Iranian lawmakers asked the country’s judiciary to “show no mercy” to protesters in a letter cited by state-run Press TV on Sunday, as thousands of people continue to protest in the streets despite the threat of arrest.
The Islamic Republic is facing one of its biggest and unprecedented shows of dissent since the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman who was arrested by the morality police, allegedly for not wearing her hijab properly.
In an open letter signed by 227 of Iran’s 290 members, Press TV reports that lawmakers are calling on protesters to learn a “good lesson” to deter others who threaten the Iranian government’s authority.
“We, the representatives of this nation, are asking all government officials, including the Judiciary, to treat those who waged war (against the Islamic establishment) and attacked people’s lives and property like Daesh (terrorists), in a way that would serve as a good lesson in the shortest possible time,” the letter reads according to state-run Press TV.
The lawmakers added that such a punishment – the methods of which were not specified – would “demonstrate to all that the life, property, safety and honor of our dear people is a red line for this (Islamic) establishment and that it will not he showed mercy. to no one in that regard.”
Iran has charged at least 1,000 people in Tehran province for allegedly taking part in nationwide protests over Amini’s death, the largest such show of dissent in years, state news agency IRNA reported. Their tests are public and have been running for over a week.
The Norway-based human rights group Iran Human Rights (IHR) said in a report last Wednesday that dozens of protesters face charges including “enmity against God” and “corruption of the land”, which carry the death penalty.
The members of parliament’s letter also reiterates claims by the previous Iranian government that the ongoing protests – which it calls riots – were incited by the United States and other enemies of Iran. Iran’s government has not provided evidence to support its claims of foreign involvement in the protest movement.
Top UN official Jaeed Rehman told the UN Security Council last week that some 14,000 people, including journalists, activists, lawyers and teachers, had been arrested since protests broke out in Iran in mid-September.
Rehman, the special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, said the “continuous violent response of the security forces” had caused at least 277 deaths.
CNN cannot independently verify the number of arrests or the death toll — exact figures are impossible to confirm by anyone outside the Iranian government — and different estimates have been given by opposition groups, international rights groups and local journalists.
