Iran’s clerical regime last week sentenced Mahboobeh Ramezani to 100 lashes for her reported peaceful protest as part of the “Mothers of Justice” campaign against the murder of her son by the Islamic Republic and her opposition to the mandatory hijab.
The "Mothers of Justice" campaign
Ramezani has been tirelessly campaigning to secure justice for her son Pejman Gholipur, who was killed by the theocratic state in 2019 for his role in nationwide demonstrations against rising fuel prices.
Mahboubeh Remezani said to the regime: “You know well that you are demolished by Aban and [the] Aban [movement] continues, unless you kill all of the Aban families, just like what you did to our children.”
"You know well that you are demolished by Aban and Aban [movement] continues, unless you kill all of the Aban families, just like what you did to our children."
Mahboubeh Remezani
Aban refers to the Iranian calendar month of November, in which the elimination of regime opponents, protesters and dissidents took place in 2019.
Mina Bai, an Iranian-Norwegian columnist, and the Iran-based journalist Hossein Ronaghi posted messages on Twitter about the dire plight of Ramezani.
#BREAKING Mahboobeh Ramezani, mother of Pejman Golipoor, slain demonstrater of #2019protests in Iran sentenced to 100 lashes https://t.co/wXhAJo39Xi
— mina bai (@bai_mina) July 16, 2022
Ramezani launched her protest last week as part of a campaign within Iran to protest regime’s gender apartheid clothing policy, forcing women to wear a head scarf.
Mandatory hijab
According to a report in the US government news organization Radio Farda, Peyman Gholipur, Pejman’s brother, wrote on Telegram on July 17 that his mother’s sentence was likely linked to the campaign against the mandatory hijab that unfolded on July 12.
“The biggest reason why they fear her is that she shouts the truth,” Gholipur said. “They are afraid of her because she does not put down Pejman’s picture for a minute.” He said his mother’s only crime was “seeking justice.”
The Iranian-American human rights activist, Lawdan Bazargan, told The Jerusalem Post that ”the Islamic Republic of Iran is not legitimate because a legitimate regime does not arrest mothers who lost their children or women who are demanding freedom and justice.”
“These suppression tactics are designed to create an atmosphere of terror and fear, but Iranians courageously come to the streets daily to demand their rights,” Bazargan said. “The people are speaking up and standing up to this medieval regime, and the end of tyranny is near.”
Masih Alinejad, a Voice of America journalist and women’s rights activist, told the Post that the “Aban Mothers have become the nightmare of the Islamic Regime of Iran because they openly and bravely say that we want to get rid of the Islamic Republic.”
2019 Protests
In 2019, the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, ordered his forces to murder protesters, and, according to the Reuters news organization, the regime killed roughly 1,500 protesters. Iran observers have argued since 2019 that the mass demonstrations were not only against rising gasoline prices but the very existence of Khamenei’s dictatorship.
“One of the reasons IRI is afraid of Aban Mothers is their unity against the murdering regime,” said Alinejad. “These mothers have found each other through their social networks and invite each other to the memorials they have for their children. This regime is afraid of the unity and cooperation of Aban Mothers and that’s why IRI is suppressing them.”
One source, an Iranian leader of the mother’s campaign who wishes to remain anonymous so as to not endanger the security of family members in Iran, told the Post that the Mothers of Justice campaign does not want “any other mother to be holding a frame of her child’s picture in arms seeking justice, and while the Islamic Republic tyranny rules, this tragedy will not end.”
When asked what the international community can do to help Mothers of Justice, the Iranian source said that “Mothers of Justice and other justice and freedom fighters in Iran have raised their voice many times to the international community to not sacrifice human rights in negotiating and dealing with the men of the Islamic Republic. Prioritizing human rights and international demand of the regime to step back in violation is a big support.”
According to the source, “Mothers of Justice have declared many times that for them to be empowered in their struggle against the regime’s forces, they need a louder and wider echo of their voice.
The Islamic Republic regime has vastly entered and controlled social media, especially Twitter and Instagram within the past years and uses different methods in suppressing voices, such as cutting the Internet, which has become a routine in heat of the protests.”