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SECURITY & POLICY

Iran establishment figure

breaks with regime’s
response to unrest

Islamic Republic establishment figure Ali Lari-
jani has broken with the uncompromising line
shown by the regime towards the month-long
protests that have swept Iran by warning that a
“rigid response” to the unrest “is not the cure.”
Larijani, 65, an adviser to Iranian Supreme
Leader Ali Khamenei, and who served as
speaker of parliament for 12 years until 2020,
gave a lengthy interview to Iranian daily Ettela’at,
addressing the protests, amid which at least 201
people are now thought to have died.
The conservative and former Islamic Revo-
lutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander—
who was barred from running for the presidency
in 2021, helping to clear the way for Khame- The protests in Iran are seen as remarkable in Iran’s anti-regime
nei’s hardline favourite Ebrahim Raisi to win that they are typically led by women.
the restricted election—addressed the issue of Demonstrations on October 12 included a protests need a leader
enforcing the wearing of the hijab, or headscarf, protest led by the Tehran bar association that
by women in Iran. It was the death in custody was broken up by security forces. and political agenda to
of 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman Mahsa Social media posts, meanwhile, told of the
Amini—who was confronted on a Tehran street Union Council of Iranian Students quoting wit- succeed, says analyst
by morality police for allegedly wearing her hijab nesses who said that security forces forced their
loosely—that triggered the initial protests. way into the Hafez dormitories of Tehran Uni- Pictures coming out of Iran of the anti-regime
Larijani questioned excessive state enforce- versity. There were unverified claims from one protests that have swept the country for very
ment of the hijab under the Islamic dress code, witness that “the security forces initially broke nearly a month are “misleading as they suggest
warning that extremist enforcement of social the windows of the first floor and the entrance of that change is about to happen,” but to succeed
customs leads to extremist reactions. “The hijab the Hafez dormitories and entered some rooms the demonstrators need a leader and a political
has a cultural solution, it does not need decrees and checked the student cards of the students ... agenda.
and referendums. I appreciate the services of which was followed by some resistance from the That’s the view of Carnegie Europe think
the police force and Basij [paramilitary volun- students.” tank analyst Cornelius Adebahr, who poses the
teer militia under the IRGC], but this burden of Earlier in the day, outside the Tehran Univer- question, “What are the chances of the marchers
encouraging the hijab should not be assigned to sity Art Building, there were claims of students succeeding in their calls for Jin, Jiyan, Azadi or
them,” he said. fighting with Basij militia who were attempting Zan, Zendegi, Azadi—’women, life, freedom’ in
“Do not doubt that when a cultural phenom- to enter the complex. Kurdish and Persian, respectively?”
enon becomes widespread, a rigid response to RFE/RL reported officials as confirming that He notes: “Clearly, the current protests differ
it is not the cure. The people and young people several high school students arrested during the from previous waves as they unite people from
who come to the street are our own children. In protests have been sent to re-education camps. all walks of life in cities across the country, not
a family, if a child commits a crime, then they try Scores of indictments have been served asking for reforms but showing their outright
to guide him to the right path, the society needs across the country against people for involve- contempt for the Islamic Republic. However,
more tolerance.” ment in “riots.” in contrast to the Green Movement of 2009, for
Larijani also referred to how during the Further posts on social networks indicated example, and similar to the hardship-driven
period of the last Shah’s monarchic rule prior that the day saw anti-regime protests in cities riots between 2017 and 2019, they lack any sort
to the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the hijab was – including Sari, Golshahr, Shahin Shahr and of leader or political agenda.”
not encouraged, but many women wore it many others. Adebahr also observes: “As it happens, the
voluntarily. Khamenei publicly mentioned the protests supreme leader’s age and much-rumored health
“Islamic government means that people for a second time, appearing to describe them as make any concession [to the protesters] rather
manage their own affairs. It is the same in terms incidents of a minor nature. They were a “passive unlikely. In office for over 33 years, Ayatollah Ali
of social justice. If the affairs are managed by the and clumsy design of the enemy against the pro- Khamenei has spent the past years making sure
people, their talents will flourish,” continued gress and innovative movements” of the Iranian that the system will survive his death. Allowing
Larijani. nation, he said. the hardline takeover of all branches of govern-
“The problem is that if in a society, young Iranian officials have accused foes including ment with last summer’s staged election of Pres-
people do not implement one of the sharia rul- the US, Israel and Saudi Arabia of fomenting ident Ebrahim Raisi—who duly tightened the
ings correctly from an intellectual and social much of the unrest. Islamic dress code this August—was intentional,
point of view, this is not 100% wrong.” bne/IntelliNews, October 13 2022 not a misstep about to be corrected.

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