An anonymous source recently leaked information to the BBC over the Iranian government’s handling of the local sanitary crisis. It was uncovered that there has been a serious under-reporting of deaths and infected people; the actual number of deaths is nearly triple what the government claims, the source reports. Undercounting cases is common around the world due to limited testing but, in this case, the figures have been deliberately suppressed.
Iran’s government records report almost 42,000 people died with COVID-19 symptoms up to 20th July, standing in stark contrast with the 14,405 deaths acknowledged by the Health Minister. The number of people known to be infected also nearly doubles the official figures. Although the overall trend of deaths and infected people is similar, it is worryingly different in size.
The start of the outbreak coincided with parliamentary elections and national festivities. These events would have been the perfect opportunity for the Iranian society to demonstrate its support for the regime – although this is arguable as social uneasiness is widespread, festivities have always been ideal for bringing people together. Politicians were not willing to cancel neither the celebrations nor the elections because of the pandemic, as they believed it would create feelings of fear and despair if the coronavirus was seen as a threat to the community. Dr. Nouroldin Pirmoazzen, a former MP, explained that “the government was afraid that the poor and the unemployed would take to the streets”. Their solution was to undermine the pandemic and, when it started getting out of hand, to lie about the number of infected and dead.
Even before the pandemic hit, Iran was already struggling to pull themselves through a very deep crisis. From crippling economic problems that followed Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the nuclear deal in 2018 to the rising social unrest caused by the unexpected increase in the price of petrol, swathes of economically disadvantaged people are slowly but surely starting to make their voices heard.
The surge of civil discontent represents a serious threat to Ali Khamenei’s regime, who has been Supreme Leader of Iran since 1989. During the latest popular revolts against power in Tehran, in November 2019, the government’s repression killed at least 1500 people, according to Maryam Rajavi – President of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI). The combination of information repression and cover-ups is evidently not unusual behaviour for the regime. In January, when Iran shot down a Ukrainian plane killing all passengers on board, the regime only acknowledged wrongdoing after pressure from Western intelligence pointed to Iranian involvement; previously, they had denied this and hidden information for three days.
Maryam Rajavi has said that the government’s refusal to act against COVID-19 is actually a deliberate strategy to allow people to die; she affirms that the government is in favour of massive human losses that will result in an inert and desperate society. In shaping a submissive and distressed population, the current regime might be trying to avoid revolts and, in the long run, prevent their overthrow.
Instead of relocating resources to fight the pandemic, Iran’s government decided to ignore the problem and continue with their planned agenda. They kept on sending satellites into space, intervening in Iraq, Syria and Yemen, and even developing nuclear activities. It is clear that COVID-19 is not their main concern, allowing it to kill thousands of their own citizens. The Iranian president has, however, been forced to admit that, according to the Vice Minister of Health for Research, between 30 and 35 million people will be exposed to the disease in the coming months.
Rajavi, along with the rest of the NCRI, has received significant international support. This has mainly come in the form of parliamentarians and other members of government from Western countries, especially the United States. It was expected for public concern and anger to eventually escalate considering their repression under a corrupt regime for so long. That moment has finally arrived; the Iranian government will have to decide what is more important to them: either maintaining power through censorship and lies, or updating their regressive agenda that has fallen behind in our more modern, ever-changing times.
Words by Valentina Ferraro
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