Imam Sayyed Ali Khamenei Orders Officials to Show Islamic Clemency to Victims, Arrested Suspects of Recent Riots

Supreme Leader of the Islamic Ummah and Oppressed Imam Sayed Ali Khamenei ordered state bodies, including the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), to treat the families of all those killed as well as those wounded or arrested in the recent riots in the country with Islamic kindness and compassion.

The secretariat of the Supreme National Security Council announced on Wednesday that in response to a report by SNSC Secretary Ali Shamkhani on how to deal with detained suspects and those killed and wounded in the recent incidents in the country, the Leader has approved of the proposals raised by the top security body.

Ayatollah Khamenei has also ordered the SNSC to take immediate action in compliance with its proposals, and stressed that “as regards suspects in each (of the stated) groups, action should be taken in a way that is closer to Islamic clemency”, the secretariate said.

The report was compiled by the SNSC after the Iranian Supreme Leader ordered the security body immediately after the recent protests to launch a deep study and investigation into the root causes of the unrests and the condition of those who have lost their lives and their families.

The SNSC had proposed in the report to the Leader that those who had lost their lives without even being involved or being part of the recent protests and riots be classified as “martyrs” and their families receive ransom and continued support from the state Foundation for Martyrs and Devotees.

Also, as proposed by the SNSC and approved by the Leader, “those victims of the recent incidents who have been killed in armed clashes with security forces” will be subject of precise studies and thorough investigations to draw a line between those that had embarked on premeditated criminal action and their families to deal with such families with kindness and mercy.

“Even as regards treatment of a third group of families that includes those that are suspected of outlawed action, the Supreme Leader has ordered care and Islamic kindness in dealing with such families,” the SNSC statement said.

The SNSC said based on the Leader’s strong orders, action has been taken since a while ago to work on the case of all those killed or wounded in the recent unrests in each province.

A senior Iranian official said on Wednesday that special committees had been set up in different provinces to identify innocent people who were accidentally killed during clashes between the security forces and outlaws in recent riots to classify them as ‘martyrs’.

The official told the Persian-language Nour news that based on regulations, people who have been killed in clashes between the Armed Forces and the intelligence ministry officers and enemies, anti-revolutionary forces and outlaws are considered as martyrs.

He added that special provincial committees will precisely study evidence, documents, reports and images to provide a report for final decision by the relevant officials, noting that family members of the martyrs will be supported by the Martyr and Veterans Affairs Foundation.

Senior Iranian officials have said some protesters have been killed by armed outlaws from close range with hand guns equipped with silencers.

Iran’s Judiciary Spokesman Gholam Hossein Esmayeeli said on Tuesday that armed rioters and outlaws wounded and killed a number of people and policemen during the recent unrests after the protest rallies against the gasoline rationing.

“It is confirmed that a considerable number of people have been killed by the outlaws and many officers who were trying to establish order have also been wounded by the weapons of these outlaws too,” Esmayeeli told reporters in a press conference in Tehran.

He, meantime, said that the number of individuals killed in the recent riots is less than what some foreign parties claim, “as they name people who have died in other incidents that are different from the recent riots and many of those people claimed to be killed are alive”.

Esmayeeli said arson attacks and plundering the banks and stores and killing of innocent people and police officers were all carried out by the hooligans who were affiliated to the anti-revolutionary and dissident groups and were supported by the foreign spy agencies.

He underlined that the judiciary differentiates between the protestors against the gasoline prices and the outlaws, adding that most of the detained people during the recent unrests have been freed.

“300 people are still in detention in Tehran,” Esmayeeli said, adding that the number is still to decrease.

In relevant remarks on Monday, Head of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps’ Public Relations Department and IRGC Spokesman Brigadier General Ramezan Sharif said rioters that destroyed public and private properties in the recent unrests in Iran were utilizing complex tools and instruments.

“The outlaws used the most equipped tools and most professional methods in the recent sedition,” General Sharif said, addressing a forum in the Central city of Arak.

He noted that the riots were fomented in Iran after the country succeeded in defeating the ISIL terrorist group, the resistance front gained great victories and the IRGC shot down an intruder US spy plane over the Iranian territories on June 20.

“The enemies are seeking to make up [for their failure] after every success Iran earns,” General Sharif said.

On November 15, the government raised Iran’s extremely cheap gas price in order to moderate the national consumption rate, which stands at 110 million liters per day, 40 million liters above the maximum domestic requirement.

The government also announced a number of aid and subsidiary programs to protect vulnerable households from the adverse effects of the measure.

The price reform, required by Iranian legislature and essential as US-imposed sanctions seek to deplete Iran’s budgetary resources, had been long delayed due to concerns regarding the move’s probable backlash.

The measure’s adoption prompted initially peaceful protests, but riotous elements, abusing the situation, quickly entered the scene, destroying public property, setting ablaze banks and gas stations among other facilities, and opening fire on people and security forces.

Intelligence reports and eye-witness accounts showed that the rioters who had taken advantage of public protests against gasoline price hikes to stir chaos in the country were armed with different weapons.

The protest rallies of Iranian people against the gasoline rationing turned violent since the first hours of the gatherings after the rioters used weapons.

In Sirjan city in the Southern province of Kerman, for instance, armed hooligans were about to detonate gasoline tanks, and almost made it if it hadn’t been for the immediate presence of the police troops on the scene.

Security and police reports said the large number of weapons in the hands of the outlaws and rioters which had turned the scene of protests into a battlefield was one of the main features of the unrests.

Investigations showed that most people shot in riots were targeted from behind or the sides from a short range and from among protestors.

Also, reports by the security bodies and witnesses indicated that many of the bullets were fired from inside the protesting crowd and with weapons not registered at official bodies.

Iranian Government Spokesman Ali Rabiyee announced last Monday that rioters used cold weapons and firearms during unrests in some cities and towns, killing and wounding a number of police forces.

“Based on reports, the rioters have repeatedly used cold weapons and firearms in some cities,” Rabiyee told reporters in a press conference in Tehran.

Also, Commander of the Law Enforcement Police in Kurdistan province Brigadier General Ali Azadi announced that his forces had arrested 25 ringleaders of the recent riots, and seized 3 rifles from them.

“25 ringleaders and main culprits behind the riots in the two cities of Marivan and Sanandaj have been detained in coordination with the judicial officials and 3 firearms and some cold weapons have been discovered and seized from them,” General Azadi said on Sunday.

Late last month, Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Shamkhani said that Tehran had successfully thwarted an attempt by a small group of foreign-backed rioters to set oil facilities on fire in the iconic Persian Gulf port city of Assaluyeh, adding that the attack was meant to be in retaliation for Yemenis’ bombardment of the Saudi oil sites in September.

He added that during the recent unrests in the country, which came after the government’s decision to substantially increase the gas price, some rioters tried to attack the iconic Persian Gulf port city of Assaluyeh in the South of Iran.

“The attack on Assaluyeh had been planned by the enemy,” according to Shamkhani.

The top Iranian security official added, “the enemy appeared to be seeking to avenge what Yemen Ansarullah did in attacking Saudi facilities, but it failed”.