The year 2023 will be that of the “victory” of the demonstrators, affirmed Monday Iranian opponents in exile, calling for the fall of the regime in Tehran, weakened by demonstrations since September.
“By organizing and standing together, 2023 will be the year of victory for the Iranian nation. The year of freedom and justice in Iran”, declared these opponents, leading personalities in the fields of culture, human rights or even the sports world.
“The year 2022 was a year of glorious solidarity for Iranians of every faith, language or political orientation,” they said.
This message, published simultaneously on their personal accounts on social networks, appears as a desire to display a unity that has long been lacking in the Iranian diaspora, divided into several political factions after the fall of the Shah in 1979.
Among the Iranian opponents who posted the message, is the actress Zar Amir Ebrahimi, crowned in Cannes in 2022, the son of the deposed shah Reza Pahlavi or the influential dissident Masih Alinejad, who lives in the United States.
But also the Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi or the former footballer Hamed Ali Karimi.
“We are united to achieve freedom, we […] will not be silent,” actress Golshifteh Farahani said on Instagram.
For Roham Alvandi, specialist in Iran and professor at the London School of Economics, this message is “a sign of hope in these dark times”.
Protests erupted in Iran after the death on September 16 of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman who died following her arrest by vice squad for breaching the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code, including the wearing of the headscarf. audience for women.
According to a latest report from Iran Human Rights (IHR), an Oslo-based NGO, at least 476 people have been killed by security forces since September 16. About 14,000 people have been arrested, according to the UN.
Iranian officials say hundreds of people were killed in the “riots”, including dozens of members of the security forces.
Justice announced that it had sentenced 11 people to death for their role in the protest. Activists estimate that figure to be twice as high.
Two death row inmates, aged 23, have already been executed, found guilty of killing or injuring police or paramilitaries during the protests.
