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)

Saudi Arabia executes two Bangladeshis over 'immoral act' inside mosque

Saudi Arabia has carried out the death penalty on two Bangladeshi nationals in Mecca. The country's Interior Ministry announced this in a statement on Wednesday. According to the report, they were sentenced over allegations of involvement in immoral acts inside a mosque in Mecca. The information was reported by Ajel News, citing the Saudi Interior Ministry's statement. The two Bangladeshis executed were a man and a woman, Nazrul Islam Abdul Basir and Sithi Akhter. The “immoral acts” referred to illicit heterosexual intercourse, not homosexual activity.

Florida | William Reaves set to be executed on Oct. 20 at 6 p.m.

With his execution date looming, convicted killer William Reaves will soon be moved from Raiford's Union Correctional Institution to a death watch cell in nearby Florida State Prison, a maximum-security complex also known as "The Rock." Reaves, 77, a former Gifford resident in Indian River County who’s been on death row for 38 years, is scheduled to die by lethal injection on Oct. 20 at 6 p.m. His execution will fulfill a sentence of death imposed for the 1986 fatal shooting of Indian River County Sheriff’s Cpl. Richard “Raz” Raczkoski outside a Zippy Mart store on State Road 60 west of Vero Beach.

Saudi Arabia executes woman, 'terrorists', 'indecent' couple, and juvenile offenders

Saudi Arabia carried out a series of executions in mid-October, including that of a woman convicted of killing her mother and attempting to kill her sister, alongside five men in the Eastern Province. Official statements described the five as terrorists; human rights groups described them as political prisoners sentenced under discretionary (ta’zir) penalties, one of whom was a child at the time of the alleged acts. The cases illustrate the kingdom’s continued use of the death penalty under Sharia, its stated commitment to public order and justice, and criticism from human rights organizations over the scope of capital punishment.

Florida | Former firefighter, police officer sentenced to death in Fort Pierce killing

Otto Lenke, a Sebastian resident and former Indian River County firefighter/paramedic, as well as a former Melbourne police officer, was convicted in May 2026 of first-degree murder with a firearm and first-degree arson for the February 2021 killing of Richard Benson, owner of Fast Frank’s Cycle Concepts in Fort Pierce. SEBASTIAN—A Nineteen Judicial Circuit judge on Tuesday sentenced former Indian River County firefighter and Melbourne police officer Otto Lenke of Sebastian to death for the 2021 killing of a Fort Pierce motorcycle shop owner.

Indiana Parole Board hears testimony on clemency for man scheduled for Nov. 5 execution

Jeffrey Weisheit set his house on fire in 2010, killing his girlfriend’s two young children he was watching.  The Indiana Parole Board will now make a recommendation in the coming days to Governor Mike Braun on whether to grant clemency to condemned killer Jeffrey Weisheit.  Jeffrey is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on Nov. 5 for the 2010 murder of his girlfriend's 2 children in Vanderburgh County. 

Florida executes William Reaves

Florida puts 77-year-old man to death for a deputy's killing in its 18th execution this year  Florida carried out its 18th execution of the year on Tuesday under Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis ’ aggressive use of the death penalty in his final term.  William Reaves, 77, was pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m. following a 3-drug injection at Florida State Prison near Starke. He was convicted of first-degree murder in the 1986 shooting death of Indian River County Deputy Richard Raczkowski. 

Saudi Arabia | Execution caught on video

Public execution in Saudi Arabia (file photo) A Saudi newspaper has carried a film showing the beheading of a man convicted of raping a teenaged boy before murdering him in the heart of the desert. The rare and shocking 51-second film showed the executioner bringing down his sword on the defendant’s head, which was severed in just a split of second. The executioner, a tall man wearing traditional Saudi dishdasha (gown) and ghutra (head cover), then wiped blood off his sword with a piece of cloth after the beheading before walking away from the rapist’s headless body. Sharq newspaper, which published the film, did not say how it was shot as filming of executions in the conservative Gulf kingdom is banned. Newspapers said the unnamed defendant had been convicted of abducting the Saudi boy to a desolate desert area and raping him. He then forced him to lie on the sand and crushed him with his four-wheel car. Warning: Graphic Content ✔ RELATED VIDEO...

Saudi Arabia executes five on terrorism charges

DUBAI — Saudi Arabia executed five people Saturday on terrorism charges, the ministry of interior said, bringing the total number of death sentences carried out this year to 188, according to an AFP tally based on official statements. The five Saudi nationals were convicted of “joining a foreign terrorist organization," opening fire on security forces and “providing support” for “terrorist operations inside the kingdom." Their executions were carried out in the Eastern Province, home to most of Saudi Arabia’s Shia Muslim minority, which has long complained of marginalization in the Sunni-majority country.

Christa Pike's Survival Wasn't a Miracle. That's What Should Scare Us.

What happened in Tennessee's execution chamber is one of the most common failures in medicine Christa Pike is awake. A week after Tennessee strapped her to a gurney and gave her two doses of pentobarbital , she is off the ventilator and speaking from a hospital bed, still shackled to it. Her lawyers call her recovery " medically unprecedented. " Legal scholars say she is the first person in American history to survive a lethal injection after the drug was actually given. I understand the impulse to make such claims. I consulted for Pike's legal team, but I have also spent three decades in operating rooms and intensive care units (ICUs), and I want to resist the word "unprecedented" and the word "miracle" that hovers just behind it.

Christa Pike: 4 Major Questions As She Returns to Death Row

As Christa Pike returns to death row after surviving Tennessee’s attempt to execute her, several questions remain about her case and what comes next.  Pike, 50, was discharged from hospital and moved back to the Debra K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center, the women’s prison where she was housed for 30 years, her attorneys said on Saturday.  She was hospitalized after surviving 2 doses of the lethal drug pentobarbital as Tennessee attempted to execute her on September 30. Pike was sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, her classmate at a Job Corps training program in Knoxville, Tennessee. Pike was 18 at the time.