Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 11
By Umid Niayesh - Trend:
Iranians have started mass rallies across the country, marking the 35th anniversary of the victory of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Iranian State IRINN TV reported on Feb. 11.
People in Tehran and many other cities started to take to streets on Feb. 11, chanting slogans in support of the Islamic revolution which put an end to the monarchy of the Pahlavi regime.
Carrying images of Islamic republic founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, demonstrators supporting the government re-affirmed their allegiance to the Islamic Revolution.
Demonstrators also chanted anti-US and anti-Israel slogans during the rallies, which are televised live around the country.
High-ranking Iranian officials also attended the rallies.
On Feb. 9 the Majlis (parliament), the Society of Seminary Teachers of Qom, the Defense Ministry and a number of other individuals and organizations issued separate statements encouraging people to participate in the rallies, Press TV reported.
They all called on the people across the country to turn out in large numbers in rallies to reaffirm their allegiance to the ideals of the Islamic Revolution and, the late founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
On the other hand, Iranian media outlets reported that a number of political prisoners in Iran, who have been arrested after the 2009 presidential elections, were granted freedom.
The two opposition leaders Mehdi Karroubi and Mir-Hossein Mousavi are under house arrest since 2011, and there is no change in their cases.
In 2009, after Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was elected president of Iran for the second straight term, the opposition leaders protested the decision which later resulted in massive protests across Iran, in particular in Tehran. Many people were arrested and thrown into prison.