The clerical regime’s authorities are increasing pressure on Iranians under different pretexts. This includes adopting new misogynous laws to control women, closing shops that have so-called “improperly veiled” customers, and arresting and sentencing people who eat or drink during Ramadhan.

On April 4, only a day after the holy month of Ramadan started, Ahmad Reza Ahmadian, commander of Lorestan province’s State Security Force (SSF), announced they had inspected 141 businesses for “public fast-breaking” and closed down 14 for serving food.

Three weeks into a month that Muslims celebrate as the month of “charity, kindness, and forgiveness,” the regime has arrested dozens of citizens across Iran for allegedly “breaking fast” in public. According to the Iranian regime’s Islamic Penal code, breaking fast in public is considered a crime.

The regime’s oppressive measures against all Iranians under the pretext of “promoting virtue” and “preventing vice” is nothing new. For four decades, the ruling clerics have clamped down on basic freedoms by abusing a religion that was supposed to be symbolized by a prophet known for modesty, humility, and forgiveness.

Like other theocracies, Iran’s religious fascism uses Islam to justify its crimes. Thousands were killed in Europe during the Middle Ages for defying “God” and the “holy church.” Kings and lords deprived poor people of their rights and waged devastating crusades to increase their wealth while pretending to defend “religion.” Medieval Inquisition trials tortured intellectuals who dared to defy their backward thinking.

Hundreds of years later, in the 21st century, Iran’s ruling theocracy continues dictating its fundamentalist interpretation of Islam. But why?

The mullahs oppress freedoms in the name of promoting Islam. But the young and vibrant society rejected their backward rule. Ruhollah Khomeini executed tens of thousands of “Muslim” dissidents and continued an unpatriotic war with Iraq, also with a major Muslim population, that caused millions of casualties in the name of defending Islam. Women have suffered since the regime’s establishment. The mullahs fund terrorist groups under the guise of exporting the “Islamic revolution.” The IRGC and the Supreme Leader’s affiliates dominate the country’s economy and resources, while those who steal to feed their families face amputation of limbs once caught and tried.

In the wake of a nationwide uprising, the regime’s recent actions are also to spread this false notion that the Iranian people’s struggle is against the religion and their demands are limited to “socially disruptive norms.”

The major protests and the regime’s violent response caused much stir in the regime. In a bid to boost the morale of their demoralized forces and justify their actions against defenseless people who want their right to self-determination and a democratic country, regime authorities try to portray the current unrest as a struggle between Islam and apostates!

Khomeini used the same strategy in the early days after the 1979 Revolution to stifle any voice of dissent by branding dissidents as “anti-Islam.” Khomeini and his regime’s tactics failed because the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), a burgeoning democratic Muslim opposition, represented serious challenges to his regime. Female MEK members who wore hijabs were on the frontlines of defending women’s rights when Khomeini made mandatory veiling a law.

Just as the Iranian people’s problems are not limited to their basic freedoms, the solution to the current situation in Iran is not promoting anti-religious sentiments. Doing so helps the ruling theocracy to easily rally its forces and outflank the uprising.

The regime’s religious hysteria is the flipside of the “anti-Islam” hysteria of Reza Khan, the founder of the Pahlavi dictatorship. The mullahs imposed mandatory veiling, and Reza Khan forcefully removed women’s hijab. In other words, both tyrannies deprived women of their right to choose their clothing and other Iranians of having a democratic country.

The general solution is regime change and the establishment of a secular and democratic republic. The ten-point plan of Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the president-elect of the National Council of Iran (NCRI), calls for the “separation of religion and state, and freedom of religion and faiths” while advocating for “complete gender equality.” As Mrs. Rajavi has repeatedly said, “No to compulsory hijab, no to compulsory religion & no to compulsory rule.”

Source » ncr-iran