Arab News Japan

TOKYO: At a press conference in Tokyo on Friday, Iranians living in Tokyo predicted the downfall of the Iranian regime in Tehran.

“People just want to overthrow the regime,” Sareh Abri said, who added that the issue of the hijab that started anti-government demonstrations is a symbol of repression in Iran. “The mandatory hijab and the lack of autonomy of the body has been the pillar of the Islamic regime, but people are fighting to dismantle the whole system. The target is the entire system, the state.”

University teacher Mohammad Ali Bastami believes that the regime can fall.

“Most of the people fighting are teenagers and young people,” he said. “But there is a large gray segment who are not doing anything. If they join in, they are big. It will be game over if they come out in their millions on the streets.”

When asked if the Iranian regime might seek compromise with the protesters, Bastami said the regime “has shown for 43 years they will not back down or cooperate with anyone.” 

Somayyeh Mehri, a teacher in Tokyo said the killing of Mahsa Amini for not wearing a hijab correctly had started a new kind of revolution in Iran.

“The protestors quickly targeted the political and ideological foundations of the regime,” she said. The government, she said, responded with batons, tear gas, pellets and lethal weapons leading to the deaths of hundreds.

“The regime seeks to terrorize and persecute people and extinguish hope in the hearts of the Iranian people. We want basic human rights and that’s why women are on the front line.”

Mehri spoke of show trials and executions and said that 33 people, including teenagers, currently have death sentences. “This is a time sensitive issue,” she said. “It’s the job of journalists to find the truth and relay that to the world. I hope this press conference will help the people of Iran.”