“It’s definitely not normal. We are not leaving the house unless we have to and nearly all official business has come to a halt,” said Sara, a translator in Tehran who did not want her last name published. She said patients at her husband’s medical clinic had canceled and many people were reluctant to send their children to school.
The mayor of Shiraz, where clashes have been severe, said on Wednesday that transportation infrastructure in four of the city’s districts have been destroyed. The owner of a popular hypermarket, Refah, the Iranian equivalent of Walmart, said shops in three of its locations had been ransacked.
Even political figures appeared bolder in their criticism of the government. One of Iran’s most prominent political activists close to the reformist faction, Abulfazl Ghadiani, issued a statement blaming Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has thrown his weight behind the gas increase policy and effectively shut the door to any reconsideration.
“The main and final person responsible for the blood being spilled is Mr. Khamenei. He must be held accountable,” Mr. Ghadiani said.
As news of the unrest dominated, the judiciary quietly moved to close a contentious espionage case against wildlife conservationists whose plight had gripped both Iranians and the international community. Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence had concluded that the conservationists, from the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation, were not spies. But the Revolutionary Guards, who operate a parallel intelligence bureaucracy, prosecuted the charges anyway.
One defendant, Morad Tahbaz, an Iranian American from Connecticut, was sentenced to 10 years in prison, and a co-defendant, Niloufar Bayani, a former project consultant and scientist for the United Nations environment agency, was sentenced to eight. They were both convicted by a Revolutionary Court for collaborating “with an enemy state.” The authorities also seized Ms. Bayani’s income from her United Nations employment.
Four other co-defendants received sentences of between six and eight years. Two remaining co-defendants still await their verdict, according to an account posted by the Center for Human Rights in Iran.
Source : Nytimes
