Dissent in Iran is 'sedition by enemies', says Ebrahim Raisi amid anti-hijab protests

The skies of Iran are filled with the slogans of “Woman, Life, Freedom” as the anti-hijab protests that engulfed the country still rages on. The protest that erupted following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini has escalated to great extent in the last three months. In the midst of the chaos, it looks like the Iranian Supreme leader and the Iranian President are blowing the same horns when it comes to their outlook toward the protests. On Friday, the Iranian President, Ebrahim Raisi, made several provocative remarks which were similar to the lines of the ones made by the Iranian Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei.

According to Iran International, Raisi was addressing a “hand-picked audience” in the small Iranian town of Nalbandian. During his address, Raisi reiterated Supreme leader’s claim that the recent dissent is “sedition by enemies”. He then went on to add, “enemies thought they could play the Iranian people, like the people of other countries, with false and grandiose slogans. They thought they could deceive people with the word ‘freedom’ and believed people would trust them if they spoke of ‘life’”. Raisi’s recent comments came after the Iranian Supreme leader asserted that the “organisers of riots failed to mobilize the people”. 

On November 19, Khamenei made several aggressive remarks about the anti-hijab protests. He called the protests “riots” and accused the protestors of “sedition”. Khamenei also maintained that it is the “foreign powers who are the “organisers” of the protests, and insisted that they have, “failed to bring the people to the scene”. In his speech last month, the Iranian Supreme Leader conveniently forgot to mention the 400-odd civilians who lost their lives but accused the “rioters” of killing the government forces in the anti-hijab protests. 

Iranian President lashed out at the US and the West 

It is a well-established fact that growing “anti-hijab” protests have attracted attention worldwide. The matter became worse when the Iranian administration detained numerous foreign nationals on charges of “inciting” the protestors. Raisi also lambasted the West, especially the United States. The Iranian President told the US and other western countries “to open their eyes”. Making a similar assertion as the Iranian Supreme Leader, Raisi said, “Enemies miscalculated the situation as in previous seditions”. He then went on to ask, “Do you believe people our dear youth and students will be deceived by your words?”

According to Iran International, at least 500 people lost their lives in the protest. While the violent crackdown of the protests by the Iraninan forces is becoming more and more gruesome, the Iraninan administration has executed two young people who were involved in the anti-hijab protests. Hence the recent stance made by both the Iranian President and the Supreme Leader makes it clear that the Iranian administration is not willing to address the plight of several Iranians.