Iranian Regime Says It Will Hold Public Trials for 1,000 Protesters

A police motorcycle burns during a protest over the death of Mahsa Amini, a woman who died after being arrested by the Islamic republic's "morality police," in Tehran, Iran, on Sept. 19, 2022. (West Asia News Agency via Reuters)

HAIFA, Israel—Iranian authorities said on Oct. 31 that public trials will be held for about 1,000 people this week, over six weeks of protests that have followed the death of a young woman in police custody.

The people who will be put on trial may include participants of previous protests concerning economic and civil issues, Eliyahu Yossian, an Israeli expert on Iran, told The Epoch Times. The individuals may be people whom the regime wants to settle a score with, he said.

Yossian, who was born in Iran and has an engineering degree from Iran, immigrated to Israel and served in Unit 8200, an Israeli intelligence corps. He’s a winner of the Israel Defense Award and a researcher of Iran after the Islamic Revolution.

He said those whom the regime puts on trial may include those whom “the regime makes an excuse and takes advantage of the timing to ’settle accounts,'” and also those “the regime is trying to deter” from taking part in the current protests.

The trials of about 1,000 people “who have carried out acts of sabotage in recent events, including assaulting or martyring security guards, (and) setting fire to public property” will take place in a Revolutionary Court, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency, which cited the chief justice of Tehran province. The trials will take place in public this week, it said, according to Reuters.

‘Suppressed at the Peak of Brutality’

As opposed to previous demonstrations that “were protests of pensioners, teachers, truck drivers, workers who did not receive their salary on time,” these are protests of young men and women who don’t believe in the essence of the Islamic Republic, Yossian said.

There aren’t many parents on the streets protesting with their children, he added. The adults are more conservative, more traditional, and “they do not support the youth who are on the street.”

“These protests may last a few more days or weeks,” Yossian said. “They will not achieve any goal, and they will be suppressed at the peak of brutality.”

The protests began after Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman, died in the custody of Iran’s morality police after being detained for allegedly not complying with the regime’s strict hijab rules.

Her death sparked large anti-government protests that continue across Iran.

Iranian authorities have accused the United States and Israel of being behind the protests.

According to the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), 283 protesters, including 44 children, have been killed so far since protests broke out across the country. Another 14,052 people have been arrested, according to HRANA’s latest update.

Germany condemned the violence of Iranian security forces against protesters and the state repression of journalists, a German government spokesperson said on Oct. 31, according to Reuters.

In September, the Biden administration announced sanctions on Iran’s morality police “for abuse and violence against Iranian women and the violation of the rights of peaceful Iranian protesters.”

Shahrzad Ghanei, Katabella Roberts, and Reuters contributed to this report.