ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - As protests against the regime’s theocratic rule spread across the globe on the weekend, struggling to suppress dissent at home, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on Sunday shelled neighboring Kurdistan Region for the second day in a row, claiming to target Kurdish opposition groups.
Iranian artillery on Sunday continued shelling the Sidakan region, a border area between Iran and the Kurdistan Region in a bid to target Iranian-Kurdish opposition groups stationed in the area.
IRGC-affiliated media Fars News on Saturday defined the attacks on both the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI) and Komala, both Kurdish-Iranian opposition groups with bases in the Kurdistan Region, as a “response to the evil support of the anti-revolutionary elements for the disturbances and actions of thugs and with the aim of punishing and extorting these groups”.
However, a top official from the KDPI on Sunday told Rudaw English that the shelling by Iran has been unable to target the Kurdish party.
“Iran has been using several different artilleries and weapons to attack the Sidakan area where our Peshmerga are located since 3pm yesterday without a stop,” Kawa Bahrami, commander of the KDPI’s Peshmerga said. “But while there has been a lot of damage to people’s farmlands, our forces remain unharmed.”
Several armed Iranian-Kurdish opposition parties, including KDPI, have bases in the Kurdistan Region mountains and are periodically shelled by Iran. They frequently clash with Iranian security forces in the Kurdish areas of western Iran.
Iran’s series of shelling this time around comes as protests against the theocratic government have erupted in several countries across the world and domestic demonstrations continue despite the use of violence by security forces, as well as continuous raids on houses of protestors.
The demonstrations triggered by the controversial death of 22-year old Mahsa (Zhina) Amini in custody last week have led to a violent crackdown by security forces.
According to the latest tally sent to Rudaw English by the Paris-based Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN), at least 17 people have been killed, over 400 people wounded, and at least 570 arrested over the past week in Iran’s Kurdish areas (Rojhelat).
“They continuously raid people’s houses at night and have arrested many people, they have set up additional security presence in the cities and neighborhoods as well,” founder of KHRN Rebin Rahmani told Rudaw English on Sunday.
The protests, arrests, and deaths have not been limited to Rojhelat.
Other cities, including the capital Tehran and the religious city of Qom, saw intense confrontation over the weekend between protestors and security forces.
The Oslo-based Iran Human Rights Organization (IHR) on Saturday reported that at least 54 people had been killed by security forces across the country over the past week, however the latest tally announced by Iranian state media stands at 41 people killed.
“In many cases, returning the bodies are made contingent on secret burials,” the watchdog said, adding that internet cuts continue across the country.
Shutting down the internet is a tactic that the authorities have used in the past to hide atrocities committed against protesters, and to prevent protests from being organized through social media platforms.
“Since internet has been cut, people are not very aware of where to gather and the Islamic Republic has experience in doing so in times of protests,” Rahmani said.
On Friday, 20 members of the US Congress urged Washington to improve sanctions exemptions "to ensure Iranians receive communication technologies to circumvent gov surveillance."
"We took action today to advance Internet freedom and the free flow of information for the Iranian people, issuing a General License to provide them greater access to digital communications to counter the Iranian government's censorship," Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said later.
But demonstrations against the Islamic Republic are no longer exclusive to mainland Iran.
RELATED: Rallies erupt across the globe in solidarity with Iran protests
Separate rallies have been held in support of protestors in Iran across the globe. New York, Stockholm, Paris, Washington, Toronto, Athens, London, Istanbul, Santiago, Brussels, Madrid, Beirut, and Los Angeles were all the ground of rallies by Kurds and Iranians over the past week.
Amini was arrested by the so-called morality police in Tehran for allegedly wearing “improper” hijab and her death has triggered public anger with thousands of people flocking to the streets demanding the freedom to attire among other freedoms, but the Islamic Republic is insistent that the ongoing protest movement is the doing of its “enemies”.
“We are witnessing that in these events all the enemies of the revolution have united with all the differences they have with each other to confront and fight against our dear Iran and the Islamic Republic,” Iran’s parliamentary speaker Mohammad Baqer Ghalibaf said on Saturday.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on Saturday said that they “need to deal decisively with the opponents of the security and peace of the country”.
Ahmad Vahidi, the former commander of the IRGC Quds Force and the current interior minister, maintained the usual rhetoric on state TV claiming Amini was not mistreated and that her family had accepted this conclusion. However her father, Amjad Amini, told Rudaw TV last week that the government was not telling the truth about the circumstances surrounding his daughter's death on September 16, and accused the authorities of mistreating her while in detention.
The international community has also joined voices with the Iranians and Kurds on the streets of Iran.
“Mahsa Amini should be alive today. Instead, the United States and the Iranian people mourn her,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken wrote on Twitter on Tuesday.
“The authorities must stop targeting, harassing, and detaining women who do not abide by the hijab rules,” acting UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Nada al-Nashif also said in a statement.
Shortly after Iran’s 1979 revolution, the hijab was declared compulsory and women who defied the Islamic dress code or refused to strictly follow it were denied their rights. Offenders against Iran’s sharia law and hijab rules often face fines or arrest, and Iran’s morality police have often acted with impunity.
While the IRGC has been on the list of the United States’ sanctions for years, the morality police of Iran only recently made it on the list.
The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said Thursday they were sanctioning the morality police and seven senior officials of Iran’s security bodies who “oversee organizations that routinely employ violence to suppress peaceful protesters.”
In accordance with the sanctions, all properties and interests of the designated individuals and entities in the US “must be blocked and reported to OFAC,” according to the treasury department’s statement, adding that persons who “engage in certain transactions” with the designated individuals might be subjected to designations as well.
US President Joe Biden addressed the protests in Iran during his remarks at the 77th UN General Assembly on Wednesday.
“Today we stand with the brave citizens and the brave women of Iran who right now are demonstrating to secure their basic rights,” he said.
