Regime divided on response to months of popular unrest, say analysts “The conflicting messages we are getting from the Iranian regime suggest an internal debate” TEHRAN: Iran’s judiciary announced on Sunday four people had been jailed for up to 10 years for calling for strikes in support of ongoing nationwide protests against the regime. It is the first time the judiciary has announced prison sentences for such an act during demonstrations triggered by the death of Mahsa Amini at the hands of the morality police in September. Activists used social media early last month to call for a three-day nationwide strike in support of the protesters. The judiciary’s Mizan Online news website said that the four defendants had been jailed for between one and 10 years. They were not identified and may still appeal. Mojtaba Ghahramani, head of the judiciary for Iran’s southern province of Hormozgan, told Mizan that the four were sentenced principally “for having incited drivers to strike,” and for vandalism. “None of the defendants is a driver or has anything to do with the transport sector,” he said. “One was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment and another to five years for forming a group with the aim of disrupting national security,” Ghahramani said. Two others were jailed for a year and fined for “disturbing public order and destroying truck windows,” he said. On Dec. 5 local media reported that authorities sealed a jewelry shop and restaurant in Tehran belonging to footballer Ali Daei, after he backed the protesters’ strike calls. Four men, including two on Saturday, have been executed for killing and wounding security force members in connection with the protests. The protests began in September after Amini, 22, died after being arrested in Tehran for violating the country’s strict dress code. They have since spread across Iran to become one of the greatest threats to the regime since the revolution. Analysts say that Iran’s leaders are divided on their response, shifting between repression and what they believe to be conciliatory gestures to try to quell dissent. “The conflicting messages we are getting from the Iranian regime suggest an internal debate on how to deal with ongoing protests,” said Nader Hashemi, director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Denver. “In most authoritarian regimes, there are hawks and doves” who disagree on how repressive the state should be during crises, he said. Afshin Shahi, associate professor in Middle Eastern studies at Keele University in the UK, said the regime “doesn’t seem to have a clear strategy” in response to public anger.