zlacker

>>mhb+(OP)
> As of Saturday, the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency said it had confirmed 5,459 deaths and is investigating 17,031 more.

The 30,000 number comes from the Ministry of Health. It seems the UN number also aligns with the new 30,000 number. This is much worse than the 3,000 that was reported earlier. But it also seems like the crackdown is over now, and we're still just counting deaths from Jan 8 and 9.

I compare this to the recent protests in Bangladesh, where Sheikh Hasina ordered the military to shoot the protesters and the military refused. The difference between these two countries is proof that people do have the ability to disobey orders from authoritarian leaders, and that decision can have a huge impact.

>>fireja+85
The difference is that IR didn’t use Artesh (it’s military) to suppress the protests. They bused in its proxy militias from Iraq, who doesn’t care much who to shoot.

>>reliab+d8
I'm Iranian (diaspora from Canada), there are multiple branches of security forces in the regime:

1. The army (air, land, sea, etc)

2. IRGC (revolutionary guards)

3. Basij (a specialized militia within IRCG, often with their own chain of command)

4. Police (for civilian monitoring and control)

5. Guidance Patrol (specialized "morality" police for enforcing Islamic law)

6. Other (undercover, highly trained agents both inside and outside of country)

The reason why it's setup up this way, is to prevent mutiny within the regime.

After the revolution, they realized that they have to setup a system like this to protect themselves, if one of these is compromised.

Currently, Iran is in the process of preparing for a long war with Israel, United States (and their allies in the region). Khamenei has been moved to a secure location and is no longer appearing for "Friday prayers".

He will likely attempt to flee should the regime falls. I hope that he is captured alive and is forced to stand trial.

He has to answer for every single person he has harmed, both in Iran and elsewhere.

>>swat53+ni
That's remarkably similar to Saddam Hussein organization, except the 5. Do they need that much because they are a minority in the country too?

(Also, were your family part of the mujahideen/OMPI/MEK? I know two French iranian from the diaspora: one had his family involved in the revolution against the shah, and then had to leave when fundamentalists took power, and the other is from a Persian northern clan who supported the Shah and got booted out when the Shah fell, but they still had property (Hashish and poppy seeds if i understood the "import export" subtext correctly) in Afghanistan and northern Iran. Wildly different family stories, both still sad at what Iran became)