“Those who, in any form, with a cold weapon or firearm or any other means cause fear, panic, threats, coercion in public and private places, public and private spaces, with knives, clubs, machete, weapons with vehicles or on foot, individually or collectively commit such crimes will be severely punished under the Islamic Penal Code and such crimes will be tried out of turn even on holidays,” wrote Iran’s state-run website Tabnak on November 8.
This text was part of a proposal made by 53 members of Iran’s’ parliament called ‘Plan to intensify the punishment of those who threaten the people’ which has been submitted to Iran’s parliament for approval. According to this plan, those who are arrested with weapons:
- The sentence of ‘severe punishment’ [i.e. execution] is intended for them.
- This accusation will be investigated immediately and out of turn and even in cases of closure as soon as possible, and a verdict will be issued for them.
Iran’s Bloody Days
The brutal and ISIS-like culture behind this plot takes the reader’s mind involuntarily to the years of the massacre of the regime’s opponents, including the People Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), in the 1980s.
Those bloody days have not forgotten this sentence of Assadollah Lajevardi, the butcher of Evin Prison: “Within two hours of the arrest, the trial ends and the sentence is issued and implemented.”
Or as Mohammad Mohammadi Gilani, one of the regime’s prosecutors, said: “Shoot those who are protesting armed in the street right next to the wall. The injured bodies of such thugs should not be taken to the hospital but should be killed. Kill as severely as possible, hang them in the most disgraceful manner, and cut off their right arm and left leg.”
And Hossein Mousavi Tabrizi said: “The captive must be killed; the wounded must be wounded more to be killed. Whoever stands against the system is sentenced to death.”
Now at this time, the regime’s MPs who have been elected one by one by Supreme Leader Ail Khamenei’s appointees in the Guardian Council, are again looking for the institutionalized brutality in the nature of this government.
Their presentation of such a plan is not much of a surprise. The lawmakers who pass the fine-textured filters of the Guardian Council have passed the test of ‘commitment in heart and practice’ to the Supreme Leader.
More importantly, they participated in the crimes and plundering of this regime and have gone through the degrees of cruelty one after another.
But the question is what necessity compelled the government to put such a plan in the process of approval in its parliament; the parliament whose priority was to take care of the ‘people’s livelihood’?
To answer the question, we must pay attention to several components:
- The regime’s fear of the armed forces of the youth and the formation of armed resistance against the government.
- The latest punishments and revenge against a number of repressive elements by the youth.
- The explosive situation of the society and the regime’s fear of the reoccurrence of an uprising bigger than the November 2019 uprising.
Vowing to Continue Protests, Iranian Youths Mark the November Uprising’s Anniversary
Such a plan is given to the parliament by lawmakers while the inhuman law of Islamic punishment of this regime in 1991 has approved certain articles for this purpose. For example, Article 183 wrote:
“Whoever takes up arms to intimidate and deprive the people of their freedom and security is a Mohareb and the enemy of god.” According to Note 3 of the above article, there is no difference between a cold weapon and a firearm.
Or as Article 186 said: “Any organized group that rises up against the Islamic government as long as its center remains, all its members and supporters, who know the position of that group or organization and are effective in advancing its goals are Moharebs, although they do not participate in the military branch.”
This is the same law that former Intelligence Minister Ali Fallahian used to say that even if someone bought bread for the Mojahedin’s team house, his or her sentence was death.
The problem with this regime is not that it lacks a law to punish those who, in its degenerate and ISIS culture, is called Mohareb or thugs, rather, it has passed anti-humanitarian laws more than it needs. The problem with the government is that these laws no longer work, and they do not frighten the youth.
Opposition activists argue the people and youth of Iran have realized that the only way to counter the coercion and crimes of this medieval rule is to arm themselves and punish the perpetrators of repression.
Still, presenting such plans in the parliament to intensify the punishment for the armed people will not only not intimidate Iranian youth, but will likely encourage them even more. This shows the regime’s deadlock in dealing with the people, who are tired of poverty and repression.
