LONDON: The British Committee for Iran Freedom condemned Tehran on Friday for its “brutal crackdown” on protests against water shortages.
The BCFIF — a cross-party body that includes members of both houses of Parliament, former Cabinet ministers and some 200 peers — said it stands “in solidarity with the people and farmers in Isfahan and other cities and provinces across Iran who are demanding their right to water.”
Protests began two weeks ago in the city of Isfahan then spread elsewhere after farmers staged a sit-in in the dried-out bed of the Zayanderud River.
Earlier this week, police used tear gas and batons to disperse crowds, with reports that protesters’ tents had been set on fire, and footage on social media of running clashes. It is unknown how many people have been arrested.
Water from the river had previously been diverted upstream toward several military and civilian installations, including a steel mill, an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps base and a nuclear facility, according to the BCFIF.
In July, protests also broke out in the southwestern province of Khuzestan over water shortages, quickly spreading to other regions of Iran.
In a statement on behalf of the BCFIF, Lord Alton of Liverpool said Tehran had “once again” reacted “with violence, ordering its security forces to crush the protests and threaten the peaceful demonstrators with arrests.”
He added: “Every human being has the right to freely access water. It is fundamental to human dignity and to life itself. The Iranian people have systematically been deprived of water and clean air in addition to their most fundamental rights and freedom including the freedom of assembly and the right to protest.
“The Supreme Leader (Ali) Khamenei and the IRGC are primarily responsible for the destruction of Iran’s environment, the domestic repression as well as for the rooted poverty and unemployment.”
The statement urged the UK, the EU and the UN “to condemn the regime’s crackdown on protesters and impose sanctions against the regime and its leaders for destroying the environment and suppressing the people who are claiming their most basic rights.”
