Iranian regime punishes opponents by plucking their eyes out
Protests keep escalating in Iran against water shortages.
Instead of assuaging the protesters,
however, Iranian authorities repress, intimidate and abuse them.
Protests returned to the streets in the
central province of Isfahan.
Social media pages reported cases of
torture by security forces after the arrest of more than 120 protesters who
criticized the government's water management policy.
Violent confrontations
The protesters raised slogans critical
of the authorities and chanted against Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei,
including by calling for his death.
Violent confrontations between the
demonstrators and police left casualties among the demonstrators, some of whom
were wounded with live ammunition.
Meanwhile, Iranian media reported
that Iranian security forces had plucked the eyes of some protestors out.
A correspondent of the BBC also
reported this news, denouncing what he described as 'excessive' violence by
Iranian security against the demonstrators.
Hundreds of disgruntled farmers staged
a protest recently in the dry stream of the Zayandeh-Rud River, which used to cross
the center of the city of Isfahan before it dried up because of the
authorities' diversion of its water to the neighboring province of Yazd.
The authorities accused the
protesters of bringing in two bulldozers to destroy a pipeline that channels water
from Isfahan to Yazd.
Isfahan farmers have been protesting
the diversion of water from the Zayandeh-Rud River to supply other areas, which
has left their farms suffering from severe drought, for years.
Iranian affairs specialist, Mohamed Ebadi,
accused the Iranian government of relying on brutality to instill fear in the
hearts of its political opponents.
"This was why the government dealt
with the people of Isfahan with such cruelty," Ebadi said.
"It wanted to send a violent
message to other protesters who are expected to descend on the streets in the
coming period," he added.
