By Parisa Hafezi
DUBAI (Reuters) – Atousa joined offended protests in opposition to Iran’s rulers in 2022 that loyalists like Reza helped crush. Two years on, the 2 younger Iranians’ political beliefs stay at odds, reflecting a rift that can form the result of presidential elections this week.
Now 22, Atousa says she is going to abstain from voting in Friday’s poll to decide on a successor to Ebrahim Raisi after his loss of life in a helicopter crash, relating to the train with derision.
However Reza, 26, a religiously religious member of the hardline Basij militia, intends to vote, a contrasting view of the price of the election that underscores the division in Iran between supporters and opponents of the 45-year-old Islamic Republic.
All six candidates – 5 hardliners and a low-key average accredited by a hardline watchdog physique – have been wooing youthful voters in speeches and marketing campaign messages, utilizing social media to achieve the 60% of the 85 million inhabitants aged below 30.
“This election, like all elections in Iran, is a circus. Why should I vote when I want the regime to be toppled?,” Atousa informed Reuters. She declined to be recognized by her full title for safety causes.
“Even if it was a free and fair election and if all candidates could enter the race, the president in Iran has no power,” she stated.
The hashtag #ElectionCircus has been broadly posted on social media platform X by Iranians prior to now few weeks, whereas some Iranians at dwelling and overseas have referred to as for an election boycott.
Below Iran’s clerical system, the elected president runs the federal government day-to-day however his powers are circumscribed by these of the hardline supreme chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final phrase on high points resembling nuclear and international coverage.
‘RELIGIOUS DUTY TO VOTE’
Like many ladies and younger Iranians, Atousa joined protests in 2022 sparked by the loss of life of a younger Kurdish lady, Mahsa Amini, in police custody, following her arrest for allegedly violating Iran’s necessary Islamic gown code.
The unrest spiralled into the most important present of opposition to Iran’s clerical rulers in years.
Atousa, then a pupil, was arrested through the protests and her dream of changing into an architect was shattered when she was expelled from college as a punishment for collaborating within the demonstrations.
The Basij, a plain-clothes arm of the elite Revolutionary Guards, deployed alongside uniformed safety through the 2022 unrest and helped suppress demonstrations with lethal power.
Over 500 individuals together with 71 minors have been killed within the protests, a whole lot injured and 1000’s arrested in unrest that was ultimately crushed by safety forces, rights teams stated.
Iran carried out seven executions linked to the unrest. Authorities haven’t given any official estimated loss of life toll, however stated dozens of safety forces have been killed in “riots”.
“I will sacrifice my life for the leader and the Islamic Republic. It is my religious duty to vote. My participation will strengthen the Nezam (system),” stated Reza, from the low-income Nazi Abad district in south Tehran.
Reza stated he’ll assist a hardline candidate who champions Khamenei’s “resistance economy”, a phrase which means financial self-sufficiency, strengthening commerce ties with regional neighbours and bettering financial interplay with China and Russia.
The financial system is beset by mismanagement, state corruption and sanctions reimposed since 2018 after the U.S. ditched Tehran’s 2015 nuclear pact with six world powers.
Reza and Atousa, each born after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, have regrets in regards to the 2022 demonstrations, albeit for various causes.
Reza blames the protests for bringing mounting stress on Iran from Western nations, which imposed sanctions on Iranian safety forces and officers for alleged human rights abuses. Iran accused Western powers of fomenting the unrest.
“I wish the protests had not taken place … our enemies used it as a pretext to mount pressure on our country,” he stated.
Atousa appears to be like again on that interval with disappointment.
“I was hopeful,” she stated. “I thought finally the change will come and I will be able to live a life with no suppression in a free country … I paid a heavy price, but the regime is still here.”