The British Committee for Iran Freedom (BCFIF), issued a statement in support of the Iranian protesters’ demands in Isfahan, condemning their repression by the Iranian regime.
The full text of this statement is as follows:
The British Committee for Iran Freedom (BCFIF) strongly condemns the regime in Iran for its brutal crackdown and attack on the nationwide protests over water shortages and stands in solidarity with the people and farmers in Isfahan and other cities and provinces across Iran who are demanding their right to water.
These recent protests over water shortage is gaining momentum each day all across the country turning into major popular protests against the regime and its repression, destructive policies and plundering of natural resources.
Two weeks ago in Isfahan, farmers launched a sit-in in the completely dry bed of the Zayandeh-Rood river. The water has been deviated by the authorities to fuel the steel plant of regime officials, and the nuclear and military plants of its repressive forces of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Similar protests erupted soon in Shahrekod.
The regime, however, answered once again with violence ordering its security forces to crush the protests and threaten the peaceful demonstrators with arrests.
Every human being has the right to freely access water. It is fundamental to human dignity and to life itself. The Iranian people have systematically been deprived of water and clean air in addition to their most fundamental rights and freedom, including the freedom of assembly and the right to protest. The Supreme Leader, Khamenei, and the IRGC are primarily responsible for the destruction of Iran’s environment, the domestic repression as well as for the rooted poverty and unemployment.
The British Committee for Iran Freedom (BCFIF) urges the UK government, the EU and the UN to condemn the regime’s crackdown on protesters and impose sanctions against the regime and its leaders for destroying the environment and suppressing the people who are claiming their most basic rights.
Prof. Lord Alton of Liverpool
British Committee for Iran Freedom
26 November 2021
