129 People Arrested in Market Protests and Outside Parliament

Simultaneously with the statements of the Chairman of the Parliamentary Councils Commission regarding the arrest of 129 people in last week's protests in Tehran's market and outside Parliament, the Tehran prosecutor emphasized that these individuals will not be released until the court proceedings are held. Mohammad Javad Kolivand, the Chairman of the Parliamentary Councils Commission, announced on Sunday, July 1, in an interview with the 'House of the Nation' website affiliated with the Parliament, that 129 people were arrested in last week's protests in Tehran's market and outside Parliament. According to Mr. Kolivand, some of the detainees were individuals who had 'taken refuge inside a shop.' The protests, which began on July 3 in Tehran's commercial complexes, led to the closure of Tehran's market on Tuesday and continued until July 5. These protests spread to several other cities in Iran as well. Initially, the protesters shouted slogans against rising prices and currency market disorder, but the slogans quickly turned political, targeting the domestic and foreign policies of the Islamic Republic. The market protests on July 4 spread to adjacent areas, and according to reports, security forces attacked the demonstrators in front of the Parliament building with tear gas. Following these protests, Sadegh Larijani, the head of the judiciary, threatened that death sentences and 20-year prison terms would be issued for 'disrupting the economic system.' Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi, the Tehran prosecutor, also reported on the evening of July 6 that 'many' participants in the market protests had been arrested without specifying the number of detainees. He emphasized that the detainees would not be released until the court proceedings were held. On Sunday, the Tehran prosecutor stated: 'There should be no consideration for the release of individuals arrested in these riots, and those who set police cars on fire in the streets should be arrested and prosecuted.' Mr. Jafari Dolatabadi's remarks come amid footage circulating from the market protests showing some shops being destroyed by law enforcement officers. In this context, Mahmoud Sadeghi, Parvaneh Mafi, Soheila Jelodarzadeh, and Elias Hazrati, four representatives from Tehran, issued a warning to the Minister of Interior, referring to the destruction of 'people's property, vehicles, and shop doors,' calling for 'action against the offending officers, compensation for damages, and prevention of such incidents in the future.' These four members of Parliament reminded that similar incidents had occurred during the 2009 protests, where law enforcement announced it would 'act against the offending officers and compensate for the damages incurred.' Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli, the Minister of Interior, confirmed in his press conference on Sunday that the destruction of people's property by law enforcement during the recent protests had occurred and stated that the commander of law enforcement had provided him with explanations regarding this incident. Mr. Rahmani Fazli said: 'Their explanation was that to arrest some criminals during the protests, we had to break a window, like a firefighter who must cause some destruction to control a fire.' The destruction of personal property by law enforcement officers during the 2009 protests had also been reported. Three years later, however, Esmail Ahmadi Moghadam, the commander of law enforcement, confirmed the destruction of personal property by his officers, stating that they had 'apologized to the owners of this property and paid them 70 million tomans in damages.' According to reports from the House of the Nation website, ISNA news agency, social networks, and Radio Farda.