Increasing requests to announce the number of victims of the November protests

In response to the Interior Minister's letter regarding the deaths of November 2019, Ali Motahari said that the aforementioned report was not convincing. In a meeting with Rouhani, Jalaipour called on the head of state to announce the number of deaths of November 2019 honestly and transparently.

Ali Motahari, a representative of Tehran in the parliament, did not find the Interior Minister's response that the ministry was not to blame for the November 2019 events convincing. In his last speech before his resignation in the 10th parliament, Motahari had said: "The Interior Minister is the main culprit for the November 2019 events, during which many people were killed."

Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli also said in a letter that was read in the parliament: "The November 11 incidents, the events and decisions before, during, and after them, are a national and cross-sectoral issue for which each of the responsible agencies will be held accountable for their actions based on their inherent duties."

Ali Motahari wrote on his personal page about the Interior Minister's letter on Twitter: "The Interior Minister's response to my speech about his culpability in the November 2019 events was not convincing. My point was that he, as the person responsible for implementing the decision of the heads of state, should have spoken to the people for at least a month. In addition, the claim that the quorum for his impeachment signatures is not true."

The November 2019 protests began across Iran following a threefold increase in gasoline prices and quickly took on a political dimension, targeting the entire Islamic Republic system. However, Iranian security and law enforcement forces severely suppressed the protests in the wake of the internet shutdown and the absence of a free press.

In the context of the Islamic Republic's silence regarding the number of those killed and detained, human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and independent media have attempted to provide statistics on the victims and have called for an independent investigation into the matter.

Khamenei's order to suppress protesters in November

A few weeks after the November protests, Reuters reported in an exclusive report, citing Iranian officials, that about 1,500 people had been killed in these protests in Iran.

Reuters wrote that Ayatollah Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic, personally issued an order to deal harshly with the protesters. The news agency wrote that Ayatollah Khamenei's order to severely suppress the protesters was confirmed by three sources close to the leader of the Islamic Republic.

Jalaipour to Rouhani: Announce the number of people killed in Aban

Nearly six months after the November 2019 protests, the Islamic Republic has remained silent about the death toll. Some reformists inside the country have called on the government and Rouhani to break this silence and announce the number of deaths.

During the meeting of "Siasiyon" with Rouhani on Monday, May 18, the Iranian president was once again asked to provide "the correct statistics of those killed in November."

Ali Shakurirad, Secretary General of the Ittehad-e-Mellat Party and a reformist political activist, said about Rouhani's meeting with 15 political activists: "In the aforementioned meeting, Hamidreza Jalaeipour, a reformist political activist, asked Rouhani, referring to the events of November last year, why don't you provide the correct number of those killed so that there is no opportunity for those who claim that there were 1,500 people."

Jalaipour has said that "the most important asset is the satisfaction of the people," and that the government must change some of its policies in order to gain the people's satisfaction.

Iranian media has not reported on Rouhani's reaction to the request to release the death toll for November.

Source: DW