Doubling Down on Defiance: Iran's protests continue to challenge Islamic regime

This week on The New Arab Voice were examining the ongoing protests in Iran and how they have developed, 77 days on from when they began. 

Since Iranians took to the streets, following the tragic murder of Mahsa Amini at the hands of Iran's morality police, protesters have demanded change and an end to the Islamic Republic. 

Their peaceful protesters have been met with bloody repression. The Iranian regime's security services have repeatedly beaten and opened fire on unarmed Iranians. Over 400 hundred have been reported as killed, but it believed that the true number is higher. 

During the recent protests, Iran's Kurdish community have borne the worst of the regime's revenge, including a massacre in city of Zahedan, which killed over 90 people.

As Iranian have been killed on the streets, the international community has condemned the violence, but so far has failed to formulate a cohesive and comprehension plan to help Iran secure a fair and representative democracy. 

On this episode of The New Arab Voice, we exploring how the protest movement has changed over the past 77 days, why the country's Kurdish communities are being targeted so heavily, what the international community is doing about the violence, and whether they could be doing more to help. 

Joining us this week is Dr. Allan Hassaniyan (@AllanHassaniyan), a lecturer in Middle East politics at the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies at the University of Exeter (@UniofExeter), and Dokhi Fassihian (@DokhiFassihian) an expert on issues of human rights and democracy and a member of the Middle East Institute’s Iran Program Advisory Council (@MiddleEastInst).

This podcast is written and produced by Hugo Goodridge. Theme music by Omar al-Fil. 

Other music by Blue Dot Sessions. 

To get in touch with the producers, follow then tweet us at @TheNewArabVoice or email hugo.goodridge@alaraby.co.uk.