Hardline Cleric Says Recent Protests In Iran Unprecedented

Firebrand Iranian cleric Ahmad Khatami has admitted that "the Islamic Republic has never had [such] tough days like the past 100 days of protests".

In a speech on Sunday in the city of Semnan, Tehran’s Friday Prayer Imam called the popular protests of the past six months a "riot" aimed at ousting the regime. He acknowledged that protesters saw no difference between ‘reformist’ and ‘hardliner’ factions of the Islamic Republic and were bent on overthrowing the regime.

In addition, international assessments show the protests in the past six months have been unprecedented in terms of their size, the largest ever since the establishment of the Islamic Republic in 1979.

Ahmad Khatami, who is a member of the Guardian Council and the Assembly of Experts, also made the extreme claim that by the "Woman, Life, Freedom" slogan the protesters are seeking "nudity" in their fight against the hijab.

In its propaganda, the authorities of the Islamic Republic use words such as "nudity" and "bareness" to belittle the fight against the mandatory hijab as women act to defend their fundamental rights and social freedoms.

Following the death in custody of Mahsa Amini in September, rights groups claim that regime forces have killed over 500 protesters including at least 70 children with brutal suppressive measures across the country.

Iran’s judiciary has also sentenced four protesters to death after sham trials where the young men did not have basic access to lawyers.