On October 14, the East Azerbaijan police commander announced the arrest of 176 young men under the pretext of thugs. According to him, these arrests were made in honor of Iran’s State Police or Niruy-e Entezami-e Jomhuri Eslami (NAJA) Week. But the issue has nothing to do with NAJA week or any other occasion created by the government. Rather, the repression of so-called ‘thugs’ is due to the government’s fear of the youth on the eve of the anniversary of the November 2019 protests.
New Wave of Arrest in Tehran
On September 28, Hossein Rahimi, the police chief of Greater Tehran, announced the arrest of 389 people, who he labeled ‘thugs’. While three weeks ago, there was no occasion called NAJA week. Rahimi said he did so at the repeated request of the people, and that the arrests were the fifth step in their plot. He explained that for these arrests, 125 neighborhoods have already been identified and in a coordinated operation, this number of young people has been arrested.
The Arrest of Youth in Gilan
On October 1, Azizallah Maleki, the police commander of Gilan, stated, that during a plan, 26 people were arrested who disturbed the order and security of Rasht, Langrud, Anzali, and Siahkal cities. He also called the detainees thugs. He stressed that those who disrupt the order and security will be dealt with decisively. In this regard, cyberspace will be regularly monitored. Until there is no safe place for such people.
Such arrests and attacks have taken place in other provinces of the country. Which are all with the same theme and with the same purpose. Security forces in every city of Iran, in the name of fighting thugs and maintaining security in cities and cyberspace, arrest young people and throw them in prisons.
Degrading Youth in the Name of Public Order
On October 12, the repressive forces of the clerical government took another inhumane act to intimidate the youth. With a show accompanied by the torture of the accused, they put several young people in a car and drove them around the city. Revolving with constant beatings and pressure to insult themselves.
This shocking spectacle quickly spread in cyberspace. There was a wave of internal and external disgust. These barbaric and hateful moves provoked much opposition. And showed the inhuman face of the ruling ayatollahs on the world. On October 14, the judiciary chief Ebrahim Raisi came on the stage and condemned this inhuman show in fear of the people’s reactions, saying that such acts were done without judicial permission.
This criminal cleric did not comment on other issues, such as the amputation of fingers and the demolition of poor people’s houses, as well as the cutting down of old trees that are being carried out on a daily basis around the country. He did not state any of them that they have been done without judicial permission. Such an approach indicates that he was forced to retreat from his decision when faced with a wave of global opposition.
The Means of Security in Iran
The law enforcement commanders of this administration have set up the arrests in every Iran’s city, their message was that they wanted to establish security. What is the meaning of security in this clerical culture?
In a word, for the current rulers, security is summed up in maintaining the survival of this system. Any move that is against their survival is considered as an act against the security and the perpetrator is considered to be disturbing their order and stability, who should be arrested and punished.
Arbitrary Arrest of Youth in November 2019
In November 2019, more than 12,000 young people were arrested at the scene and in the days that followed. By identifying photos and videos taken at the scene. Or obtained by CCTV cameras. A large number were arrested in the following days. All these young people are against the security in the eyes of the ruling and their repressive officials. There were those who endangered the security of the system.
Over the past few months, there has been a clear wave of popular opposition and discontent. Unemployment, poverty, and coronavirus, like a plague, have destroyed their entire lives. These misfortunes have not gone unanswered and led the youth of the country to fight against these injustices. The people, workers, and especially the show at every opportunity, by any means, that they are tired of this government and want to overthrow it.
Resistance Units Symbolize Young Iranian Rebellion
Setting fire on repression centers and mobilization bases are among the targets that are attacked daily by the Resistance Units, affiliated to the opposition Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK). The writing of slogans calling for the death of the dictator and other slogans expressing the illegitimacy of the ruling government on the walls of cities is being done in abundance. The photographs and banners of former Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) commander Qassem Soleimani and the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei are torn or burned in every location. This is what is considered to be detrimental to the security of the system, and in terms of the clerical rule, the perpetrators must be arrested and punished.
It is for this reason that the closer we get to the anniversary of the November protests, the more the ruling ayatollahs try to suppress the protests again.
In the case of the death of Mohammad-Reza Shajarian, a popular Iranian singer, it was shown that any popular gathering, for any reason and on any occasion, would quickly turn into an anti-government movement. On the first night of Shajarian’s death, while his body was still in the hospital, the crowd in front of Jam Hospital, in addition to honoring and celebrating this popular artist, also raised their voices against the dictator, with the slogan ‘death to the dictator’. Such slogans are the death knell of the rulers and are against the security of the system.
