PARIS — The official death toll has nearly doubled to 35 in a
crackdown by
Iran’s security forces on more than a week of protests that
erupted after the death of a young woman in custody.
اضافة اعلان
Hundreds of
angry demonstrators have been arrested with crowds taking to the streets of
major cities across Iran for eight straight nights since the death of Mahsa
Amini.
The 22-year-old
Kurd was pronounced dead after spending three days in a coma following her
arrest by Iran’s feared morality police for wearing the hijab headscarf in an
“improper” way.
State television
said the number of deaths in “recent riots” had risen to 35, up from 17
previously, including at least five security personnel.
Sweeping arrests
have been reported, with the police chief in the northwestern province of
Guilan announcing Saturday “the arrest of 739 rioters including 60 women” in
his region alone, Tasnim news agency said.
Protests were
held around the Islamic republic on Friday night, with online videos showing
some turning violent, including in Tehran.
Footage showed
security forces firing what appeared to be live ammunition at unarmed
demonstrators in the northwestern cities of Piranshahr, Mahabad, and Urmia.
In a video shared
by the Oslo-based Iran Human Rights NGO, a uniformed member of the security
forces is seen shooting an AK-47 at protesters in Shahr-e Rey, on Tehran’s
southern outskirts.
Security forces
have carried out a wave of arrests of activists and journalists, with Sherif
Mansour of US-based media watchdog the Committee to Protect Journalists
reporting 11 had been detained since Monday.
They include
Niloufar Hamedi of the reformist newspaper Shargh, who reported on Amini’s
death.
Internet blackout
Elsewhere, the Norway-based Kurdish rights group Hengaw said protesters
“took control” of parts of the city of Oshnaviyeh, in West Azerbaijan province.
Images showed
protesters walking freely with their hands aloft in triumph, but Hengaw
acknowledged this could be “temporary” and expressed fears of a new crackdown
there.
Amnesty International warned of “the risk of further bloodshed amid a deliberately
imposed internet blackout”.
The London-based
human rights group said evidence it gathered from 20 cities across Iran pointed
to “a harrowing pattern of Iranian security forces deliberately and unlawfully
firing live ammunition at protesters”.
In its
statement, Amnesty said security forces had shot dead at least 19 people on
Wednesday night alone, including at least three children.
Thousands of
people marched through Tehran during a pro-hijab rally Friday, paying tribute
to security forces who have moved to quell a week of protests by what media
called “conspirators”.
Demonstrations
in support of the security forces also took place in the cities of Ahvaz,
Isfahan, Qom, and Tabriz.
Amini died
following her arrest by Iran’s morality police, a unit responsible for
enforcing the Islamic republic’s strict dress code for women.
Activists said
she suffered a blow to the head in custody but this has not been confirmed by
the Iranian authorities, who have opened an investigation.
Iranian women
have burnt their headscarves and symbolically cut their hair in protest at the
strict dress code, echoed in solidarity demonstrations from New York to
Istanbul and Brussels to Santiago, Chile.
‘Toothless’
Iran’s Interior Minister
Ahmad Vahidi insisted Amini had not been
beaten.
“Reports from
oversight bodies were received, witnesses were interviewed, videos were
reviewed, forensic opinions were obtained, and it was found that there had been
no beating,” he said.
The minister
said Iran was investigating Amini’s death, adding “we must wait for the final
opinion of the medical examiner, which takes time”.
Amnesty
dismissed the Iranian probe and called on the world to take “meaningful action”
against the bloody crackdown.
“UN member
states must go beyond toothless statements, hear the cries for justice from
victims and human rights defenders in Iran and urgently set up an independent
UN investigative mechanism,” said Heba Morayef, its MENA director.
Iran has imposed
tough restrictions on the use of the internet in a bid to hamper protesters
gathering and stop the flow of images of the backlash from reaching the outside
world.
The US announced
Friday it was easing export restrictions on Iran to expand internet services.
The new measures would
“help counter the Iranian government’s efforts to surveil and censor its
citizens,” said Secretary of State
Antony Blinken.
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