According to official information, more than 1,000 people were arrested within two days during recent protests in northern Iran alone. The officers seized numerous weapons, ammunition and explosives, said Gilan province police chief Asisiollah Maleki. He announced a crackdown whenever public safety was threatened.
The demonstrations have been going on for days. According to the latest reports from state television, the number of people killed across the country is significantly higher than previously stated. The authorities initially spoke of 17 victims, but now there are 41 dead. Interior Minister Ahmad Wahidi said an official figure would only be released after the investigation was completed. There were deaths both in the ranks of the demonstrators and among the security forces. Some protesters were shot dead when they tried to enter “highly secured facilities”.
Gunfire at demonstrators
Activists from the Iran Human Rights (IHR) organization based in Norway’s capital Oslo have been assuming that at least 50 people have lost their lives in the protests since Friday. The NGO released several videos that are said to show, among other things, a man in uniform firing an assault rifle at people in downtown Tehran.
In many countries, people are showing solidarity with women in Iran – here in Sao Paolo, Brazil, on Friday
The demonstrations were triggered by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini last Friday. The moral police had taken the Kurd into custody because of an allegedly incorrectly worn headscarf. Under mysterious circumstances, she collapsed at the police station and was pronounced dead at the hospital a few days later.
“Quick, independent, efficient”
Acting UN human rights chief Nada Al-Nashif on Tuesday expressed her “concern” at Amini’s death and the “violent response of the security forces against the ensuing demonstrations”. Al-Nashif called for a “swift, independent and efficient investigation” into the circumstances of the death and “the allegations of torture and ill-treatment” against the police. Interior Minister Wahidi said on Friday that the arrested woman had not been beaten. The report of the forensic medicine is not yet available.
Calls for “decisive action”: Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi (archive image)
In his most recent statements, President Ebrahim Raisi demonstrated his toughness towards anti-government demonstrators. “Resolute action must be taken against those who oppose the security and tranquility of the country,” Raisi said after a condolence call to the bereaved family of a member of the security forces who was stabbed last week. According to the official account, this act was committed by angry demonstrators who took to the streets after Amini’s death.
The authorities reacted to the rallies in several cities with far-reaching restrictions on the already censored internet, making it difficult to assess the situation in the Islamic Republic from the outside. In the meantime, several journalists from the country have also been arrested, including reporter Niloufar Hamedi from the Scharg newspaper. She had visited the hospital where Amini was before her death and helped publicize the case.
jj/kle (dpa, afp, rtr)
