By: Nir Boms and Shayan Arya
Iran appears to have its own version of “fool’s day.” Earlier this month, the Islamic regime celebrated April 1st day by commemorating the referendum that established the Islamic regime in Iran 32 years ago.
A 1979 referendum indeed took place although it is clear that very few Iranians knew at the time what they were precisely voting for. Thirty two years later, there is little doubt about what an Islamic regime means – but a referendum that might reverse course is nowhere near the Iranian horizon. For 32 years, it was the language of hate, intimidation and fear that replaced that of the ballots. But votes can be cast in different ways and in Iran, like in other places in the Middle East, the people are speaking again.
The republic of fear is omnipresent in Iran, and it’s holy enough to go just about everywhere. Mr. Mir Ismail Moussavi, the father of Mir Hussein Moussavi, one of the prominent reformist and green movement leaders, died last week at the age the 103. His funeral became yet another opportunity for the Islamic regime to punish his prominent son who is under house arrest along with his family. Moussavi’s body was forcefully taken away from his family by security forces on its way to the cemetery while mourners and family members who protested were beaten. Mir Ismail was a cousin and a colleague of the Supreme leader of the Islamic regime Ayatollah Khamenei – but pedigree, it seems, makes little difference these days.