Avideh Motmaen-Far: If Canada truly stands in 'solidarity' with Iranians, concrete action must be taken |
The Iranian people are fighting for freedom and democracy, but they need Canada's help
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An eyewitness who escaped Iran told the British-based news outlet Iran International that the situation in the country is so dire, “every person is reporting the death of a family member, relative, neighbour or friend.” This is not an exaggeration.
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When Bardia, an Iranian student based in Berlin, returned home to visit family in Rasht, a city in northern Iran, last month, he could never have anticipated witnessing a massacre. On the night of Jan. 8, he watched as commandos opened fire on unarmed protesters.
“They shot only at heads and hearts,” he told Iran International, from the safety of Germany. “Street cleaners were brought in the early hours to erase all traces. They swept the streets, collected shell casings and washed the blood away with fire trucks.”
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In Tehran, morgues are overflowing. Families wander among rows of bodies wrapped in black bags, searching for their loved ones in the state-imposed digital darkness that prevents them from even making a phone call. The only voices the outside world hears are from videos smuggled out via Starlink. In one of them, a woman can be heard crying out: “Get up my love, get up for God’s sake.”
This is all happening as Canada issues statements about standing “in solidarity with the Iranian people.” But what does “solidarity” mean when the Islamic Republic is shooting civilians, burning protesters alive and executing dissenters?
The current uprising, which began on Dec. 28, has become the bloodiest crackdown in the Islamic Republic’s 47-year history. Some reports suggest the death toll may be as high as 30,000.
The scale of carnage defies comprehension. In Tehran, eyewitness accounts describe how the regime deployed military-grade weapons against civilians. When protesters set fire to a mosque to free detained friends, security forces blocked access routes and prevented fire engines from reaching the area — deliberately allowing the blaze to spread through 300 shops in the historic bazaar, destroying the livelihoods of the merchants who had joined the strike.
In the northwest city of Qazvin, a witness reported more than 1,000 people killed over three nights. The floors of some medical centre were covered in blood, he said.
In Karaj, security forces reportedly fired directly at protesters, shot the wounded and blocked others from reaching hospitals. In Gorgan, an eyewitness said that security........