importance of events unfolding in Iran and the trajectory of the protests. Transcripts are available on request.
Watch our press briefing today on week 5 of #IranRevoIution as #IranProtests2022 continue despite the IRGC and its commander-in-chief Hossein Salami being fully engaged in all-out suppression. https://t.co/nQ1HQzugVf#مهسا_امینی #ازادی_ازادی_ازادی pic.twitter.com/uOAEfHE1vj
— Alireza Jafarzadeh (@A_Jafarzadeh) October 19, 2022
Maryam Rajavi met with the British Parliamentary Committee for Iran Freedom to boost support for the uprising and urged the West to:
- Reconsider all relations with the murderous Iranian regime
- Impose tougher sanctions on the religious dictatorship
- Recognize the Iranian people’s right to overthrow the mullahs’ regime and their right to self-defense in face of the regime’s brutal crackdown
- Shut down the Iranian regime’s embassies that are used as centers of espionage and terrorist planning and expel their operatives and spies.
UPDATE: 9:00 AM CEST
Support for the Iranian People’s Uprising
The meeting of the British Parliamentary Committee for Iran Freedom was held on Tuesday, October 18, 2022, at the UK Parliament. The conference declared support for the Iranian people’s uprising and the Iranian Resistance. A group of members of parliament from various parties attended the meeting presided over by Baroness Verma.
Maryam Rajavi addressed the meeting online and elaborated on the developments regarding the nationwide uprising in Iran and the Iranian people’s expectations from the international community.
College Students’ Protests, Night Rallies Continue Across Iran
Wednesday marked the 34th day of Iran’s ongoing nationwide uprising as anti-regime protests continue. College students in different cities, especially the capital Tehran, voiced their opposition to the mullahs’ rule and the regime’s security forces.
Protests in Iran have to this day expanded to 193 cities. Over 400 people have been killed and more than 20,000 are arrested by the regime’s forces, according to sources of Iranian opposition People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK). The names of 241 killed protesters have been published by the PMOI/MEK.
Iran’s Nationwide Uprising Is Not “Leaderless”
More than a month ago, “morality police” in Tehran accosted 22-year-old Mahsa Amini over the arrangement of her mandatory head covering and subjected her to such physical abuse that she fell into a coma and died three days later. Since then, international media have attached ever greater significance to the ensuing protests but have repeatedly fallen into the trap of undermining that perception with descriptions of the protests as “leaderless.”
Fanpage.it Interviews Elham Zanjani From Ncri Women’s Committee
Fanpage.it’s interview with Elham Zanjani of the Women’s Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, one month after the outbreak of protests over the death of Mahsa Amini: “According to our numbers, over 400 people killed, including 23 minors. Four weeks later, the most important social change is that people are no longer afraid to publicly express their disgust and hatred toward the ruling regime.”
Iranian Citizens Fearlessly Protest the Regime – Day 34
On Wednesday, October 19, 2022, citizens in Iran resumed nationwide protests against the regime for day 34. According to reports tallied by the Iran News Update, college and school students rallied across the country. The anti-regime demonstrations continue despite the regime’s atrocities and bloodshed. The Iranian opposition Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK) reports security forces have killed at least 400 citizens.
Authorities have injured thousands of protesters and bystanders and arbitrarily arrested more than 20,000. Instead, the people fearlessly take to the streets every night, targeting dictator Ali Khamenei in their slogans.
Canada: Iranian Resistance Supporters Demonstrations in Toronto and Vancouver in Support of the Iran Protests
Canada—October 16, 2022: Freedom-loving Iranians and supporters of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) held rallies in Toronto and Vancouver in solidarity with the Iranian people’s uprising and against the brutal attack on Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison by the mullahs’ regime.
Also, read Iran News in Brief – October 19, 2022
