Skip to main content

Iran Revolution Dawns and The Dusk of the Clerical Theocracy Falls

Iran’s nationwide protests have persisted for 100 consecutive days, and with no socio-economic or political resolutions in sight, there is no easing of the upheaval in the forecast.  

Initially sparked following the tragic death of Mahsa Amini in the morality police custody, protests soon morphed into what many consider a revolution, with people resisting the regime’s brutal oppression. 

The Iranian people’s unwavering determination to topple the regime at any cost, and the role of Iran’s organized opposition as the driving force behind the uprising, have indeed frustrated the security forces. Bereft of any solution to quell society and control uprising, authorities and state-run media continue their “victory” rhetoric.  

“The riots have ended in the country,” the state-run Iran daily, the government’s official newspaper, claimed on December 24.  “The bitter autumn of 2022 has ended without the [dissidents] achieving much success,” the state-run Vatan-e Emrooz daily also wrote in this regard on December 22.  

In addition, the Javan newspaper, an outlet linked to the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), promised security forces of the “riots’ failure.” It is worth noting that IRGC commander-in-chief, Hossein Salami, has repeatedly boasted about successfully “wrapping up” protests, only to see another round of demonstrations erupt, sometimes hours after his remarks.  

Regardless of the officials’ efforts to pull the wool over their dispirited forces’ eyes, they finally get the short end of the stick, as the stubborn facts on the ground remove any doubt about the regime’s dark future as the uprising continues.  

On Friday, and Saturday alone, reports tallied by the Iranian opposition Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), indicate there have been dozens of anti-regime demonstrations across Iran. Besides, defiant youth in several cities, such as Babol, Isfahan, Saveh, and Tabriz, torched the regime’s symbols and the bases of the IRGC paramilitary Basij.  

On Saturday, several districts in Tehran and Shiraz witnessed anti-regime protests, with people chanting slogans such as “Death to the dictator” and “Death to Khamenei,” denouncing the regime and its vicious supreme leader Ali Khamenei.  

Brave Baluchi citizens in Sistan and Baluchestan province continued their protests on Friday, with women demonstrating an increasingly more vivid contribution. These brave women, clad in black chadors, chanted: “With or without veiling, onward toward the revolution,” thereby laying to rest the regime’s efforts to disparage the Iranian women’s demands to abolish mandatory veiling.  

Enraged, the state-run ‘Iran daily’ tried to portray these women as foreign agents. “A few women chanted norm-breaking slogans. These hired protesters are trying to increase the feminine presence in protests in Zahedan.”  

After four months of brutality, killing over 750 innocent protesters and arresting many more, Iran’s dictator Khamenei finds himself and his regime in a lethal deadlock. The situation has reached a point where authorities and the tightly controlled state media warn their ilk about their ominous future as the revolution persists.  

“These incidents are chained and are multi-perspective. They occur every now and then, revealing their grim faces,” the state-run Farhikhtegan daily wrote on December 25.  

“Officials should not make this mistake that everything is under control and things are back on track. Do not waste your time with bogus claims and rhetoric. Stop this naïve notion that by execution, oppression, and torture you can solve the problem and end this matter,” the state-run Jomhuri-e Eslami daily warned on December 25.  

Hossein Ansari Rad, a former MP and top official warned Khamenei in a letter on December 25 while acknowledging the public hatred toward the regime.  

“The Islamic Republic has failed in all economic, social, political, and cultural domains. You have claimed that foreign countries are behind these protests. But as many experts have been shouting, the disastrous mismanagement of economy, culture, and politics have caused these angry protests with many victims, thousands of prisoners, and countless heart-wrenching tragedies,” he acknowledged.  

“This [uprising] is a small flame of a larger fire of wrath, unhappiness, and mistrust due to the corrupt mismanagement that left people’s vital demands unattended while trying to control their personal lives.  These protests are supported by at least 85% of the population, who want a life without torture and intimidation. If we do not act now, a huge explosion will happen, so please halt torture and execution to save the system,” he said. 

Of course, Khamenei wouldn’t stop his killing spree, as he has repeatedly asserted that a step backward would cause his regime to collapse immediately. Ansari Rad is worried about the regime’s future while trying to shed crocodile tears for the people.  

Evidently, the situation will never be the same, and the Iranian people’s core demand is regime change and the establishment of a democratic and secular government. Therefore, the legitimate demand and the people’s right to self-determination and self-defense, vis-à-vis the brutal oppression, should be endorsed and recognized by the world community.

Source: ncr-iran.org, Mehdi Oghbai, December 26, 2022





🚩 | Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com.




Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! DONATE!



"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde

Most viewed (Last 7 days)

Judge allows Tennessee death row inmates to include botched executions in lawsuit

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Two failed executions in Tennessee are now at the center of a growing legal battle over the state’s lethal injection protocol after a judge ruled in favor of death row inmates Friday. A Davidson County judge ruled death row inmates can expand their lawsuit to include new allegations stemming from the botched executions of Tony Carruthers and Christa Pike. The original lawsuit, filed in March 2025, argues Tennessee’s death penalty protocol violates the constitutional rights of death row inmates with complex medical conditions. More than one year later, the state then failed to execute two inmates: Tony Carruthers and Christa Pike.

Oklahoma executes James Pavatt

Pavatt claimed innocence in the slaying of an Oklahoma City advertising executive for insurance money. His co-defendant and former lover Brenda Andrew is also on death row. James Pavatt made no final statement before being executed Thursday for killing his lover’s estranged husband nearly 25 years ago. Pavatt merely shook his head when asked by Oklahoma Department of Corrections Chief of Operations Jason Sparks if he had any last words. Pavatt appeared to share a quick word with Michael Scott, his spiritual advisor, after microphones inside the death chamber had been cut off.

Iran executes three more January protesters accused of spying for Israel, US

In a statement, the judiciary said that “the death sentences of Hassan Deoband, Hamid Kazemi, and Reza Zangana were carried out on charges of ‘participating in operational action for the infamous Zionist regime and the United States and hostile groups.’” ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Iran on Sunday executed three more protesters over their involvement in the nationwide demonstrations in January, the judiciary announced, accusing them of spying for the United States and Israel and destroying infrastructure. 

Oklahoma Death Row inmate James Pavatt scheduled to be executed Thursday

James Pavatt is scheduled to be executed on Thursday for the 2001 killing of an Oklahoma City man. OKLAHOMA CITY—Oklahoma Death Row inmate James Pavatt is set to be executed for the 2001 murder of advertising executive Rob Andrew. His execution is scheduled for Nov. 12, 2026. In 2004, Pavatt and his lover/co-conspirator, Brenda Andrew, were sentenced to death for planning the killing of her estranged husband in an attempt to claim his $800,000 life insurance policy. Brenda is the only woman on Oklahoma’s death row.

Two men set to be executed in Texas and Oklahoma today

The U.S. was preparing to carry out two executions on Thursday, one in Oklahoma and one in Texas. In Texas, the condemned man is John Allen Rubio, 46, who is set to be put to death at the state prison in Huntsville. He was convicted of beheading three young children he was raising in a 2003 killing that rattled a community along the U.S.-Mexico border. The other man facing execution is James Pavatt, 73, who is set to die by lethal injection at Oklahoma's state penitentiary in McAlester.

Iran | 10 executed in Ahvaz, Isfahan, Karaj

Four prisoners, including an Afghan national, were executed at Ghezel Hesar Prison in Karaj on Wednesday, November 4, 2026. All four had been sentenced to death under Iran’s qisas (retributive justice) laws on murder charges. According to information obtained by the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, one of the executed prisoners was identified as Gol Agha Eskandari, an Afghan national. Eskandari had been convicted of murder following a dispute between neighbors in the Khorasan Square area of Tehran in July 2024 and subsequently sentenced to death.

Texas executes John Rubio

Texas man who killed 3 children is put to death, hours after an Oklahoma execution James Pavatt was put to death in Oklahoma for Rob Andrew’s killing. In Texas, John Allen Rubio was executed for the deaths of Julissa Quesada, John E. Rubio, and Mary Jane Rubio.  A Texas man convicted of fatally stabbing and beheading 3 young children in a squalid, windowless apartment in 2003 was executed Thursday evening, hours after Oklahoma put another man to death. 

Why Many Americans Think Christa Pike Should Undergo a Second Execution Attempt

On October 20, Reuters released the results of a survey showing that 33% of the American public want Tennessee to try again to put Christa Pike to death. Another 26% are undecided. That means 59% of the public would support or be open to such a possibility. I want to suggest a reason why. Second execution attempts are rare in this country and, as a result, the public knows little if anything about them. That may help explain why so many would give Tennessee another chance to kill Christa Pike.

Florida executes Jesse Guardado

Man convicted of 2004 killing is put to death in Florida’s 19th execution this year, tying a record Florida carried out a record-tying 19th execution of the year in an unusual instance of 3 states administering the death penalty on the same day. Jesse Guardado was pronounced dead at 6:13 p.m. following a 3-drug injection at a state prison in Starke. He had pleaded guilty to fatally stabbing 75-year-old Jackie Malone inside her Walton County home in 2004 before stealing her jewelry box, $80, and other valuables to buy drugs. The woman had helped him get a job and housing.

Alabama executes Michael Shannon Taylor

Alabama executes man convicted of 1991 double murder  The state of Alabama carried out the execution of 54-year-old Michael Shannon Taylor Thursday night for the 1991 murders of an elderly Etowah County couple, 35 years and 1 day after the crime.  Taylor, convicted in 1993 on 3 counts of capital murder, was sentenced to death unanimously by a jury for killing 83-year-old Ivan Ernest Moore and 79-year-old Lucille Moore inside their Gadsden home during a robbery. Taylor was 19 at the time.