New Wave of Iran Protests: IRI Cuts Internet and Calls Security Forces

ICBPS– Iranian citizens took to the streets again to spend all the evening protesting as a new wave of Iran Protests over the Islamic Kleptocrats. 

IRI’s security forces fired tear gas on Thursday, July 16, 2020, to disperse the new wave of protests gathered in the southwestern Iranian city of Behbahan, according to locals.

Haunting videos have gone viral on social media from inside Iran indicate protesters chanting, “Fear not, fear not, we are in this together.”

نترسید نترسید ما همه با هم هستیم
اعتراضات #بهبهان
۲۶ تیر ۹۹ pic.twitter.com/MJWA2B8i6y

— Dariush Zand داریوش زند (@Dariush_Zand) July 16, 2020

Iranian protesters targeted top Khomeinist officials by chanting anti-regime slogans.

#بهبهان؛ چه اشتباه کردیم که انقلاب کردیم

ویدئوی دیگری از اعتراضات در بهبهان#اعدام_نکنید#اعتراضات_سراسری@Unikador pic.twitter.com/R6NACpJz5V

— Unika News (@unikador) July 16, 2020

Videos received from inside the country show a heavy presence of security forces in several cities across the nation, including Iran’s capital Tehran and Isfahan.

Dozens of peaceful protesters have been allegedly arrested in Behbahan, say witnesses. IRGC reportedly arrested several people in Mashhad, northeastern Iran for calling others to join the protests.

There was a high-security presence in the streets of Tehran, Shiraz, Tabriz, ‌Behbahan, and Urmia due to government fears over the commemoration of the November protests.

Behbahan, Iran, citizens document the significant presence of anti-riot forces#IranProtests #StopExecutionsInIran #اعدام_نکنید #اعتراضات_سراسری https://t.co/NxoJy4uHK4

— Saeed Ghasseminejad (@SGhasseminejad) July 16, 2020

“People are angry. The economy is so bad that we cannot survive,” an Iranian man told Reuters by phone from Tehran on Thursday, who asked not to be named due to security concerns.

The NetBlocks cybersecurity monitoring NGO announced on Twitter that the Internet disrupted in the oil-rich southwestern province Khuzestan amid the protests. 

Confirmed: Internet restrictions are in place in #Khuzestan Province, southwest #Iran from 10 p.m. local time; real-time network data show total (pictured) and partial disruptions varying by provider amid anti-government protests; incident ongoing #IranProtests ? pic.twitter.com/UzhsERVj5i

— NetBlocks (@netblocks) July 16, 2020

It had seen some internet restriction in the province late on Thursday.

Islamic regime vowed to ‘decisively’ deal with anti-regime, economy crisis protests, reported state-run media.

On July 14, two days before the protests took place, Iranians have taken social media, especially Twitter, by storm to halt execution against three young men who were reportedly sentenced to death for alleged participating in the 2019 #IranProtests.

Iranian netizens launched hashtag in Farsi [#اعدام_نکنید] that ended up trending worldwide with over 5.5 million tweets against capital punishment. On the same day, Iranian citizens came out in support of the three men, who are still on death row, painted graffiti on walls across Iran, showing their rage against the medieval punishment. 

The cybersecurity NGO declared ‘significant disruption’ to multiple networks in Iran.

Confirmed: Significant disruption to multiple networks in #Iran after 5 p.m. UTC (9:30 p.m. local time); real-time network data show significant impact to subscriber internet lines limiting citizens' ability to communicate; incident ongoing ? pic.twitter.com/XZ1rNXgRHB

— NetBlocks (@netblocks) July 14, 2020

Following the hashtag [Stop Executions In Iran], dozens of dozens Iranian celebrities across the globe joined Iran’ No To Executions’ protest. 

U.S. President Donald Trump has also joined the online campaign posting the Persian hashtag, meaning ‘No To Executions,’ to protest the scheduled execution of the three men over alleged involvement in November 2019 nationwide demonstrations. During the nationwide protests that took place last year, the Khomeinist regime killed over 1,500 people, dozens of them were directly shot dead in the reported deadliest street riots since Mullahs took power in 1979.

Iran is experiencing its deadliest political unrest in the past four decades. Peaceful protests were smothered in a government crackdown of unbridled force.

Three individuals were sentenced to death in Iran for participating in protests. The execution is expected momentarily. Executing these three people sends a terrible signal to the world and should not be done! #StopExecutionsInIran

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 15, 2020

In a statement on Wednesday, the exiled Iranian Queen Farah Pahlavi condemned impending executions of the men. The exiled Queen warned that the death sentences will only add to people’s anger and make them want revenge, according to Radio Farda.

‘No To Executions’ protest was launched on Tuesday after the death sentences of Amirhossein Moradi, 25, Mohammad Rajabi, 25, and Saeed Tamjidi, 27, were upheld by the Islamic Revolutionary Court.

The international community, along with a group of UN rights experts called on the Islamic regime to overturn the death sentences against the tortured men. Amnesty International also called to halt the death penalty.

The report gathered by the ICBPS team.