The Iranian president was in Kurdistan province on Thursday. Feigning a normal situation, Ebrahim Raïssi inaugurated a drinking water project and took the opportunity to call for foiling the plans of the “enemies” accused of fomenting the “riots” that have shaken the country for more than two months.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raïsi called on Thursday in the province of Kurdistan, the cradle of the demonstrations which have shaken the Islamic Republic since the death of Mahsa Amini, to thwart “ enemies of Iran, which he accuses of fomenting unrest in the country.
“ In recent riots, enemies miscalculated in the belief that they could sow chaos and insecurity “, said the Iranian president by launching the commissioning of a drinking water project in Sanandaj, capital of the Iranian province of Kurdistan. ” But they did not know that Kurdistan had sacrificed the blood of thousands of martyrs and that its inhabitants had in the past defeated the enemy “, he added in his speech broadcast by television, referring to the war between Iran and Iraq (1980-88).
Kurdistan cut off from the world
It was by following this same warlike discourse that the regime concentrated an important military force in the Kurdish regions where the young Mahsa Amini was from. In recent weeks, the area still cut off from communication with the rest of the world has been subjected to intensely violent repression.
Here and there, exiled Iranian Kurds were able to tell RFI about the daily life of their families who remained there and the fear they feel for them. Azhin Shekhi and his colleagues from the NGO Hengaw are trying to establish official reports of the situation. ” Military forces are extremely present in Kurdish towns. All movements are controlled by government forces. They also enter people’s houses at night. They arrest citizens and kidnap them, he explains. We don’t know what happens to them next. This worries us a lot because these people disappear and we don’t know anything about them afterwards. »
121 dead in Kurdish areas
Since the protests began, 121 people have died in Kurdish areas, the vast majority in the past two weeks. Some injured people die from lack of care. ” The main access roads to towns in the region are controlled by government forces and people are afraid of being arrested if they go to hospital. So many people are hiding or staying at home, says Azhin Shekhi. According to some reports, the government is also preventing the transfer of blood from other regions. They arrested many wounded. People who should be in the hospital are now in jail. »
It is difficult for Azhin Shekhi to tell us if the regime managed to stop the demonstrations through violence. However, it is certain that in the Kurdish areas as elsewhere, many people continue to reject the regime.
► To read also: Protest in Iran: “With each new death, anger rises and violence with it”