Following a show trial, the Iranian regime executed Mostafa Salehi, a protester detained during the nationwide Iran protests in 2018. This inhumane action was also a sign of the regime’s desperation since it had previously failed in executing several other detained protesters.
The regime’s Supreme Court had previously upheld the death sentences for three young protesters arrested during the November 2019 uprising. These three youth, Amir Hossain Moradi, Said Tamjidi, and Mohammad Rajabi, were supposed to be executed in July. But an international campaign forced the Iranian regime to halt their execution. In a similar case, the regime’s Judiciary in the city of Isfahan was about to execute eight detained protesters. But subsequent protests by their family members and locals forced the Iranian regime to temporarily halt their execution.
Protests against the inhumane execution sentences did not suddenly change the nature of the most inhumane regime of the 21st century. After all, the Iranian regime killed 1500 protests in broad daylight during the November 2019 protests. The same regime massacred over 30,000 political prisoners in 1988, simply for maintaining their political beliefs. The regime has never stopped its ongoing oppressive measures against women such as compulsory veiling, arresting intellectuals, and minorities, and issuing harsh and inhumane sentences such as flogging, amputating limbs, and stoning. But why had the mullahs this time stopped these executions? Why did they subsequently execute Mostafa Salehi?
The ongoing social and economic crises, due to the regime’s wrong policies, have turned the Iranian society into a powder keg. The nationwide Iran protests rattled the regime’s foundations. The subsequent general boycott of the regime’s sham parliamentary elections, for which the regime concealed the existence of COVID-19, showed the people’s conflict with this regime has reached its height.
Therefore, for the mullahs’ regime, as before, taking any action that could spark another uprising is a red line. On the other hand, the regime cannot stop oppression, because it is one of the pillars of its existence. History has shown that anything and any individual posing a threat to the regime’s rule is marked to be eliminated. The 1988 massacre of over 30,000 political prisoners, who were mostly members and supporters of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI / MEK), and were previously tried by the regime’s courts and were serving their sentences or had finished their prison terms, is an example. Ruhollah Khomeini, then the regime’s Supreme Leader, was forced to accept a ceasefire with Iraq in the war that he used for nearly a decade to plunder the national wealth, oppress any dissenting voice, and pursue his dream of an Islamic empire.
The war-torn society, grappling with poverty, was on the verge of explosion. As in any other revolution, a leading and inspiring movement was needed to guide society. Therefore, Khomeini ordered the 1988 massacre.
Iran regime’s handling of the COVID-19 crisis is also another example. Having failed to completely quell the Iranian society, despite brutally killing 1500 people during November uprising, the mullahs’ regime used the COVID-19 as a silent killer to prevent a possible uprising.
In this regard, the state-run Mostaghel daily on July 13, 2020, acknowledged: “Fear of bullets and pressure pushed back the people who had hopes of a better life. Yet, the principal players of this game know that what happened in November is a prologue to an upcoming flood from the slums, which will wash everything with it. Now, a savior was needed to divert people’s attention from the November and January incidents. So, came the novel coronavirus. The government used people’s fear of this invisible enemy to unleash the dragon among them. Thus, they [the authorities] left hungry and depressed people alone in a room with a lion and waited for the work to be done.”
The regime was willing to execute those detained protesters, but the public reaction terrified the regime in Iran, that these executions could start another uprising. But for a regime that is founded on domestic oppression, stopping executions is a sign of weakness and could further prompt the public to rise up. In addition, the regime needed to take action to boost the morale of its forces, who were disappointed when the mullahs had to halt the execution of those detained protesters. Yet, the regime knows that executing political prisoners will further add to the society’s restiveness and might spark a revolution.
In a nutshell, the mullahs are in a deadlock. Increasing oppression would lead to an uprising; not oppressing people would have a significant impact on the ruling system and its oppressive forces, prompting people to rise up.
In this regard, Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the Resistance President, said: “Reluctantly forced to refrain from executing eight other detained protesters subsequent to the millions-strong social media campaign calling for the halt in executions, the ruling religious fascism carried out this execution in retaliation and in order to terrorize the public and thwart the outbreak of any uprising.”
Now it is necessary for the international community to act, stand with the Iranian people and prevent further bloodshed by the regime.
Mrs. Rajavi urged the United Nations and its member states, as well as international organizations and institutions to immediately condemn this criminal execution. She emphasized that more than any other time, it is imperative to dispatch an international fact-finding mission to visit Iranian prisons and meet with prisoners.
