Iran death toll grows as protests intensify
- Security forces personnel are also among the dead.
- Unrest has spread in Iran since the death of a young woman in custody.
- A social media video shows fresh protests at Tehran University.
Dubai: The Iranian Three people, including a member of the security forces, were killed during unrest in the country on Tuesday, as anger over the death of a woman in moral police custody fueled protests for a fifth day, officials said.
Now, government sources say a total of seven people have been killed since Saturday’s protests over the killing of Mehsa Amini, a 22-year-old from Iranian Kurdistan who was “inappropriately” killed in Tehran last week. She died after being arrested because of her dress.
Reports from the Kurdish rights group Hengao said that seven Protesters Three were killed by security forces, three of whom were in or near Kurdish areas in the country’s northwest on Tuesday, where unrest has been particularly intense and deadly.
Officials have denied that security forces have killed protesters.
Hengau also said internet access had been cut off in Kurdistan province – a move that would hamper the sharing of videos from the region where authorities have previously suppressed unrest by the Kurdish minority.
Iran has restricted access to Instagram, the only major social media platform that Iran does not normally block, Internet Shutdown Observatory NetBlocks and Residents said. It recently had around 48 million users in the country, a senior official said.
The communications minister said he was misquoted when news agencies quoted him as saying authorities could disrupt internet services for security reasons.
Amini’s death has sparked anger in the Islamic Republic over issues including freedoms and a restricted economy. Women during this time shook their veils and burned them. protestSome with cutting their hair in public.
After Amini’s funeral began in the Kurdish region on Saturday, protests have gripped much of the country, sparking clashes as security forces have tried to quell them.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei did not mention the protests during a speech on Wednesday commemorating the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war – some of Iran’s worst unrest since street clashes last year.
A top Khamenei aide this week offered his condolences to Amini’s family, vowing to follow the case and saying the Supreme Leader was moved and pained by his death.
official IRNA A “police assistant” died of his injuries in the southern city of Shiraz on Tuesday, the news agency said.
“Some people clashed with police officers resulting in the death of a police constable, while four other police personnel were injured,” he said. IRNA said. An official was quoted as saying. IRNA 15 protesters were arrested in Shiraz.
In Kermanshah, two people were killed in riots on Tuesday, the city prosecutor said. “We believe it was carried out by anti-revolutionary elements as the victims were killed by weapons that were not used by the security apparatus,” the semi-official said. Persia The news agency quoted prosecutor Shahram Karami as saying.
Kurdistan police chief in comments with semi-official Tasnim The news agency on Wednesday confirmed four deaths earlier this week in Kurdistan province. He said he was shot with a type of bullet not used by security forces, saying “gangs” wanted to blame police and security personnel.
Hengao said a total of 450 people were injured, in addition to seven Kurdish protesters who were said to have died as a result of direct fire by government forces over the past four days. Reuters could not independently confirm reports of casualties.
Amini went into a coma and died while waiting with other women in the custody of Morality police, who enforce strict laws in the Islamic Republic that require women to cover their hair and wear loose clothing in public. .
His father said he had no health problems and suffered injuries to his legs while in custody. He blames the police for her death. The police have denied harming him.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has called for an impartial investigation into his death and allegations of torture and ill-treatment.
‘Death to dictator’
Videos shared on social media also show protesters damaging symbols of the Islamic Republic and confronting security forces.
A man was shown scaling the facade of a town hall in the northern city of Sari and tearing down a portrait of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who founded the Islamic Republic after the 1979 revolution.
semi-official ISNA The news agency said 12 ambulances were attacked and banks and government property were damaged in several cities. Protesters have accused the police of using ambulances to transport forces and detain protesters.
People rallied again in Tehran on Wednesday, with hundreds of people chanting “death to the dictator” at Tehran University, video shared by 1500 Tasweer showed.
Reuters Could not verify the authenticity of the videos.
State media and authorities have portrayed the unrest as riots by “counter-revolutionary elements”.
Members of Basij, a militia under the umbrella of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, held rallies in Tehran on Wednesday. “The moral police is just an excuse, what they target is the government itself,” he chanted in a video posted on 1500 photos.