WEBVTT - What Bombing Means for Freedom In Iran 0:00:01.720 --> 0:00:08.080 All media. Hi everyone, and welcome to the podcast. 0:00:08.080 --> 0:00:12.799 It's me James today and I'm joined by gorjin Jedmai 0:00:13.520 --> 0:00:18.319 from HENGL, the human rights organization. Also a journalist who's 0:00:18.320 --> 0:00:20.799 worked for the Kurdish Peace Institute who we've had on 0:00:20.800 --> 0:00:23.320 the show before, who I've also worked with, and the 0:00:23.320 --> 0:00:27.920 founder of the Kurtis Dan People's page on Instagram. Welcome 0:00:28.000 --> 0:00:29.960 to the show, Thanks for joining us. 0:00:30.360 --> 0:00:32.840 Thank you very much for inviting me. I'm so glad 0:00:32.920 --> 0:00:34.040 to be here today with you. 0:00:34.560 --> 0:00:36.840 Yeah, of course, and what we're going to talk about 0:00:36.880 --> 0:00:42.279 today is Rodia Lat or Eastern Kurdistan and how this 0:00:42.320 --> 0:00:46.600 figures into I guess what's happening currently in Iran. 0:00:46.600 --> 0:00:48.920 What has been happening in Iran, And like. 0:00:49.479 --> 0:00:51.840 I think it's really important to give a little more 0:00:52.520 --> 0:00:57.560 explanation and background on particularly the different ethnic groups in 0:00:57.600 --> 0:01:01.360 Iran than people generally get when they can consume legacy 0:01:01.440 --> 0:01:02.120 media here. 0:01:02.520 --> 0:01:05.120 Yeah, so if I want to talk about this, like, 0:01:05.400 --> 0:01:07.400 we need to talk about the history of at least 0:01:07.400 --> 0:01:11.320 one hundred and twenty one hundred fifty years, so it's 0:01:11.360 --> 0:01:14.880 really a lot. But today's structure of what we know 0:01:14.959 --> 0:01:21.360 as Iran is made up of several different ethnic groups 0:01:21.360 --> 0:01:28.920 from Persians, Turks, I mean Ozerbaijani Turks, Turkmands, Heerds, Baluchi's, Ahwazi, 0:01:28.959 --> 0:01:32.080 Arabs and so many others. But I would say the 0:01:32.120 --> 0:01:38.160 dominant population, the dominant ethnic group, and the dominant aulture 0:01:38.400 --> 0:01:43.040 and language is definitely Persians. Yeah. And if I want 0:01:43.120 --> 0:01:47.400 to be more clear, this dominant ethnic group has been 0:01:48.160 --> 0:01:54.480 exploding and colonizing and destroying all the lands and the 0:01:54.520 --> 0:02:02.000 communities and societies from non Persian regions including Kurdistan, Baluchistan, Azerbaijan, 0:02:02.640 --> 0:02:08.400 Ahawas and many other regions in this biographical region paul Iran. 0:02:09.280 --> 0:02:15.800 And this mainly started during the former monarchy Pahlavis, and 0:02:16.400 --> 0:02:21.840 it was intensified after the nineteen seventy nine Islamic Revolution 0:02:22.080 --> 0:02:27.000 led by Ayatu la Romeni, and as usual, the Kurdish 0:02:27.000 --> 0:02:32.160 people were the first to stand against this newly established regime. 0:02:33.000 --> 0:02:36.600 In nineteen seventy nine, a few months after the so 0:02:36.720 --> 0:02:41.320 called revolution, the Kurds were demanding their rights, specifically the 0:02:41.400 --> 0:02:46.440 right to self determination and also federalism, which was responded 0:02:46.480 --> 0:02:50.639 by a heavy hit by heavy attacks and under the 0:02:50.720 --> 0:02:54.840 jihad order of Ayatu la Romeni, which led to the 0:02:54.880 --> 0:02:58.480 massacre of tens of thousands of civilians and destructions of 0:02:58.720 --> 0:03:04.200 several hundred villages and mass executions of Kurdish people across 0:03:04.440 --> 0:03:09.640 the what we know as Eastern Kurdistan or Roshalat. And 0:03:09.800 --> 0:03:14.320 following that the oppression continued, and also it was done 0:03:14.320 --> 0:03:18.960 against other ethnic groups, specifically Baluchi's and also the Awazi 0:03:19.000 --> 0:03:23.560 Arabs and also the Azerbaijani Turks, but in Kurdistan and 0:03:23.600 --> 0:03:27.800 Baluchistan it has always been more intense and more brutal. 0:03:28.600 --> 0:03:33.320 And then in late nineteen eighties and early nineteen nineties 0:03:33.440 --> 0:03:38.200 they killed two of the Kurdish leaders, doctor Abdur Rahman 0:03:38.320 --> 0:03:42.640 Kasumlu and doctor shut Off Candy in Europe during some 0:03:42.840 --> 0:03:47.840 negotiations and thus ended up in kurt being in a 0:03:47.960 --> 0:03:52.480 worse situation. And then until around early two thousands, I 0:03:52.520 --> 0:03:56.520 think around two thousand and four or three, the PKK 0:03:56.800 --> 0:04:01.720 built or established its wing in Rochalat known as the 0:04:01.760 --> 0:04:06.800 Free Kurdistan Party or Pajak sorry Free Kurdistan Life Party 0:04:07.160 --> 0:04:11.480 in Rochalot. And then but unfortunately this party was not 0:04:11.720 --> 0:04:17.000 really as strong as the KDPI or Komala that were 0:04:17.080 --> 0:04:19.760 already in the fight with the with the Iranian states. 0:04:19.760 --> 0:04:24.480 Since nineteen forty six and so on. This oppression has 0:04:24.520 --> 0:04:29.000 been just intensifying by mass execution of Kurdish people, the 0:04:29.080 --> 0:04:35.080 mass execution of the political prisoners and activists, and imprisonment 0:04:35.160 --> 0:04:39.120 of the different people in the Kurdish society from language 0:04:39.160 --> 0:04:45.800 teachers to environmental activists to children, women, anyone, and this 0:04:46.040 --> 0:04:51.400 whole impression that I've been mentioning about, like that that's 0:04:51.400 --> 0:04:56.200 happening in East Kurdistan. It has also resulted in a 0:04:56.680 --> 0:05:02.720 humanitarian phenomenon called kulba. Pullbars are a group of people 0:05:02.839 --> 0:05:06.760 that are extremely underprivileged. They have no access to anything, 0:05:07.279 --> 0:05:11.040 so they are somehow forced to go into some sort 0:05:11.080 --> 0:05:14.320 of work that they have to carry goods between the 0:05:14.360 --> 0:05:18.120 borders of East Kurdistan and South Kurdistan or North Kurdistan 0:05:18.160 --> 0:05:21.719 specifically between Iraq, Iran and Turkey. And every year we 0:05:21.800 --> 0:05:25.240 have numbers in our organizations you can check. We have 0:05:25.560 --> 0:05:29.920 a specific statistics section for these col wars. Every year 0:05:30.160 --> 0:05:34.320 hundreds of them get killed. Just for example, in since 0:05:34.360 --> 0:05:37.640 the beginning of twenty twenty five, twenty two of them 0:05:37.680 --> 0:05:40.120 have been killed and injured. And among these people there 0:05:40.160 --> 0:05:45.120 are children, women, old people. So this is also another 0:05:45.360 --> 0:05:47.920 form of oppression that this regime has been using. Again 0:05:47.960 --> 0:05:51.440 start people, because this is actually one of the biggest 0:05:51.600 --> 0:05:53.840 forms of oppression, if I want to talk about it. 0:05:54.279 --> 0:05:57.279 There are over one hundred and fifty thousand coal bars 0:05:57.279 --> 0:06:01.760 in East Kurdistan that are somehow into this type of 0:06:01.839 --> 0:06:04.480 work because they have no other means of income, and 0:06:04.520 --> 0:06:09.440 the government, the Ringing government actually like limitits all the 0:06:09.920 --> 0:06:13.800 if I want to call it economic developments in East Kurdistan. 0:06:14.560 --> 0:06:17.359 This has been going on for decades. And then we 0:06:17.480 --> 0:06:22.240 come to twenty nineteen again there was another so I 0:06:22.279 --> 0:06:25.400 want to call it uprising or master tests across Iran 0:06:25.760 --> 0:06:29.479 when the regime killed over one five hundred people. I 0:06:29.520 --> 0:06:32.599 mean before that, there were also tests almost every year, 0:06:32.600 --> 0:06:34.560 but that was like one of the biggest one. It 0:06:34.640 --> 0:06:38.719 was in November twenty nineteen, and they cut down the 0:06:38.760 --> 0:06:41.800 internet for twelve days. I remember I was at the 0:06:41.880 --> 0:06:45.920 university at that time. And then they killed one thy 0:06:46.040 --> 0:06:50.280 five hundred people, specifically so many people in Kurdistan. They 0:06:50.320 --> 0:06:53.760 even throw that kills people into like lakes and rivers, 0:06:53.800 --> 0:06:57.240 and then after like months and days people found the 0:06:57.240 --> 0:07:01.320 bodies like in the nature jeeze. And then we come 0:07:01.480 --> 0:07:06.400 to twenty twenty two in September when they the morality 0:07:06.480 --> 0:07:11.080 police killed Gina Amini, the Kurdish woman who was apparently 0:07:11.120 --> 0:07:15.560 not wearing a proper hijab or the Islamic cloth or 0:07:15.600 --> 0:07:18.960 whatever you want to call it. She was killed by 0:07:19.200 --> 0:07:24.000 the Iranian morality police in Tehran, which led to the 0:07:24.280 --> 0:07:26.560 as we know it. I don't know if you can 0:07:26.640 --> 0:07:30.200 call it a revolution or uprising or just mass tests 0:07:30.560 --> 0:07:35.040 called Jhinjiana Zadi or women life Freedom movement. And this 0:07:35.360 --> 0:07:40.280 also again because it was inspired by Kurtz the first 0:07:40.360 --> 0:07:45.200 victim was occurred again. Obviously it started in Kurdistan and 0:07:45.840 --> 0:07:49.240 it spread so fast. Just in a few days, the 0:07:49.400 --> 0:07:54.040 entire Kurdish cities were testing, and then it was followed 0:07:54.040 --> 0:07:57.480 by other Iranian cities like Tehran. She was but it 0:07:57.640 --> 0:08:01.160 was not as intense as in Kurdistan. I think it was. 0:08:01.400 --> 0:08:06.040 Three days after her death, the Kurdish parties Katipi and 0:08:06.120 --> 0:08:09.560 Komala and some others that are not very well known 0:08:09.640 --> 0:08:15.040 like pak and also Pajak or the Free Life Kurdistan Party, 0:08:15.520 --> 0:08:20.840 they announced a general strike across Kurdistan and they called 0:08:20.840 --> 0:08:24.000 on people to close down everything and go on a 0:08:24.040 --> 0:08:28.000 full lockdown to protest the killing of Gina Amini, which 0:08:28.160 --> 0:08:32.000 was responded by I think over one hundred missiles or 0:08:32.080 --> 0:08:36.800 something from the IRGC and the Iranian regime and it 0:08:37.040 --> 0:08:40.480 killed I think eighteen if I'm not wrong, but it 0:08:40.600 --> 0:08:45.280 killed several people in the camps belonging to these parties 0:08:45.640 --> 0:08:49.599 in today's Iraqi Kurdistan where as we call it South Kurdistan. 0:08:50.200 --> 0:08:54.439 There were also like family members of the Kurdish politicians 0:08:54.440 --> 0:08:58.880 and Kurdish Pishmarga that were in those refugee camps that 0:08:59.000 --> 0:09:01.720 are also supported by the UN. They were killed there 0:09:01.800 --> 0:09:06.400 and then the protests just got intensified. And I was 0:09:06.440 --> 0:09:09.840 also there. We were reporting every day about all the 0:09:09.840 --> 0:09:14.800 things that were happening. Also, the Baluchi people joined the protests. 0:09:14.840 --> 0:09:18.640 And at the same time of those days, a fifteen 0:09:18.720 --> 0:09:21.839 years old Baluchi girl was raped and killed by an 0:09:21.840 --> 0:09:27.360 IRGC commander or member in Baluchistan, and people also protested that. 0:09:27.480 --> 0:09:29.960 And there was a Friday which is known as the 0:09:29.960 --> 0:09:34.320 Bloody Friday of Zahidan. People in Baluchistan. They went to 0:09:34.480 --> 0:09:37.720 a big mosque in the city of Zahidan and they 0:09:37.800 --> 0:09:41.920 were doing their Friday prayers as Mauslims, and then they 0:09:42.000 --> 0:09:47.040 started protesting. And this was responded by the Iranian regime 0:09:47.080 --> 0:09:51.440 forces and over one hundred people were massacred on that day, 0:09:51.800 --> 0:09:56.200 which also led to mass execution of more political and 0:09:56.400 --> 0:10:01.960 just random prisoners in Baluchistan. The protests just went on 0:10:02.120 --> 0:10:06.520 and there was a really heavy repression so far, I 0:10:06.559 --> 0:10:10.960 think over maybe between five hundred to six hundred people 0:10:11.000 --> 0:10:13.720 were killed. These are like the official ones, and also 0:10:13.800 --> 0:10:19.320 several other of these protesters, specifically from Kurtiston were executed. 0:10:19.520 --> 0:10:24.160 Some of them were executed in public to spread more 0:10:24.160 --> 0:10:27.040 fear among people, but people were not given up. And 0:10:27.080 --> 0:10:32.400 then it continued until twenty twenty three. I think it 0:10:32.480 --> 0:10:35.680 was around maybe in March, I'm not really remembering the 0:10:35.760 --> 0:10:38.360 exact date, but it was also in twenty twenty three 0:10:38.400 --> 0:10:43.080 that they started attacking schools, like girls' schools, with some 0:10:43.160 --> 0:10:46.600 sort of gases that nobody actually knows that what type 0:10:46.600 --> 0:10:50.040 of chemical gases they were using, and unfortunately we have them, 0:10:50.200 --> 0:10:54.600 like we've reported on. Then some school children, like some kids, 0:10:55.080 --> 0:10:58.319 they were killed by these gases, and they were specifically 0:10:58.360 --> 0:11:02.000 targeting a girls school because they are like separate, they 0:11:02.000 --> 0:11:04.600 don't they're not together in the Iranian system. 0:11:05.080 --> 0:11:05.560 Integrate. 0:11:05.800 --> 0:11:10.440 Yeah, And then this went on and people were still protesting, 0:11:10.559 --> 0:11:16.200 but unfortunately it somehow stopped. And if I wanted to 0:11:16.360 --> 0:11:20.880 analyze that and related to like to talk about the reasons. 0:11:21.440 --> 0:11:24.040 One of the main reasons I think also many other 0:11:24.120 --> 0:11:28.440 political activists and analysts also agree on that that the opposition, 0:11:28.840 --> 0:11:32.760 but as we know as the Iranian opposition was not 0:11:32.880 --> 0:11:37.680 truly united. Yeah, there was a huge effort specifically from 0:11:37.960 --> 0:11:43.920 the Kurdish parties like Comala and Abdullah Motadi. They tried 0:11:44.120 --> 0:11:48.400 to create some sort of collaboration with the so called 0:11:48.400 --> 0:11:53.120 Iranian oppositions, specifically the monarchists like the Pahlavis and some 0:11:53.280 --> 0:11:57.480 other groups. But unfortunately these groups, I mean it was 0:11:57.559 --> 0:12:01.880 in the middle of an uprising, like a movement that 0:12:02.000 --> 0:12:07.240 hasn't been happening since maybe forty years. Instead of working 0:12:07.280 --> 0:12:11.559 together for a common goal like the Iranian opposition groups 0:12:11.640 --> 0:12:15.079 specifically the Parlavis and also the other ones like if 0:12:15.080 --> 0:12:18.320 I want to say, like the Massy and like all 0:12:18.400 --> 0:12:22.440 the people that work with her, instead of working towards 0:12:22.480 --> 0:12:27.720 a common goal, they started discriminating against minorities. They started 0:12:27.840 --> 0:12:33.360 ignoring and denying and also censoring the minorities, the same 0:12:33.440 --> 0:12:37.040 minorities that were the most active against the regime that 0:12:37.160 --> 0:12:43.520 had the biggest number of sacrifices in the protests and 0:12:43.559 --> 0:12:48.160 also in prisons. They just started spreading their own typical 0:12:48.360 --> 0:12:53.000 national I mean, I would even call them ultra nationalistic sentiments. 0:12:53.040 --> 0:12:56.040 And for example, if I want to give one of 0:12:56.080 --> 0:12:59.760 the biggest things that we always talk about, these people 0:12:59.840 --> 0:13:04.200 who are apparently against the regime, they have some red lines, 0:13:04.240 --> 0:13:07.320 and their main red line has always been the so 0:13:07.480 --> 0:13:13.600 called Iranian territorial integrity. So like these type of sentiments 0:13:13.640 --> 0:13:18.520 and discussions, it's somehow created like a lot of mistrust 0:13:19.000 --> 0:13:23.200 between the Kurdish groups, the Baluchi groups. Also like with 0:13:23.400 --> 0:13:27.040 Hawazi Arabs and Azerbaijani Turks and all these groups, they 0:13:27.120 --> 0:13:32.360 couldn't trust each other because the dominant group, the Persians 0:13:32.440 --> 0:13:36.120 or the Iranians or those who identify as Iranians, they 0:13:36.240 --> 0:13:40.880 ignored us, They ignored our suffering, they ignored our identity. 0:13:41.600 --> 0:13:45.920 They were just repeating what the regime has been saying 0:13:46.080 --> 0:13:51.200 since over forty years, but in a different form. So 0:13:51.360 --> 0:13:54.720 this somehow created a lot of mistrust and also the 0:13:54.840 --> 0:13:58.240 people inside, Like I was there when that was happening, 0:13:58.240 --> 0:14:03.520 and I was working non stop every day of recording, writing, texting, 0:14:03.640 --> 0:14:08.840 being on interviews, the people actually lost their hope because 0:14:08.920 --> 0:14:13.760 there was no united position, there was no united structure 0:14:13.920 --> 0:14:16.640 to say that, yeah, we're advocating for you. I mean, 0:14:16.640 --> 0:14:20.320 in the first few months it was really great. For example, 0:14:20.400 --> 0:14:24.320 here in Germany they had a very big demonstration and 0:14:24.360 --> 0:14:27.760 over eighty thousand people from all across Europe. They traveled 0:14:27.760 --> 0:14:31.920 to Berlin for that demonstration. It was great, and all 0:14:32.000 --> 0:14:36.400 the groups from Iranians, turks, Arabs, Balucci is like everybody 0:14:36.520 --> 0:14:41.360 was there. But unfortunately following that, the people like specifically 0:14:41.480 --> 0:14:44.880 who's a Palavi, the so called crown Prince of Iran? 0:14:45.160 --> 0:14:48.400 Who is another like his story is like very also 0:14:48.600 --> 0:14:53.320 like crazy, yeah, he and his group and his circle, 0:14:53.440 --> 0:14:56.760 and also people like Massi al Najatte And I would 0:14:56.800 --> 0:14:59.760 say all the celebrities because they are not truly they 0:14:59.760 --> 0:15:03.600 are politicians. They have no political study they have they 0:15:03.640 --> 0:15:07.800 haven't done any specific political work. They are just celebrities. 0:15:07.840 --> 0:15:11.480 Like Nazni Bulgnadi she played in some movies. Yeah she's 0:15:11.520 --> 0:15:14.240 a really great actress, but not a good politician. Like 0:15:14.360 --> 0:15:19.120 these things that celebrities who truly don't understand or they 0:15:19.120 --> 0:15:23.600 don't want to understand what people inside Kurtistan, Iran and 0:15:23.760 --> 0:15:27.400 Baluchis don't want They pretended to be our voices and 0:15:27.440 --> 0:15:31.200 they never listened to us. And then this just made 0:15:31.240 --> 0:15:34.680 a lot of distraws and a lot of also hate 0:15:34.840 --> 0:15:38.920 between the people. Yeah, so that's why I can say 0:15:38.920 --> 0:15:43.320 that it just failed after that, And unfortunately many many 0:15:43.360 --> 0:15:46.600 of the people who were arrested during that time, they 0:15:46.600 --> 0:15:49.520 are still in jail, and just a few days ago 0:15:49.760 --> 0:15:53.600 five of them were sentenced to death and we made 0:15:53.640 --> 0:15:57.920 a report about them. So like every day did they 0:15:57.960 --> 0:16:01.200 get sentenced to death? And I person know many of 0:16:01.240 --> 0:16:04.520 these people who were injured and they are now here 0:16:04.520 --> 0:16:07.000 in Germany. They were brought here but by some human 0:16:07.080 --> 0:16:10.320 turing visas. Some of them are my friends. So like 0:16:10.720 --> 0:16:23.640 it just failed. At the same time, I also have 0:16:23.720 --> 0:16:25.520 to mention that one of the reasons that it also 0:16:25.560 --> 0:16:32.160 failed it was the regime's extensive propression. They militarized the 0:16:32.480 --> 0:16:37.880 entire cities, specifically in Kurdistan and Baluchistan. For example, in Kurdistan, 0:16:37.960 --> 0:16:41.880 they already have over two thousand military bases and checkpoints 0:16:42.240 --> 0:16:46.640 all over the Kurdistan region. And during that time they 0:16:47.120 --> 0:16:51.240 they had like tanks and military vehicles in the entrances, 0:16:51.280 --> 0:16:54.080 like in the gates of every city and also town 0:16:54.560 --> 0:16:58.640 they were checking out people like I personally get during 0:16:58.720 --> 0:17:02.120 these two years, I really didn't go out much, maybe 0:17:02.720 --> 0:17:05.080 once a week or once in attendees just to I 0:17:05.080 --> 0:17:07.399 don't know, to go and eat something out, you know, 0:17:07.480 --> 0:17:10.240 like I was always home. Yeah, yeah, because I couldn't 0:17:10.280 --> 0:17:13.120 go out and because my work was important. And then 0:17:13.760 --> 0:17:16.760 they were just controlling people. They were arresting people, and 0:17:16.840 --> 0:17:19.719 even like from the stories that I have worked on before, 0:17:20.240 --> 0:17:23.480 these injured people. They also they were hiding in small 0:17:23.520 --> 0:17:26.959 villages and even in the mountains, but the regime forces 0:17:27.000 --> 0:17:30.480 were everywhere looking for these people and these activists. So 0:17:30.600 --> 0:17:34.920 it was like a holy military lockdown in the region. 0:17:35.680 --> 0:17:38.080 And there are many crazy stories. I don't know if 0:17:38.119 --> 0:17:42.040 you have time enough time to talk about, like some 0:17:42.280 --> 0:17:45.840 different and specific things that happened, and it was really 0:17:45.880 --> 0:17:46.919 scary at that time. 0:17:47.400 --> 0:17:48.960 Yeah, I would like you to share that with this 0:17:49.160 --> 0:17:52.600 because I think one thing people don't understand is that 0:17:53.160 --> 0:17:57.040 the Iranian regime has a colossal capacity. 0:17:56.440 --> 0:17:58.440 For violence against the certain citizens. 0:17:58.760 --> 0:18:01.280 I think if we talk about some specific instances and 0:18:01.280 --> 0:18:04.000 then maybe we can talk about recently, there has been 0:18:04.000 --> 0:18:08.639 a bombing campaign against some nuclear facilities and some IIGC commanders, 0:18:08.720 --> 0:18:11.800 and like I think if you start with your anecdotes 0:18:11.920 --> 0:18:15.640 about what happened during this last uprising, that will help 0:18:15.680 --> 0:18:19.520 people understand why, like the consequence of this bombing campaign 0:18:19.560 --> 0:18:22.359 are not good for people who want to have freedom 0:18:22.400 --> 0:18:25.080 in Iran, right, both people inside the country at least. 0:18:25.359 --> 0:18:28.320 So yeah, us tell us some things about that capacity 0:18:28.359 --> 0:18:29.040 for repression. 0:18:29.400 --> 0:18:32.080 Yeah, so, like the bombing happened, and we saw, we 0:18:32.200 --> 0:18:36.000 all saw how crazy and how insane, like it was 0:18:36.040 --> 0:18:39.280 like movies. I couldn't believe my eyes when it happened. 0:18:39.440 --> 0:18:43.560 It was really crazy. And yeah, that was like the 0:18:43.600 --> 0:18:47.959 war between two brutal states, Israel and Iran, who both 0:18:48.440 --> 0:18:54.200 have no respect for dignity of humans. Nothing, absolutely, Yeah, 0:18:54.520 --> 0:18:57.199 the first thing that happened it was that, Yeah, they 0:18:57.960 --> 0:19:01.880 targeted I think so as far as I remember from 0:19:01.920 --> 0:19:06.720 our statistics, over three hundred and fifty or around that 0:19:07.520 --> 0:19:12.840 were the IRGC commanders or the officials from the nuclear programs, 0:19:12.880 --> 0:19:16.919 and like really the judges who have sentenced thousands of 0:19:16.920 --> 0:19:20.800 people to death, Like the targeted people were mainly these 0:19:20.920 --> 0:19:24.520 type of people, and also there were also some civilians. 0:19:25.000 --> 0:19:29.200 I think maybe around eighty or nineties civilians whom some 0:19:29.240 --> 0:19:33.760 of them were actually like family members of these IERGC members, 0:19:33.800 --> 0:19:37.520 and also some children. And also there was a lot 0:19:37.560 --> 0:19:43.080 of destruction, specifically in Tehran, many buildings including the Evan. 0:19:42.840 --> 0:19:47.000 Prison, yeah, it's where they hit the prison, the. 0:19:46.560 --> 0:19:50.480 Center of the Iranian broadcast and all these places were 0:19:50.520 --> 0:19:55.320 targeted and many officials were killed, also civilians. But the 0:19:55.760 --> 0:20:02.600 Iranian regime's response to that was not fully against Israel, 0:20:02.680 --> 0:20:08.720 who was bombing Iranian I er GC bases. In the 0:20:08.840 --> 0:20:14.680 first days, they started attacking civilians. They started arresting every 0:20:14.840 --> 0:20:17.119 I don't know, some random people, and so far I 0:20:17.160 --> 0:20:22.960 think last time we checked hundreds of people across specifically 0:20:23.000 --> 0:20:28.680 in Kurdistan they were arrested, and some others were already 0:20:28.800 --> 0:20:31.480 like in these days, they got executed because they were 0:20:31.560 --> 0:20:38.639 accused of spinach for Israel or working for Israel. Just 0:20:38.680 --> 0:20:42.399 a few weeks ago, I think five or four or 0:20:42.400 --> 0:20:45.240 maybe three, I don't recall the numbers right now, but 0:20:45.640 --> 0:20:49.000 some Kurdish political prisoners who were accused of working for 0:20:49.119 --> 0:20:54.639 Israel were executed in my hometown Formia in Iskordistan, and 0:20:54.680 --> 0:20:58.760 then so many others were also arrested and then I 0:20:58.800 --> 0:21:02.280 think some others were also tortured. At least I remember 0:21:02.400 --> 0:21:06.600 one case which we worked on it. There was one 0:21:06.600 --> 0:21:10.760 case that was tortured to death because he was accused 0:21:10.800 --> 0:21:14.240 of working for Israel and things like that. This was 0:21:14.320 --> 0:21:18.240 like one of the responses that the Iranian regime started doing. 0:21:18.280 --> 0:21:20.800 And one of the things that this regime did in 0:21:20.840 --> 0:21:24.879 the first days, it was that they took lots of 0:21:24.960 --> 0:21:29.760 military vehicles and like I don't know, equipments inside schools. 0:21:30.400 --> 0:21:34.000 For example, in the city of Saradash, it's a really 0:21:34.040 --> 0:21:37.560 amazing beautiful Kurdish city on top of some mountains. It's beautiful. 0:21:38.520 --> 0:21:42.119 There's a high school in the city center, exactly in 0:21:42.160 --> 0:21:45.560 the city center, and they took lots of military equipment 0:21:45.720 --> 0:21:49.959 and stuff inside the school and they threatened the school manager, 0:21:50.080 --> 0:21:52.040 if you don't give us the key right now, we 0:21:52.080 --> 0:21:55.199 will arrest you. We will do this and that. And 0:21:55.240 --> 0:21:58.320 they also did that in the city of Kermanshah. They 0:21:58.359 --> 0:22:01.480 also did that in the I remember because I worked 0:22:01.560 --> 0:22:05.320 under report. It was in the neighbor in the neighborhoodhood 0:22:05.400 --> 0:22:09.840 called the Zilabad and they took some military coupments next 0:22:09.880 --> 0:22:12.680 to a hospital which was also bombed and the hospital 0:22:12.760 --> 0:22:15.920 was damaged and some people were injured. That was one 0:22:15.920 --> 0:22:18.040 of the things that the regime did. And at the 0:22:18.080 --> 0:22:20.720 same time, I don't know if you know about this, 0:22:20.840 --> 0:22:25.200 but in Iran the military service is compulsory, like Israel, 0:22:25.280 --> 0:22:27.919 like many like Switzerland, like many countries. But in Iran 0:22:28.040 --> 0:22:33.520 it's it's forture. It's some sort of repression against young men. 0:22:34.080 --> 0:22:38.159 So across Kurtistan, for example, in a military base in 0:22:38.200 --> 0:22:40.880 my hometown in Urma, it's called Almahdi. It's a very 0:22:40.920 --> 0:22:45.680 big military base. I know that some soldiers who are 0:22:45.720 --> 0:22:50.960 like civilians, but they are forced into it. They're like teenagers, 0:22:51.320 --> 0:22:54.840 I don't know, nineteen twenty or twenty one, like you were. 0:22:54.840 --> 0:22:58.080 Young guys, yeah, very young that really don't want to 0:22:58.119 --> 0:22:59.800 be there, but they are forced to. They they were 0:23:00.000 --> 0:23:04.720 saying that their commanders threatened, if you leave the military base, 0:23:05.200 --> 0:23:08.320 we will arrest you, we will torture you, and we 0:23:08.400 --> 0:23:14.040 will execute you for betraying for like I don't know, 0:23:14.119 --> 0:23:18.399 for training your country or things like that, or working 0:23:18.440 --> 0:23:21.080 for Israel. This was like one of one of the 0:23:21.119 --> 0:23:24.960 concerns that many families had before on those days, because 0:23:25.280 --> 0:23:29.399 I talked with some people like our neighbor's son was 0:23:30.040 --> 0:23:33.640 also in a military base. He is like nineteen. Yeah, 0:23:33.640 --> 0:23:37.840 they were putting lots of pressure on civilians while ignoring 0:23:37.920 --> 0:23:40.840 that what Israel is doing every day. They were bombing 0:23:40.880 --> 0:23:44.080 all the military bases, I don't know places, and like 0:23:44.160 --> 0:23:48.000 they were even bombing places that nobody even knew that 0:23:48.080 --> 0:23:52.560 they existed. But their focus was, like the regime's focus 0:23:52.680 --> 0:23:55.919 was on civilians who were just scared, who were just 0:23:56.960 --> 0:24:00.320 trying to protect their families. Yeah, and this is like 0:24:00.440 --> 0:24:05.720 what they started doing. And yeah, I mean it's still 0:24:05.760 --> 0:24:08.160 going It still is going on, and they are arresting 0:24:08.520 --> 0:24:12.560 people all the time, and as usual, the majority of 0:24:12.600 --> 0:24:16.200 the focus and repression is again happening in Kurtison against 0:24:16.240 --> 0:24:18.000 Kurdish people. Yeah. 0:24:18.080 --> 0:24:20.200 I think it's very important people understand like that the 0:24:20.240 --> 0:24:23.720 Iran it's not like an ethno state, well it is 0:24:23.760 --> 0:24:27.080 an ethno state, but that there is not ethnically monolithic, 0:24:27.200 --> 0:24:30.840 like the territory of Iran and the Persian ethno state 0:24:30.880 --> 0:24:34.560 do not necessarily like line up. I think people will 0:24:34.600 --> 0:24:38.119 also be very confused about like when we hear quote 0:24:38.160 --> 0:24:42.919 unquote Iranian opposition in this country, right, it's often like 0:24:43.000 --> 0:24:44.760 I think there's this knee jack. Oh, that's good, right, 0:24:44.760 --> 0:24:46.720 These are people who opposed to this regime which is 0:24:46.760 --> 0:24:49.600 brutally cracking down on people. But often then, as you say, 0:24:49.640 --> 0:24:53.240 it's associated with like monarchists for the most part. And 0:24:53.280 --> 0:24:57.840 then we have these various like anything in Kurdistan, right, 0:24:57.880 --> 0:25:00.439 like it's an alphabet suit but like there is like 0:25:00.680 --> 0:25:04.160 there were seventy five different like initial groups of initials. 0:25:04.480 --> 0:25:07.120 Can you explain who some of these actors are, right, 0:25:07.119 --> 0:25:11.480 we have the Iranian monarchies, we have the KDPI, we 0:25:11.600 --> 0:25:14.080 have all these different groups pagiach like you say, the 0:25:14.160 --> 0:25:17.560 kdk group. Can you explain who some of these people are? 0:25:17.640 --> 0:25:19.200 For people say understand. 0:25:19.359 --> 0:25:22.480 Yeah, if I want to talk about Kurtistan, I would 0:25:22.960 --> 0:25:26.960 go to the first Mother and Kurdish party called KDPI, 0:25:27.000 --> 0:25:31.040 which was founded in nineteen forty five and it was 0:25:31.119 --> 0:25:36.720 the founder of the Kurdistan Republic. And also then there's 0:25:36.960 --> 0:25:40.320 the Koma Law Party, which is also like a socialist 0:25:40.359 --> 0:25:45.600 communist leftist party, which also has several branches but they're 0:25:45.600 --> 0:25:49.640 all basically the same. And also there are other parties 0:25:49.720 --> 0:25:53.639 like PAK yeah, yeah, the Freedom Party of Kurdistan, and 0:25:53.680 --> 0:25:57.199 also we have Pajak, the Free Life Kurdistan Party or 0:25:57.560 --> 0:25:59.919 I don't know if it's that, it's the same in English. 0:25:59.680 --> 0:26:01.520 Yeah, Kaddistan Free Life Party. 0:26:01.640 --> 0:26:06.719 Yeah. These are the main political parties and actors in 0:26:06.920 --> 0:26:11.359 East Kurtistan. However, there are also like smaller parties like 0:26:11.480 --> 0:26:16.679 Habbat and also some parties that are affiliated like they 0:26:16.720 --> 0:26:21.400 are like very small groups that are affiliated with for example, 0:26:21.440 --> 0:26:25.240 the Iranian Communist Party, which is not also really big. 0:26:25.760 --> 0:26:30.000 But the main ones right now are KDPI and Tomola, 0:26:30.640 --> 0:26:33.480 who both of them have like a long history of 0:26:33.680 --> 0:26:37.520 fighting against the regime and also against the monarchists the 0:26:37.800 --> 0:26:42.480 Pahlavi regime. They were i would say, really really active 0:26:42.800 --> 0:26:48.640 until like twenty twenty three. They played a very very 0:26:48.720 --> 0:26:53.879 important role in the revolution and like in Kurdistan specifically 0:26:53.960 --> 0:26:56.879 because they were they were the ones who were announcing 0:26:57.160 --> 0:27:00.760 like strikes, and they were working together other and like 0:27:01.040 --> 0:27:07.199 organizing things and helping people out to resist. Obviously, there 0:27:07.320 --> 0:27:12.639 was no arm struggle at that time or conflict because 0:27:12.680 --> 0:27:15.800 they said we're not going to fight because if we 0:27:15.960 --> 0:27:20.080 bring the fights and conflict inside Kurdistan, the regime will 0:27:20.119 --> 0:27:24.560 destroy the cities with styles. This is exactly what they 0:27:24.720 --> 0:27:27.120