Democratic Protests and Civil Society in Iran with Touska Gholami Khaljiri [PODCAST]

How is the Iranian society coping with the crackdown on the protests? What is the current state of the regime and its prospects for the future? Who is Reza Pahlavi and what might be his role in the near future? And how do Iranians view the U.S. intervention in their affairs? Leszek Jazdzewski (Fundacja Liberte!) talks with Touska Gholami Khaljiri, an Iranian women’s and children’s rights activist and researcher based in Łódź, Poland, whose work bridges gender justice and grassroots activism. In Iran, she collaborated with multiple non-governmental organizations, including serving as head of a legal team and workshop facilitator, delivering prevention programs on child sexual abuse. Since relocating to Poland, she has remained actively engaged in advocacy related to Iran, organizing demonstrations in Łódź during the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement and contributing to international awareness efforts. In 2023, she was selected by Wprost magazine to represent Iranian women in receiving the SheO Award in the category of “Fight for Equality and Women’s Rights.” She is also involved in digital documentation initiatives, including contributing to the Iran Protests Timeline website, an ongoing bilingual (English–Polish) project providing a chronological record of Iran’s 2026 uprising. Links to her interviews and social media engagement accompany her work.

Leszek Jażdżewski (LJ): What is the current situation on the ground in Iran, and what do we know about the status of the protests?

Touska Gholami Khaljiri (TGK): As you know, we had a few days of critical uprisings. They are estimated to be the biggest uprisings throughout these forty-seven years that the Islamic regime has been in power in Iran. After the massacre that happened on January 8 and 9, specifically, and the mass arrests that happened afterwards, we saw what I would describe as ‘fire under the ashes.’ It was not a military situation from the regime side, but there were arrests happening on the streets on a daily basis. People’s phones were taken from them; their social media was checked to see whom they follow and whom they have texted.

For approximately ten days or two weeks, there was a curfew inside Iran in different cities, especially small cities. In smaller cities, the networks are stronger because people know each other well, so the control must be stronger too. During the curfew, people were asked to close their shops and businesses. After six o’clock, groups of more than two people were being interrogated and asked to leave the street to go back home. Cars with machine guns were going around the cities. There were search groups based in certain neighborhoods. This was the situation right before last week.

Last week, we entered the fortieth day since the mass killing massacre happened in Iran. There is a culture in Iran where people hold another funeral on the fortieth day of a loved one’s passing. It is called chehlum (‘the fortieth’). This is when family members come to the person who has lost someone and bring them colorful clothes so that they may take off their black clothing and return to life. Traditionally, the ceremony is a religious gathering where the Quran is read and prayers are recited. Families mourn quietly and try to return to life after this fortieth day.

However, I have been watching videos of these fortieth-day funerals. They have transformed from a religious ritual into an active act of collective defiance. People who have lost their dear ones to gunfire to the head or heart, or those who have been killed in prison under torture, stand still. They deliver strong, powerful speeches. Instead of Quran recitations, music is played. Families openly declare that their loved ones were protesters who fought for freedom and democracy. They were killed because they wanted Iran to be free. They also play the national anthem that we had before the revolution. There is no fear in the language anymore; they chant the slogans for which their loved ones were killed. They are doing this despite knowing that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Basij forces have attacked many fortieth-day funerals in past days. They have opened fire on mourning families while they were having these ceremonies.

Up until last week, I was consistently saying that this is ‘fire under ashes,’ but the fire is out again. In a small city in Iran, I saw a huge funeral where it was announced that three thousand people were there for the funeral of two people killed during the protests. We thought that we should wait for something to happen for people to return to the streets. It is amazing watching how these people manifest their courage again. Knowing that you will be shot on the streets and yet returning to those streets is another level of courage, in my opinion.

They are telling the world that nothing is over, and they will continue until this regime is down. They chant “Death to Khamenei,” “This is the last fight,” and “Woman, Life, Freedom.” These are the slogans that killed their loved ones, and they keep repeating them because they believe they must take this regime down before even more people are killed.

LJ: How are these protests different from the Green Movement and other previous revolutions, and is there wider societal support beyond students and educated women?

TGK: It has been an ‘action and reaction’ between the government and the people. Throughout all these years, Iranians tried gradual reform. For years, people voted for so-called ‘reformist candidates,’ hoping for small openings inside the system. They were not asking for yet another revolution; they were asking for breathing space.

But how did the government respond to these requests? The system absorbed these reformists and preserved the core of power untouched. They decided that in order to prevent people from asking for more, they had to oppress them more. Instead of responding to students’ protests peacefully or – as you said – during the Green Movement in 2009, when millions marched silently after the disputed election, they moved forward towards more oppression. Their answer was arrests, disappearances, and killings in daylight on the street and in prison under torture. There have always been hundreds of people under the threat of execution in Iran, and right now, it is no longer hundreds – it is thousands who are facing these executions.

In my opinion, it is important to see that the people of Iran have tried for forty-seven years to negotiate with a regime that does not speak the language of peace and does not understand what people are saying. The only language that this regime understands is gunfire, torture, arrest, and oppression. This is not a regime that negotiates power. They view these people as rebels against Islam and against the theological system they have created. Their response is to kill as many as they can to keep this system solid and to rule over the people.

The reason why it is not only a certain group of people on the streets right now – you see doctors, engineers, firefighters, the young, and the old – is that the government is no longer targeting a specific group. They are not targeting only activists, students, or worker councils anymore. They are targeting everyone who is saying ‘no’ to their power. This is why everyone is out on the streets.

In the face of every person who has been killed these past weeks, I see myself, my brother, and my family, because they are us. People think that since they killed one person, the next one will be me. If I am not going to the streets and raising my voice against this religious power, it is going to take me or my child next. This is why all the people are on the streets.

LJ: Are there signs that these peaceful protests are turning into an uprising involving the use of force? And is there any evidence of internal divisions or military and police revolts against the regime?

TGK: Of course, there has been disobedience inside the police forces and the army. We even saw a viral video from the city of Abdanan – which was very crowded relative to its population – showing a policeman on a rooftop flashing a victory sign to people passing by. However, I would say that the Islamic regime has prepared for this quite well. They have been in power for almost half a century, and they managed to shift military power away from the army and the police to pseudo-military groups like the Basij and the IRGC.

I personally do not think that these pseudo-military groups will put their guns down because they have been trained since childhood. Many of these individuals join Basij groups when they are only teenagers; we still see teenagers holding guns and shooting people. The level of indoctrination within the IRGC and the Basij is very powerful. I do not see them relenting because their ideology is so established in their system of thought; they believe they are fighting the enemies of God and opening fire against those who oppose the ‘truth’ of their religion. They find themselves in a position of rightfulness.

While such a shift might happen in the police force or the army, the issue is that the armed forces in Iran are dominated by the IRGC and the Basij. These are more of a religious and Islamic cult than a military group intended to defend the country or its people. Their ideology does not allow them to put their guns down or separate from these groups.

LJ: Does the Islamic Republic still hold legitimacy despite the mass killings and economic failure? And is a restoration of the previous regime under Reza Pahlavi a possible outcome?

TGK: They have definitely lost their legitimacy. Outside of Iran, we are still trying to convince governments and politicians that this regime does not represent the Iranian people. Inside Iran, they have certainly lost it, even among religious people. There is a segment of the population that was previously religious but has now turned against those beliefs because of this regime; they have changed one hundred percent.

Furthermore, even those who are traditionally religious – who pray and fast – are no longer supporting this regime. I say this because, in watching the funeral videos from the past few days, I see families from various backgrounds and mothers mourning their children. The commonality is that they chant “Death to Khamenei.” This is not just a call for the death of one person; it means they want the regime to fall. A few years ago, the opposition consisted mostly of secular liberal activists and educated people, and the regime still had support from religious citizens. Now, they have lost legitimacy with that group as well.

Surprisingly, people from different social and economic levels are agreeing that they need a representative to speak for them outside of Iran – someone to convince the free world that there is a plan for when the regime falls. Reza Pahlavi, despite being the son of the late Shah of Iran, does not present himself as a future monarch. He presents himself as a facilitator of a transitional period. He has repeatedly stated that the final political system of Iran, whether it be a republic or a monarchy, should be decided by the people through a free referendum.

People are standing by this. Of course, there are monarchists, constitutional monarchists, and secular republicans – such as me and other members of the diaspora – as well as people inside Iran who have no connection to any specific party. They are standing in unity, calling his name so that we can be united in removing this regime. Because this is our primary aim: to be united to take this regime down before they kill more people.

LJ: How do you believe Iranians would react if Donald Trump follows through on his threats of a military attack to force concessions regarding the nuclear program?

TGK: Iranians are against war, this goes without saying. What they are asking for right now is an intervention, not an invasion or an occupation. They are not asking for another Iraq. They are asking for a targeted intervention because they are facing systematic, lethal repression. This is about human responsibility. People are specifically calling upon the United States and Donald Trump to intervene.

They are asking for the world to cut the hands of a regime whose influence extends beyond the borders of Iran, as they support and finance armed groups such as Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthi movement. They are even empowering Russia to sustain the war in Ukraine. Iranians are asking for the hands of this murderous regime to be cut. In asking for this intervention, they do realize the consequences and the strings attached, but they are requesting a targeted military intervention to aim at the infrastructure used for repression. They wish to weaken the regime so that the people can continue fighting. They are asking for intervention because they want an end to systematic state violence, and they cannot achieve this empty-handed.

This is not unprecedented; the NATO intervention in the Kosovo War has happened before. Even Germany was not able to become Germany again after the Second World War without the Allied intervention. Therefore, what people are asking for is not out of the ordinary. They realize that every state acts in its own interest and that there are always complex relations involved. Despite knowing all of this, they are asking for intervention because, at this point, they have done as much as they could. Now, it is the turn of the free world and the West to take action.

Find out more about the Iran Protests Timeline here: iranproteststimeline.com/

This podcast is produced by the European Liberal Forum in collaboration with Movimento Liberal Social and Fundacja Liberté!, with the financial support of the European Parliament. Neither the European Parliament nor the European Liberal Forum are responsible for the content or for any use that be made of.

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