Iran: Regime Lawmakers Deny Their Own Statement Amidst Continued Uprising

Written by
Aladdin Touran

On November 6, 227 members of the Iranian parliament issued a statement asking the judiciary to “firmly deal with rioters and execute them, to set a precedent and show to everyone instigating a riot that this system would not appease anyone.”

This statement increased the public hatred of the regime and confirmed that the regime has declared a full-fledged war on the people. In some towns, defiant youth attacked the local offices of some of the statement’s signatories to convey the message that their request for crimes against humanity must not go unpunished.

The volatile society’s reaction had a significant impact on the ruling theocracy. It exacerbated the regime’s infighting, revealing cracks in a fragile state and debunking propaganda that ascribes stability to the ruling system.

As the state-run Etemad daily acknowledged on November 13, people’s reaction quickly sparked a trend of denial among the regime’s parliamentarians. “With the increasing criticisms of MPs, whispers of denial began gradually echoing in the Majlis’s corridors,” it wrote.

Many state-run news outlets, such as Tasnim and Mehr News, branded this statement as “fake” and “fabricated” by the regime’s enemies. Majlis’s public relations office issued a statement on November 12, calling the declaration fake, but refused to say who would have fabricated this statement.

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“Five days after its publication, they denied this news. But none of the signatories had previously refuted this so-called ‘rumor.’ Why? Perhaps someone else had signed for them, and denying him would be a costly action,” Etemad wrote, indirectly referring to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who has the final say in all matters within the ruling theocracy.

Majlis’s public session on Sunday provided a clearer picture of Tehran’s failure to control the uprising and its pathetic show of power. “Contrary to the vote transparency law, the parliament has not published the list of signatories of this inhumane statement,” MP Jalal Mahmoodzadeh said, according to Iran’s state TV broadcast of the Majlis session.

Ali Nikzad, who presided over Sunday’s session, called the statement “fake” but said, “This statement was not inhumane.”

“The parliament neglected the responsibility of its own statement. No one knows whether MPs backed down due to their fear of campaigns against their vote or if some authorities used the lawmakers’ signature without their consent,” Etemad wrote, once again poking Khamenei.

Following the major Iran protests in 2019, in which people put an end to the regime’s game of “moderation,” in February 2020, Khamenei purged parliamentary candidates from the rival faction. He literally handpicked the Majlis, paving the way for his decision to pull Ebrahim Raisi out of the ballot box in the sham presidential election to consolidate power in his regime.

Threatening protesters with capital punishment was indeed Khamenei’s plan to intimidate the public, but it failed as the uprising continued. This continuation shows the regime’s weakness and that fear has shifted to the mullahs’ camp. The gang of hoodlums in parliament are afraid of people’s reactions but cannot entirely call out this statement as they are part of the ruling theocracy. Once it is toppled, they will sink down with them.

Iran protests round-up—Day 61 | Part 3 | Protests across Iran | November 15, 2022
The balance of power in Iran is in favor of what many consider Iran’s new democratic revolution. The world community should accept this reality and recognize the Iranian people’s right to self-determination and right to self-defense vis-à-vis the regime’s human rights abuses.

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