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| Sina Mirzaei |
In an interview with Voice of America, political scientist and human rights defender Sina Mirzaei commented on the human rights violations and acts of violence committed by the Iranian Islamic Republic in response to ongoing protests in the country since September.
Due to the involvement of Iran's military, paramilitary, and plainclothes forces, hundreds of people have been killed during the protests. Sina Mirzaei emphasizes that the government's response to peaceful protests is disproportionate to the severity of the situation.
The human rights defender states that Iran's security forces prioritize the subjective concept of "orderly governance" over even the Iranian constitution itself:
"A few days ago, one of the reports received by AHRAZ (Human Rights Society) mentioned that a detained protester told an investigator, 'I know my rights, and I have the right to protest as defined in the constitution. I exercised this right, and it is not a crime.' The interrogator responded with a remark, saying, 'There is a constitution in Iran, a law, and then there is the 'benefit of order' (the benefit of order).'
In recent weeks, particularly in cities inhabited by Iran's Baloch and Kurdish communities, reports and footage have emerged showing security forces opening fire on protesters. Human rights defenders have disclosed the names of dozens of citizens killed in these regions.
According to Sina Mirzaei, "In Iran's West Azerbaijan province, the streets of some cities are filled with military vehicles. The situation in the cities is so tense that security forces have declared martial law. In one incident in Mahabad, a city in West Azerbaijan, authorities directly opened fire on the population. This was not in response to armed civilians; unarmed people were shot. In the videos we see, these individuals participated in the protests in the first two weeks in a completely peaceful manner, demanding their rights. This repression is also noticeable in the cities of Piranshahr, Sulduz, Sardasht, Khoy, and Bukan in West Azerbaijan."
He emphasizes that the government's response to the protests is disproportionate to the intensity of the protests themselves.
"Human rights organizations' observations and investigations clearly show that the current situation is not proportional to the severity of the government's response. The government is using disproportionate force. It opens fire with military weapons on peaceful, unarmed civilians. It is trying to create a state of emergency. The government seeks to demobilize the people with this. For example, they issue death sentences in connection with the protests to scare people. Torture is also one of these tools. There are children who have been killed inside schools. Children are being detained and subjected to torture. They are also being subjected to sexual violence as a means of demobilization," Sina Mirzaei added.
Link to the original interview in Turkish on the Azerbaijani section of Voice of America:
Sina Mirzayi: İran hakimiyyəti qeyri-mütənasib güc tətbiq edir, silahsız əhaliyə atəş açır