Iran protests: Tehran regime is slaughtering its own people. The world must act – Steve Cardownie

The BBC has reported that more than 500 protesters, including 69 children have been killed after 100 days of anti-government protests in Iran.

Protesters demonstrate in Tehran following the death of Mahsa Amini in the custody of Iran's so-called 'morality police' (Picture: AFP via Getty Images)

The Iranian regime is determined to stamp out the protests which threaten their very existence using all the bloody means at their disposal. Two protestors have been executed and at least 26 others face the death penalty after “sham” trials, according to Amnesty International. The cruelty of the so-called Iranian government knows no bounds as they recently hanged one protester from a crane. Convicted in an Iranian court of “enmity against God” he was hoisted up high, struggling, as he choked to death, in this public execution, with the authorities making an example of him as a warning to others.

His mother was not informed of his execution until after this death when they were given the name of a cemetery and a plot number and, causing even further distress, on turning up, they found that security agents were burying his body.

The current protests were sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini, the Kurdish Iranian woman who died in the custody of the “morality police”. Arrested for seemingly not wearing her headscarf properly, so, not covering her body “adequately,” she did not emerge from the police station alive.

In the House of Commons research briefing number 9679, headed 2022 Iran protests: Human rights and international response, it states that “under the UK’s Global Human Rights sanctions regime, the UK Government intends to deter and provide accountability for those who commit serious human rights violations. These violations include torture, degrading treatment, slavery and defending the right to life.”

Support for the protestors must be intensified if the protests are to have a better chance of success. Many Iranians, particularly young women, are bravely defying the regime and its henchmen, risking arrest and even worse, torture and death, to achieve what we take for granted – democracy and freedom of expression.

The Iranian regime might be feeling the pressure as never before, but it will not go lightly as recent events have gruesomely demonstrated. It is time that the protestors got the assistance they are worthy of. What they demand is action, not words. They deserve no less.