Iran’s regime kills ‘at least 92’ in brutal crackdown of nationwide anti-government protests sparked by the death of young woman ‘tortured in custody by Tehran’s morality police for not wearing a hijab properly’
- Mahsa Amini, 22, died on September 16 after being detained by morality police
- As protests stretched into a third week today, human rights group says 92 killed
- Clashes between protesters and security forces have rocked cities across Iran
- President Ebrahim Raisi said the ‘enemies’ of Iran had ‘failed in their conspiracy
At least ’92 people’ have been killed in a brutal crackdown of anti-government protests sparked by the death of a young woman reportedly tortured in custody by Iranian police for not wearing a hijab properly.
Mahsa Amini, 22, died in custody on September 16 after she was detained in Tehran by Iranian morality police who believed she was wearing her hijab too loosely.
As protests stretched into a third week today, the Iran Human Rights (IHR) group said at least 92 people had been killed.
Meanwhile, President Ebrahim Raisi said the ‘enemies’ of Iran had ‘failed in their conspiracy’.
Clashes between protesters and security forces have rocked cities across the country for 16 nights in a row after they first flared in western regions home to Amini and Iran’s Kurdish minority.
It comes as a further 41 people died in clashes on Friday in Iran’s far southeast, an area bordering Afghanistan and Pakistan, according to IHR.
Those protests were sparked by accusations a police chief in the region had raped a teenage girl of the Baluch Sunni minority, it said.
A demonstrator raises his arms and makes the victory sign during a protest for Mahsa Amini in Tehran this week
Mahsa Amini died in custody on September 16 after she was detained in Tehran by Iranian morality police
People gather during a protest for Ms Amini, who was allegedly arrested for not complying with strict dress code in Tehran
Public anger has grown since authorities on Friday announced the death earlier this month
IHR has accused the security forces of the mainly Shiite country of ‘bloodily repressing’ the Zahedan protest that erupted after Friday prayers over accusations a police chief in the province’s port city of Chabahar had raped a 15-year-old girl.
A Sunni preacher, Molavi Abdol Hamid, had on Wednesday warned the community was ‘inflamed’ over the alleged rape.
Solidarity rallies with Iranian women – who have defiantly burnt the hijabs they have been obliged to wear since the 1979 Islamic revolution – have also been held worldwide, with demonstrations in more than 150 cities yesterday.
In Iran, meanwhile, ‘rioters’ and ‘thugs’ – including some hurling Molotov cocktails – attacked the Tehran headquarters of Iran’s leading ultraconservative daily newspaper Kayhan yesterday. Its director is appointed by the country’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
IHR has been working to assess the death toll in the face of internet outages and blocks on WhatsApp, Instagram and other online services.
London-based Amnesty International earlier said it had confirmed 53 deaths, while Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency said last week that ‘around 60’ people had died.
The official IRNA news agency today said a paramilitary man ‘stabbed’ during ‘recent riots’ in the Shiite holy city of Qom south of Tehran died in hospital.
Tehran has also battled unrest in the country’s southeast, adding that five Revolutionary Guards members had been killed in clashes on Friday in Zahedan – the capital of Sistan-Baluchestan province.
A protester tears up his Iranian passport during a protest against Iran in Istanbul on Sunday
A woman cuts her hair during a protest against the death of Ms Amini and the government of Iran in Istanbul
Protestors rally calling for regime change in Iran in Washington, United States, on Saturday afternoon
The poverty-stricken region has often seen clashes with Baluchi minority rebels, Sunni Muslim extremist groups and drug smuggling gangs.
Iran has accused outside forces of stoking the nationwide protests, especially the US and its allies, and on Friday the intelligence ministry said nine foreign nationals – including from France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Poland – had been arrested.
It comes as Iran is seeking to revive its 2015 nuclear deal with the US and other major powers to end sanctions that have throttled its oil-rich economy and seen South Korea, China and Japan freeze billions of dollars in Iranian funds.
The landmark Vienna deal – which had promised sanctions relief in return for strict nuclear controls – has been in tatters since then US president Donald Trump withdrew from it in 2018 and Iran later backed away from its own commitments.
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