Protests had been recorded throughout a number of cities, together with Tehran, on Saturday, with Iranians overseas additionally organising demonstrations.
Tehran, Iran – Protests that erupted following the dying of a younger girl in police custody continued in Iran for a fifteenth consecutive day on Saturday amid web restrictions that present no indicators of easing.
Kurdish girl Mahsa Amini, 22, died on September 16 after being in a coma that lasted three days. She had earlier suffered an obvious stroke after being detained by the nation’s so-called morality police for sporting an “improper hijab” within the capital, Tehran.
Her household has challenged a declare by Iranian authorities that she was not overwhelmed and suffered from pre-existing circumstances, as an investigation into her dying continues.
Protests that started in Amini’s hometown of Saqqez within the Kurdistan province have unfold throughout the nation and turned lethal, with dozens believed killed. Many have additionally been arrested, however no official tally has been launched by the authorities.
College students protested at about midday on Saturday in main universities in Tehran and a number of other different cities. However most protests have to this point taken place from late afternoon until evening, when web restrictions have additionally intensified in contrast with different hours.
President Ebrahim Raisi stated in a tv interview on Wednesday that a distinction should be made between protests and “riots” which the authorities have accused international governments and secessionist components of organising.
Along with a number of journalists, a former participant of the nationwide soccer crew and a musician have been arrested after they posted feedback supporting the protests on social media.
Faezeh Hashemi, daughter of Iran’s late President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, was additionally arrested earlier this week throughout a rally in Tehran.
The intelligence ministry stated in an announcement on Friday that it has arrested 49 individuals linked with the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), which Tehran considers to be a “terrorist” group, along with 77 members of a number of separatist teams, 5 “takfiri-terrorist” operators carrying explosives, and 92 supporters of re-establishing the monarchy in Iran.
It additionally stated 9 international nationals from Germany, Poland, Italy, France, the Netherlands and Sweden had been arrested “on the scene of riots or behind the scenes of conspiracies”.
Gun battle in Zahedan
The town of Zahedan, the capital of the southeastern Sistan and Baluchestan province, on Friday noticed a lethal armed struggle.
The primary incident happened at a police station situated close to a mosque, following Friday prayers at about midday, when individuals got here out of the mosque.
In keeping with Iranian authorities, police and safety forces responded to a “terrorist” assault by the armed separatist group, Jaish al-Adl, after it reportedly launched assaults on three native police stations.
A minimum of 19 individuals had been killed and one other 20 had been injured within the gun battle that ensued, based on Hossein Modarres Khiabani, the governor of the province.
State-affiliated media confirmed that Ali Mousavi, the provincial intelligence chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and a number of other members of the native police and Basij paramilitary forces had been amongst these killed.
Additionally they reported that two members of Jaish al-Adl, recognized as Abdolmajid Rigi and Yaser Shah Bakhsh, had been gunned down.
State tv interviewed a person who was stated to have been arrested following the shootings, who stated a automotive pulled up close to the police station and handed reside weapons to individuals on the scene.
State media experiences and movies circulating on social media confirmed that there was intensive harm to the neighbourhood in Zahedan the place the shootings happened, with vehicles, retailers and banks on hearth. State media and the town’s consultant in parliament stated on Saturday that “calm has returned” to Zahedan.
In the meantime, in what the IRGC has referred to as an effort to fight “terrorist” secessionist teams based mostly in Iraq, the drive on Saturday continued its assaults on positions within the neighbouring nation’s Kurdistan area which have to this point led to not less than 13 deaths.
Protests overseas and reactions
Iranians exterior the nation have to this point organised many demonstrations in a number of international locations.
Final week, police in London and Paris clashed with and arrested some protesters who had been attempting to achieve Tehran’s diplomatic missions.
Quite a few protests had been organised on Saturday in cities the world over. Organisers stated demonstrations had been arrange in additional than 150 cities in numerous continents.
Robert Malley, particular United States consultant for Iran, stated on Saturday that 54 international locations have signed a press release that calls on Iranian authorities to “chorus from a disproportionate use of drive in opposition to peaceable protesters”.
Iran’s international ministry had earlier condemned a “double commonplace” by the US and its European allies in expressing solidarity for Iranians whereas persevering with to ramp up unilateral sanctions that Washington has imposed since 2018, when the US left Iran’s 2015 nuclear cope with world powers.
“There may be not going to be regime change in Iran,” Iran’s international minister Hossein Amirabdollahian stated in an interview earlier this week, in remarks aimed toward Western officers.
For its half, the United Nations has referred to as for an impartial investigation into Amini’s dying, whereas Amnesty Worldwide – which has recognized not less than 52 killed in protests to this point – claimed in a report earlier this week citing alleged leaked paperwork that Iranian authorities have ordered provincial commanders to “severely confront” protesters.
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