The Central Council of EDON stands in solidarity with the people and youth of Iran, who are under a brutal attack waged by Iran's security forces, fighting for their rights.
Since 28th December 2017, Iran's working people and youth have filled the streets daily, in a popular wave of protests as they have spread to more than 70 cities, against the miserable socio-economic conditions they are experiencing, but also against the daily violation of elementary human rights to which they are subject to. The 5 million unemployed graduates, the wide-spread corruption in the country, the long-standing repression of the Iranian people’s fundamental rights, the mass arrests of political dissidents and the denial of the right to trial with the choice of legal defense, the high prices of essential goods and the mass poverty are basic day-to-day problems of the people and youth of Iran that have led the people to this mass uprising. At the same time, parties and movements are in a state of deep illegality and the freedom of political expression is being scorned.
The authorities' reaction to the mass protests has been their violent and brutal repression, with so far figures rising to more than 2,000 arrests, daily attacks on the mobilizations, torture inside the country’s prisons, whilst the number of deaths in recent days has gone up to 22, some of them under conditions of imprisonment. The overwhelming majority of those arrested are young people, with hundreds of students, activists and members of the student movement's representatives being the first targets for arrest. These mobilizations are a genuine and spontaneous reaction of the Iranian people to all that they are going through. They have been generated by the injustice of what is taking place, and this isn’t about a reaction fueled by external forces. Any attempt by external imperialist forces to reap the anger and reaction of the Iranian people is not seeking to serve its interests and must be repelled by the working people and the youth themselves.
As EDON, we express our support towards the struggle of the people and youth of Iran, against the brutality with which they are facing. We support the demands for the respect of human rights within the country and for dignified living and working conditions. We demand the release of the political prisoners who have been arrested in the struggle they are waging and their names to be made public since the regime is keeping even their names hidden. At the same time, EDON supports the demand for the immediate withdrawal of the army and security forces from the country's universities, which aim to sow the feeling of fear towards those who are resisting.
International Relations Bureau
of the Central Council of EDON
15th January 2018, Nicosia