The Darkest Side Of The Islamic Revolution In Iran

compare an image of Iran today with the Iran of the 1970s and you might be surprised which is which educated women with uncovered heads walking in public is not a sign of modernity but a symbol of a past long lost the Iranian Revolution of 1979 established a harsh Islamic regime with tight restrictions of denters women and the economy that undid Decades of progress it achieved it all with a dominating control of the political system aggressive laws controlling daily life and a brutal legal system that dealt out death for the most insignificant of crimes today on

a day in history we'll look at how the Islamic revolution changed Iran and rolled back the rights and freedoms of millions of his people just as Ayatollah kamini wished to create a new Iran you too can take total control of your favorite nation and Lead it to victory in conflict of Nations this free online PVP strategy game allows you to take command of your favorite real world country and fight in World War III against as many as 128 other players step into conflict of Nations and lead your country to victory in Epic realtime battles that

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1953 Iranian Revolution that preceded it in 1953 us and UK intelligence Services fermented a rebellion to overthrow the democratically elected socialist leaning government of Muhammad madic and replace it with an authoritarian government under the Shaws of the palavi dynasty the shaw ruled with an iron fist cracking down on denters Banning rival parties establishing a powerful security service and funneling vast resources into military spending thousands of Iranians found themselves imprisoned under the Sha's regime only the clergy were powerful enough to survive as prominent critics of the Sha but many of them were harassed and intimidated by

his forces but the Sha's regime wasn't all misery and militarism the Sha engaged in a sweeping secularization and modernization campaign that uplifted his country's living standards and ended many outdated practices Prosperity increased across society as did literacy rates and access to healthcare some of the most striking progress was was made by women from 1963 women were granted the vote and allowed to run for office a rare privilege in the Islamic World in 1968 a woman was appointed as Minister for Education becoming the first woman to serve in the cabinet and high-profile female appointments in the

Judiciary and Civil Service followed in 1967 law gave women the right to divorce made it possible for them to claim custody of children and raised the marriage age from 13 to 18 Iranian women were among the most free educated and empowered anywhere in the Islamic world but the Shaw's heavy-handed rule overshadowed any perceived benefits unrest grew and by the late 1970s protests were erupting against his rule prominent among these voices was s rala musavi Kini better known as the Ayatollah a leading Shiite scholar whose Exile by the Sha did little to quiet his protests he

offered a Hardline Islamic and Iranian nationalist critique of the Sha as a tyrannical puppet of the Godless West keni was the regime's sharpest and most popular critic in January 1978 it launched a smear campaign against him resulting in devastating protests in the city of K the Shaw's forces gunned down dozens of protesters causing more riots elsewhere and by March that year 250 people had been killed The Tipping Point came on August 19th when a theater was burned down during the showing of a controversial film about poverty and drugs the true culprits were never known most

people blame the Sha for trying to kill dissidents While others blame the Ayatollah and his supporters for trying to drum up outrage whatever the truth the Iranian people blamed the regime months of protests erupted which the Sha met with a predictably brutal response however the momentum couldn't be stopped the Sha fled the country in January 1979 and on August 1st Ayatollah Kini returned from exile to establish the Islamic Republic of Iran kin's New Republic did not mean a turn towards people power the Ayatollah instituted a regime that was no less authoritarian in its structure Kini

established himself as the supreme leader a lifelong position with near total control of Iran's foreign and domestic affairs he became commander-in-chief of the army and Security Services with exclusive power to declare war and peace he could set the overall direction of policy dismiss or appoint judges and other civil servants control the TV network and oversaw the mass nationalization of Private Industry to redirect it towards State interests Democratic input was limited to local councils a subordinate Parliament and an elected president who always played second fiddle to Kini still the Iranian people craved change and 99% of

them voted to support the establishment of the Republic in theory the new Republic offered many benefits its Constitution enshrined the presumption of innocence freedom of religion a free press limits on surveillance and a right to a trial it expressed solidarity with the working people of Iran and promised state benefits like pensions unemployment insurance disability payments and Healthcare it also declared the government's intention to Stamp Out poverty homelessness drug abuse ursery and other social ills it was all designed to contrast with the Shaw's rule but in practice these lofty promises rang Hollow firstly they were all

promised with the caveat that they had to adhere to Sharia law as defined by the Supreme Leader and his Guardian Council of top religious officials this Guardian Council acted as a religious and moral regulator with with the power to amend laws and review Court decisions to ensure they adhered to Islamic law Saddam Hussein's invasion in 1980 derailed any steady plans for the New Republic Saddam expected a swift conquest of land from an unstable new nation but instead walked into a grinding 8-year conflict that sapped the resources of both Nations the Iranian Republic was forged in

the context of this fight the war was an excuse for the new regime to seiz near total control of the economy most industries were nationalized and privately owned means of production were seized the government used this money to subsidize food Fuel and water for the population this was almost a necessity to keep the country going but it was a sign of desperation more than strength most Industries ran at a loss but the ability of the government to Force employment in failing Industries held off any unrest Iran's gross national product fell a staggering ing 64% in

the first two years following the revolution in time though things recovered with the end of the war in 1988 investment could be redirected to roads airports dams and power plants to develop Iran's [Music] economy this new Iran required tools of control and intimidation that eclipsed those of the Sha none were more well known as the Islamic revolutionary guard Corp founded in 19 1979 to be the foot soldiers of the Revolution and standing at 120,000 members as of 2018 it is the regime's personal fighting force distinct and often competing with the military the irgc works as

both internal security and a clandestine arm of Iran abroad in its domestic role it often works with the gash isar Allah Patrol of God's Vengeance the morality police that enforce the regime's religious and social laws these institutions had plenty of work from the start throughout February 1979 the new regime executed dozens of the Shaw's former officials turning the rooftop of their temporary headquarters at the Rafa Elementary School in tran into a dedicated venue for their firing squads over 500 political opponents had been purged by 1981 it was followed by a sweeping persecution of undesirables in

Iranian Society prostitutes and drug addicts were harshly punished many were jailed and others executed homosexuals were also targeted while homosexuality was technically illegal before 1979 this ban was not enforced acceptance of homosexuality was seen as a corrupt Western influence and Shia law mandated capital punishment for people caught in the act Iran remains one of the only countries in the world where homosexuality carries a death sentence the second wave of purges came after the war with Iraq with some 2,000 dissidents and critics executed by the regime they also issued fatwas targeting foreign critics most famously the

author Salman Rashi in February 1989 religious persecution fell upon minorities such as the bahai whose places of worship were shut down and their religious leaders jailed or executed Jews also faced episodes of persecution many sunnis have faced mistreatment with at least 22 sunnis being executed for religious reasons in 2016 alone then there are atheists with Iran being one of the few countries where atheism is still a capital offense this is also true of apostasy although no one has been executed under apostasy charges in the country since 1990 cini's death in 1989 cleared the way for

some moderation of the regime two successive presidents in the 9s and early 2000s hashami ref sanani and Muhammad katami pushed back on the Ayatollah and the guardian council's Hardline influence they managed to roll back restrictions on women in jobs and education but they were hardfought concessions the new supreme leader Ayatollah kamini cracked down on political opponents and shut down at least 60 newspapers advocating for reforms by the mid 2000s though the pendulum swung back the other way the bush administration's tough line on Iran as a member of a global axis of Evil gavanized the anti-western

factions in Iran aiding in the rise of Mahmud ahmadin aad to the presidency ahmadin aad was more closely aligned with Ayatollah than previous presidents and saw the reimplementation of stricter laws on women's rights and censorship Amad dad's rule was defined by corruption and stolen elections by that point the old Elite of the Sha had been thoroughly replaced with a new Elite of Rich outof touch figures made up of the Ayatollah and his allies who grew wealthy through corruption and profiteering amadin Jad conspired with the the Ayatollah and the guardian Council to rig the 2009 presidential

election but frustration with regime corruption was unexpectedly intense 2 days after the election 3 million Iranians took to the streets as part of the green movement to protest the illegitimate election akad Jad responded with armed troops who shot and gassed protesters videos of students gunned down by State security went viral triggering further protests and international condemnation it took 20 mon mons for the protest to die down called off by the movement's leaders out of fear for its increasing radicalism and the government's ever more brutal response by the time it was over at least 72 people

had been killed many more had been kidnapped tortured or beaten this reaction was no surprise the Iranian regime depends on a harsh system of prisons and stacked courts to impose its will upon the Iranian people punishments are severe and the prison system is Rife with overcrowding and abuse even when followed the law is brutal and unequal women are not entitled to speak at their own trials and the testimony of a man in any case is held higher than that of a woman detainees can be held indefinitely without trial or charges and there are no limits

on how evidence is extracted investigators police and judges are free to use or retrieve evidence Through Torture slogging beating burning blinding amputation and more have all been used to force guilty confessions those who are convicted are at a high risk of execution Iran has one of the highest rates of capital punishment in the world that as we have seen can be applied to a range of crimes including religious ones on average at least two people are executed in Iran every day boys as young as 15 and girls as young as nine are eligible for a

death sentence and in 2 15 there were 160 children known to be on Iran's death row of course prison sentences can be death sentences in themselves the brutal conditions of Iranian prisons and the near total lack of protection means deaths in custody are common in 2003 for example the Iranian Canadian photographer zarak kazmi was arrested on Espionage charges for photographing women mourning outside a prison kazmi was brutalized and raped by the prison guards during the ordeal she suffered a traumatic brain injury and died shortly after despite clear evidence of torture and rape the Iranian government

declared that she'd fallen and hit her head even those who don't die in custody are in for a cruel ordeal in 2012 human rights lawyer Abdul fat sultani was jailed for 18 years for his work with the center for human rights advocating for greater protections for prisoners and minorities in the country the regime cited his acceptance of the durburg international human rights award as one of the crimes indicating his hostility to the regime other journalists have similarly been imprisoned for associating with various recognized international human rights groups in 2016 British Iranian reporter nazanin zakari Ratcliffe

was arrested and sentenced to 5 years on charges of spreading propaganda she received a 5minute trial in which she wasn't allowed to speak her family spent years advocating for her release which only came in 2021 but she was sentenced to another immediately after it is generally agreed that the Iranian government used her case as leverage against the British government to force them to pay interest on an arms deal signed with the Shaw's government back in the 1970s Ratcliffe was finally released in 2022 on the same day that the UK government settled the outstanding payments relating

to the deal [Music] nowhere is the impact of the Revolution more apparent than in the status of women the pre-revolution Golden Age of women's rights was quickly snuffed out by the Islamic Republic the 1967 laws permitting divorce and eliminating child marriage were abolished the marriage age for girls was reduced back to 9 it went back up to 13 again in 2002 although marriages are still allowed for 9-year-old girls permission from the courts women were purged from the Judiciary and government appointment ments the number of female elected politicians shrunk dramatically although they are still allowed to

run for some offices this office does not include the presidency though with every attempt by a woman to register for the ballot in the presidential race being shut down by the courts Iran boasted some of Islam's most educated women in the 1970s but the regime was quick to ban mixed gender schools upon taking power and limiting women's access to University women were barred entirely from some courses like law and restricted by quota in many others women were also made ineligible for foreign scholarships and were only permitted to go to universities near where they live but

even women who complete education face heavy discrimination for jobs one-third of University educated women are unemployed since few jobs requiring University level education allow women women's clothing has become the symbolic Battleground for Iranian women traditionally Iranian women wore the long cover ing chador but this fell out of style in the mid 20th century by the 1970s most Iranian women went in public with uncovered hair and many enjoyed western style fashion the Islamic Republic was quick to reverse this face coverings were made mandatory in all government buildings in 1980 and then everywhere from 1983 the punishment

for immodest dressing in public was first set at 74 Lashes in 1996 this was softened to 4 months in prison and a fine women must also make sure their clothes are of a dull color and aren't too distracting for men only the face and hands are permitted to be seen in public these laws are not just theoretical in 2014 three women were sentenced to 91 lashes and 6 months each in jail after a video of them dancing with uncovered hair went viral International outcry managed to get the sentence suspended but the life-altering punishment for an

innocent video shows how seriously the Iranian government takes its Purity laws in September 2022 many of the issues we've discussed came together in a surge of protest following the death of 22-year-old Mah Ami Mah was arrested by Iran's morality police for wearing a loosefitting headscarf within a few hours of custody she was beaten to the brink of death she was admitted to an intensive care Ward but died soon after the government blamed her death on a heart attack and the state refused to release her body to her family or for a medical examination millions of

Iranians took to the streets in protest the case represented the absurdly harsh restriction upon women and the unaccountable brutality of the regime authorities met the protests with violence launching tear gas into the crowds and beating or arresting thousands of protesters the protest showed that the spirit of the Iranian people is able to stand up for itself but the regime's reaction and survival shows its strength too although the regime is less restrictive than it was 30 years ago Iran remains one of the worst places to live when judged by metrics of freedom justice and human rights

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