September 16 ^th ,was the death date of Mahsa Amini and the birth date of the so-called - new revolution of Iran. Mahsa (Zhina) Amini a Kurdish-Iranian who was arrested by moral police in Tehran due to her non proper dressing. She then died from cerebral bleeding, brain hemorrhage, after being injured by officers. Her death was followed by consistent and frequent protests all around the country, especially in the Kurdish regions, which later expanded to protests in Europe, UK, US, Canada and many other countries.

As witnessed before, the Islamic Republic of Iran had responded to protests with brutality by militarizing the cities. For instance, in Baluchistan which is a Sunni populated district, more than hundred deaths from direct shooting of the IRGC have been recorded . It is worth mentioning that the uprising of Baluchis fired up after a 15-year-old girl was raped by an officer in Baluchistan.

The change of the regime in 1979 brought many changes to the system, but what remained the same is the suppression that minorities are subjected to on a daily basis.Similar to the monarchy, the Iranian Islamic regime imposed a persian identity and suppressed other identities, languages, and cultures  prohibiting non-Persian names, restricting cultural practices and prohibiting  teaching in mother languages for different regions are examples of the continuous suppression and denial strategy imposed against different ethnicities living in Iran. Reaction to Persian/Shia protests has been indifferent compared to, for example, those of Kurds, Arabs and Turks. According to the records, in non-Persian regions, heavier arms were used against the protestors and the protesters have been identified as extremists or separatists, who allegedly seek independence and are a threat to the national security of Iran.

By: S.R.