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40 years on the struggle for justice continues in Iran
On the 40th anniversary of the Iranian revolution are the hopes of the Iranian people for peace, freedom and democracy any closer to being realised? JANE GREEN considers the current prospects for change in Iran
Unison, NASUWT, UCU and Amnesty International protest at the Iranian Embassy against the Iranian state’s treatment of workers

AFTER 25 years of dictatorship under the Shah of Iran, the Iranian people finally freed themselves of the shackles of the Pahlavi dynasty in the national democratic revolution of February 11 1979.  

While the figurehead for the opposition to the Shah was the exiled Islamic leader Ayotollah Khomenei, the revolution had the support of a broad spectrum of democratic forces, seizing the opportunity to bring democracy to Iran at long last.

Under the shadow of the Western-inspired Iran-Iraq war, which ran from 1980-88, the theocratic elements, which were only one part of the national democratic revolution, tightened their grip on power. 

In draconian purges against those who opposed the establishment of an Islamic Republic, they arrested, tortured and exiled key sections of the left, effectively driving underground any opposition to the consolidation of the grip of the theocracy.

The early years of the Islamic Republic set the tone for the ongoing record of the Iranian regime in relation to human and democratic rights in general, and the rights of political and trade union activists in particular.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
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