Iran's Interior Minister denies "organization" and "external origin" for January protests

Despite statements by the Leader of the Islamic Republic and some judicial officials attributing the nationwide protests of January to groups opposing the Islamic Republic abroad, the Minister of the Interior of the Islamic Republic acknowledged that investigations do not show that these protests were "organized" or had an external origin.

In an interview with the Saturday, March 10, issue of Iran Newspaper, Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli emphasized that "in our research, we did not find any evidence of organization of the protests; in other words, we did not conclude that a group, faction, or opponents and counter-revolutionaries organized the protests from outside."

He added, however, that "this does not mean that opponents and opponents did not exploit the protests, because they did their utmost to escalate, direct, and exploit them."

After the recent nationwide protests in dozens of Iranian cities, judicial officials, including the Attorney General of the country and the Prosecutor General of Tehran, and some other conservative figures, expressed their belief that these protests originated and were carried out with the guidance of the US Central Intelligence Agency, as well as the participation of the People's Mojahedin Organization and relatives of Saddam Hussein, the former Iraqi dictator.

In a speech on January 9, Ayatollah Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic, described the nationwide protests in January as “fireworks,” “mischievousness,” and “the enemy’s bluff,” and accused the United States, Britain, and Israel of organizing them. He also claimed that the money for these rallies was provided by a “rich” regional government.

Comments contradict what the studies mentioned by the Iranian Interior Minister emphasize regarding the lack of an external source for the protests.

The nationwide protests in January began with gatherings to protest against high prices in Mashhad and several other cities in Khorasan Province, but the scope of these protests quickly spread to other cities, and the direction of the protesters' slogans changed to slogans against the Leader, the President, and the republic's officials, as well as both major factions involved in power in Iran, and the protesters called for a change of government in Iran.

While in some cities, especially Qom and Mashhad, slogans were chanted in support of the Pahlavi dynasty and in opposition to the Islamic Revolution of 1979, another major slogan in these protests warned both major factions of the Iranian government that "Reformist-Principlist/The story is over."

Meanwhile, some officials in the Hassan Rouhani government, as well as some groups supporting the government, accused Ahmad Alam-ul-Huda, the Friday prayer imam of Mashhad, and his close associates of organizing the Mashhad gathering on January 27. Among the reformist parties, the Ittehad-e-Mellat Party, spoke about the role of Ebrahim Raisi, the custodian of the Astan Quds Razavi, and Ayatollah Ahmad Alam-ul-Huda, the Friday prayer imam of Mashhad, in organizing these gatherings in Mashhad.

An accusation that has been denied by Ahmed Alam-ul-Huda.

On Sunday, Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli, referring to reports about the invitation of conservative Telegram channels to the Mashhad rally, said that "it was not like a movement came in an organized manner. Of course, there were channels that were attributed to a political movement and republished content and images, but when we spoke to that political movement, they said that it was none of our business; because if we wanted to issue a call, we would have issued a call on the 50 channels we have, not one channel."

Earlier, Hossein Zolfaghari, Deputy Interior Minister for Security, had also acknowledged that the nationwide protests in January "crossed all political currents in the country."

"The level of accumulation of dissatisfaction had risen and become public"

But while the Leader of the Islamic Republic and his close associates have attributed the January protests to economic issues, Hassan Rouhani has made a different assessment, stating that the protesters also had political and social demands and that the people have not achieved all of their demands.

Now, the Minister of Interior of the Hassan Rouhani government has emphasized in an interview with the Iran newspaper that the "main factor" of the January protests was not only economic, but that there was also "dissatisfaction" in the political, security, and cultural spheres.

He also claimed that 60 percent of those arrested in these protests were employed.

Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli also said that, contrary to what has been stated, depositors of financial and credit institutions "had a very small presence in these protests."

He clarified that the "bedrock" of the January protests still exists, and that generational change is one of the foundations of these protests.

Mr. Rahmani Fazli commented that the reason for the rapid spread of protests to various cities in Iran is the increasing level of "accumulation of dissatisfaction" and their "generalization," such that the protests "were expressed wherever they could be expressed."

The Minister of Interior of the Hassan Rouhani government has said that talks have been held with "various groups, including political, student, labor, media, and those who could be parties to the issue," to "limit" these gatherings "so that this issue does not escalate."

However, he did not announce which Islamic Republic institutions negotiated with these groups and in what format.

After the January protests, the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence arrested more than 100 student union activists and a number of labor activists.

According to most reports, the arrested students were students of the University of Tehran, and as Farid Mousavi and Mahmoud Sadeghi, representatives of Tehran in the parliament, have reported, most of the arrests were described as "preventive."

This is despite the fact that lawyers such as Shirin Ebadi and Nasrin Sotoudeh have stated that there is no law in Iran for pre-trial detention for the purpose of prevention.

Source: Radio Farda