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The Iran Human Rights debate (Hijab/Political Victimization/Executions)
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Would you sack them now, or after the tournament?
U.N. decides to set up investigation into Iran protests
GENEVA, Nov 24 (Reuters) - The United Nations' top human rights body on Thursday decided by a comfortable margin to establish a new investigative mission to probe Iran's suppression of mass protests that have roiled the country since September.
The motion passed with 25 in favour, six against and 16 abstentions. Activists cheered after the result was read out by the council president and some diplomats applauded.
Tehran's representative at the Geneva meeting Khadijeh Karimi earlier accused Western states of using the rights council to target Iran, a move she called "appalling and disgraceful".
Reuters
GENEVA, Nov 24 (Reuters) - The United Nations' top human rights body on Thursday decided by a comfortable margin to establish a new investigative mission to probe Iran's suppression of mass protests that have roiled the country since September.
The motion passed with 25 in favour, six against and 16 abstentions. Activists cheered after the result was read out by the council president and some diplomats applauded.
Tehran's representative at the Geneva meeting Khadijeh Karimi earlier accused Western states of using the rights council to target Iran, a move she called "appalling and disgraceful".
Reuters
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They had stayed silent at Khalifa International Stadium on Monday in an apparent expression of support for anti-government protests in Iran.
As the players joined in with the anthem on Friday, loud jeers could be heard from Iran fans in the stadium.
Mass protests in Iran in recent months have been met with a fierce crackdown.
They have been sparked by the death in custody in September of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who was detained by morality police for allegedly breaking the strict rules around head coverings.
A woman in the crowd against Wales had dark red tears painted under her eyes and held a football jersey with "Mahsa Amini - 22" printed on it.
As the players joined in with the anthem on Friday, loud jeers could be heard from Iran fans in the stadium.
Mass protests in Iran in recent months have been met with a fierce crackdown.
They have been sparked by the death in custody in September of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who was detained by morality police for allegedly breaking the strict rules around head coverings.
A woman in the crowd against Wales had dark red tears painted under her eyes and held a football jersey with "Mahsa Amini - 22" printed on it.
India Abstains From UN Vote To Probe Iran's Alleged Human Rights Violation
Geneva: India on Thursday abstained from voting on a United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) resolution to set up a fact-finding mission to investigate the alleged Human Rights violation committed on protesters in Iran that started on September 16.
Taking to Twitter, United Nations Human Right Council said, "At its 35th special session, the @UN Human Rights Council decided to create a new fact-finding mission to investigate "alleged #HumanRightsViolations in the Islamic Republic of #Iran related to the protests that began on 16 September 2022."
This resolution came amid the protests that started on September 16 after 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was taken into custody by Iran's morality police for wearing an 'inappropriate' headscarf, later died, drawing allegations of custodial violence.
Apart from India, Malaysia, Indonesia, UAE, and Khakhastan had also abstained from the resolution. Meanwhile, Pakistan and China rejected the resolution.
However, the resolution in the UNHRC was passed, with 25 votes in favour, six against, and 16 abstentions, at a special session of the 47-member human rights body, and now the Human Rights Council has created a fact-finding mission, related to the protests in Iran.
This follows calls from UN human rights chief Volker Turk for an independent investigation, UN News reported.
In the meeting, the UN High Commissioner highlighted how the security forces, "notably the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Basij forces have used live ammunition, birdshot, and other metal pellets, teargas and batons" against the protest movement as it has spread to a reported 150 cities and 140 universities in all provinces of Iran.
Before calling for an independent probe into all alleged rights violations, the High Commissioner noted that his Office had received "multiple communications" from Iran about the episode, "including domestic investigations". These efforts "have failed to meet international standards of impartiality, independence, and transparency", UN news quoted Turk as saying.
Responding to the High Commissioner's comments, Iran's representative, Khadijeh Karimi, Deputy of the Vice President for Women and Family Affairs, insisted that "necessary measures" had been taken to seek justice by the Government, after Amini's death. These included the formation of an independent, parliamentary investigation commission as well as a forensic medical team.
"However, before the formal announcement of the probe analysis, the biased and hasty reaction of a number of Western authorities and their interventions in internal affairs of Iran turned the peaceful assemblies into riots and violence," she maintained.
Since Amini's death following her arrest by Iran's so-called Morality Police on September 13 for not wearing her hijab properly, more than 300 people have been killed in protests, including at least 40 children, according to the latest UN human rights office information.
NDTV
Geneva: India on Thursday abstained from voting on a United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) resolution to set up a fact-finding mission to investigate the alleged Human Rights violation committed on protesters in Iran that started on September 16.
Taking to Twitter, United Nations Human Right Council said, "At its 35th special session, the @UN Human Rights Council decided to create a new fact-finding mission to investigate "alleged #HumanRightsViolations in the Islamic Republic of #Iran related to the protests that began on 16 September 2022."
This resolution came amid the protests that started on September 16 after 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was taken into custody by Iran's morality police for wearing an 'inappropriate' headscarf, later died, drawing allegations of custodial violence.
Apart from India, Malaysia, Indonesia, UAE, and Khakhastan had also abstained from the resolution. Meanwhile, Pakistan and China rejected the resolution.
However, the resolution in the UNHRC was passed, with 25 votes in favour, six against, and 16 abstentions, at a special session of the 47-member human rights body, and now the Human Rights Council has created a fact-finding mission, related to the protests in Iran.
This follows calls from UN human rights chief Volker Turk for an independent investigation, UN News reported.
In the meeting, the UN High Commissioner highlighted how the security forces, "notably the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Basij forces have used live ammunition, birdshot, and other metal pellets, teargas and batons" against the protest movement as it has spread to a reported 150 cities and 140 universities in all provinces of Iran.
Before calling for an independent probe into all alleged rights violations, the High Commissioner noted that his Office had received "multiple communications" from Iran about the episode, "including domestic investigations". These efforts "have failed to meet international standards of impartiality, independence, and transparency", UN news quoted Turk as saying.
Responding to the High Commissioner's comments, Iran's representative, Khadijeh Karimi, Deputy of the Vice President for Women and Family Affairs, insisted that "necessary measures" had been taken to seek justice by the Government, after Amini's death. These included the formation of an independent, parliamentary investigation commission as well as a forensic medical team.
"However, before the formal announcement of the probe analysis, the biased and hasty reaction of a number of Western authorities and their interventions in internal affairs of Iran turned the peaceful assemblies into riots and violence," she maintained.
Since Amini's death following her arrest by Iran's so-called Morality Police on September 13 for not wearing her hijab properly, more than 300 people have been killed in protests, including at least 40 children, according to the latest UN human rights office information.
NDTV
Iranian fans savour victory but wrangle over protests
AL RAYYAN, Qatar, Nov 25 (Reuters) - Iran's national soccer team sang during the playing of their national anthem at their second World Cup match against Wales on Friday having refrained from doing so in their opening game earlier this week in apparent support for protesters back home.
Loud jeers were heard from Iranian supporters as the anthem played, with the team singing quietly before going on to win 2-0, prompting euphoric celebrations outside the stadium where government supporters tried to drown out chants by its opponents after the game.
Ahead of the match, several fans said security had prevented them or friends from taking symbols of support for the protesters into the stadium. One said he was detained. Another said security forces made him take off a T-shirt declaring "Women, Life, Freedom" - a slogan of the protests.
In the stadium, a woman held aloft a soccer jersey with "Mahsa Amini - 22" printed on the back and blood red tears painted beneath her eyes - commemorating the woman whose death in police custody ignited the protests more than two months ago.
Iranian authorities have responded with deadly force to suppress the protests calling for the downfall of the Islamic Republic, one of the boldest challenges to Iran's clerical rulers since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
After the match, jubilant Iranians danced and cheered as they streamed out of the ground.
A few wore T-shirts commemorating Amini, who was arrested for allegedly flouting Iran's strict dress codes, or held banners declaring "Women, Life, Freedom".
Fans waving the official Iranian flag tried to drown them out with their own chants.
One of them stepped in front of a group of women with WOMEN LIFE FREEDOM on their shirts and began chanting over them. He was wearing a T-shirt printed with a picture of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Qassem Soleimani, a powerful Iranian general who was killed by a U.S. drone strike in 2020.
The win sets up a decisive match against the United States on Tuesday.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, part of a hardline establishment that has condemned the protests as riots fomented by Iran's enemies, praised the team for "bringing the sweetness of victory to the people of our country".
In contrast to Monday, when Iranian state television cut away from the broadcast while the anthem was playing, Iranian state media reported the players had sung on Friday, and showed footage of pro-government fans in the stadium.
State TV showed people celebrating on streets of several cities across Iran.
Ahead of the World Cup, protesters had taken heart from apparent shows of support from a number of Iran's national teams which refrained from singing the national anthem.
On Monday, ahead of their opening game against England, the players had been solemn and silent as the anthem was played.
Iranian fans were in good spirits as the game approached, with big cheers around the stadium as their players emerged from the tunnel for warm-ups, emitting a roar as star striker Sardar Azmoun, who has spoken in support of the protest movement, was announced in the starting lineup.
Team Melli, as the soccer team is known, have traditionally been a huge source of national pride in Iran, but they have found themselves caught up in politics in the World Cup run-up, with anticipation over whether they would use soccer's showpiece event as a platform to get behind the protesters.
'BEST MOMENT OF MY LIFE'
Ahead of the match, a man wearing a jersey declaring "Women, Life, Freedom" was escorted into the stadium by security officers, a Reuters witness said.
Reuters could not immediately confirm why the man was being accompanied by three security officers in blue.
A spokesperson for the organising supreme committee referred Reuters to FIFA and Qatar's list of prohibited items, but without saying which prohibited item he was carrying.
The rules ban items with "political, offensive, or discriminatory messages".
The media liaison at the stadium for world governing body FIFA did not immediately respond to a request for comment, while the stadium media manager was not aware of the incidents but would respond later.
Payam Saljoughian, 36, a U.S.-based lawyer, said security forces had made him and his father take off "Women, Life, Freedom" shirts but his two siblings and mother were not told to remove theirs. "It was the best moment of my life - despite everything," he told Reuters.
Iranian-American fan Shayan Khosravani, 30, told Reuters he had been detained by stadium security 10 minutes before kick-off.
He said he had been detained after he was told to put pro-protest materials away, which he did. But he was wearing a “free Iran” shirt.
Reuters
AL RAYYAN, Qatar, Nov 25 (Reuters) - Iran's national soccer team sang during the playing of their national anthem at their second World Cup match against Wales on Friday having refrained from doing so in their opening game earlier this week in apparent support for protesters back home.
Loud jeers were heard from Iranian supporters as the anthem played, with the team singing quietly before going on to win 2-0, prompting euphoric celebrations outside the stadium where government supporters tried to drown out chants by its opponents after the game.
Ahead of the match, several fans said security had prevented them or friends from taking symbols of support for the protesters into the stadium. One said he was detained. Another said security forces made him take off a T-shirt declaring "Women, Life, Freedom" - a slogan of the protests.
In the stadium, a woman held aloft a soccer jersey with "Mahsa Amini - 22" printed on the back and blood red tears painted beneath her eyes - commemorating the woman whose death in police custody ignited the protests more than two months ago.
Iranian authorities have responded with deadly force to suppress the protests calling for the downfall of the Islamic Republic, one of the boldest challenges to Iran's clerical rulers since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
After the match, jubilant Iranians danced and cheered as they streamed out of the ground.
A few wore T-shirts commemorating Amini, who was arrested for allegedly flouting Iran's strict dress codes, or held banners declaring "Women, Life, Freedom".
Fans waving the official Iranian flag tried to drown them out with their own chants.
One of them stepped in front of a group of women with WOMEN LIFE FREEDOM on their shirts and began chanting over them. He was wearing a T-shirt printed with a picture of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Qassem Soleimani, a powerful Iranian general who was killed by a U.S. drone strike in 2020.
The win sets up a decisive match against the United States on Tuesday.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, part of a hardline establishment that has condemned the protests as riots fomented by Iran's enemies, praised the team for "bringing the sweetness of victory to the people of our country".
In contrast to Monday, when Iranian state television cut away from the broadcast while the anthem was playing, Iranian state media reported the players had sung on Friday, and showed footage of pro-government fans in the stadium.
State TV showed people celebrating on streets of several cities across Iran.
Ahead of the World Cup, protesters had taken heart from apparent shows of support from a number of Iran's national teams which refrained from singing the national anthem.
On Monday, ahead of their opening game against England, the players had been solemn and silent as the anthem was played.
Iranian fans were in good spirits as the game approached, with big cheers around the stadium as their players emerged from the tunnel for warm-ups, emitting a roar as star striker Sardar Azmoun, who has spoken in support of the protest movement, was announced in the starting lineup.
Team Melli, as the soccer team is known, have traditionally been a huge source of national pride in Iran, but they have found themselves caught up in politics in the World Cup run-up, with anticipation over whether they would use soccer's showpiece event as a platform to get behind the protesters.
'BEST MOMENT OF MY LIFE'
Ahead of the match, a man wearing a jersey declaring "Women, Life, Freedom" was escorted into the stadium by security officers, a Reuters witness said.
Reuters could not immediately confirm why the man was being accompanied by three security officers in blue.
A spokesperson for the organising supreme committee referred Reuters to FIFA and Qatar's list of prohibited items, but without saying which prohibited item he was carrying.
The rules ban items with "political, offensive, or discriminatory messages".
The media liaison at the stadium for world governing body FIFA did not immediately respond to a request for comment, while the stadium media manager was not aware of the incidents but would respond later.
Payam Saljoughian, 36, a U.S.-based lawyer, said security forces had made him and his father take off "Women, Life, Freedom" shirts but his two siblings and mother were not told to remove theirs. "It was the best moment of my life - despite everything," he told Reuters.
Iranian-American fan Shayan Khosravani, 30, told Reuters he had been detained by stadium security 10 minutes before kick-off.
He said he had been detained after he was told to put pro-protest materials away, which he did. But he was wearing a “free Iran” shirt.
Reuters
Iran sends more troops to Kurdish region as new protest flares
DUBAI, Nov 25 (Reuters) - Iran's Revolutionary Guards have built up their presence in restive Kurdish regions, state media reported on Friday amid a crackdown on mass protests, as video showed demonstrations in minority Baluch areas of the southeast.
The mass demonstrations that erupted after the Sept. 16 death in custody of 22-year old Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini spread rapidly across the country but have been most intense in areas populated by ethnic minorities, many of whom are Sunni Muslims.
The unrest has posed one of the biggest challenges to Iran's Shi'ite clerical rulers since they came to power in the 1979 Islamic Revolution, with previous bouts of sustained protest eventually being crushed.
Activist website 1500Tavsir posted footage it said was from Friday's protests in Zahedan, the capital of Sistan-Baluchistan province, with the sound of gunshots and, in one video, demonstrators running for cover. Reuters could not independently verify their authenticity.
A prominent Baluch Sunni Muslim cleric, Molavi Abdolhamid, used his Friday prayers in Zahedan to call for an end to the repression of protests through arrests and killings.
"The people's protest has shown that the policies of the last 43 years have reached a dead end," his website quoted him as saying.
More Revolutionary Guards armoured units and special forces were heading to the west and northwest border regions, home to the Kurdish minority, several state news agencies reported, after earlier reinforcements were announced on Sunday.
The semi-official Tasnim news agency showed a photograph of smiling Revolutionary Guards commanders standing on a military vehicle and saluting a long line of troops.
CRACKDOWN
Iran has accused Western countries of orchestrating the unrest and accused protesters in ethnic minority regions of working on behalf of separatist groups.
It has escalated its crackdown in Kurdish areas, with the U.N. rights commissioner noting on Monday reports of more than 40 deaths in those areas over the previous week. On Tuesday Iran said it had struck a Kurdish group in northern Iraq, the latest of several missile and drone attacks on Kurdish dissidents in recent weeks.
Molavi Abdolhamid also used his sermon to denounce the reported abuse of detainees.
"Things are said about the mistreatment of women in the media that are heavy and I can't bring myself to say," he said, apparently referring to reports of alleged rapes of detained women.
Baluch women were shown in a video posted by the Iran Human Rights Group marching in Zahedan chanting "Rape! Crime! Down with this clerical leadership".
Videos posted by other activists and rights groups showed dozens of men marching in Zahedan, shouting slogans against Iran's supreme leader, the Basij militia and Revolutionary Guards, and chanting "Kurds and Baluch are brothers".
Another video appeared to show demonstrators in Zahedan carrying a wounded protester.
Reuters could not immediately verify the authenticity of the videos.
The activist HRANA news agency also reported protests in Khash and Saravan in Sistan-Baluchistan.
Amnesty International has said security forces killed at least 66 people in a violent crackdown in Zahedan on Sept. 30. Other sources put the toll higher. read more
The U.N. Human Rights Council, which on Thursday voted to start investigating Iran's crackdown, has demanded the authorities halt the violence.
Reuters
DUBAI, Nov 25 (Reuters) - Iran's Revolutionary Guards have built up their presence in restive Kurdish regions, state media reported on Friday amid a crackdown on mass protests, as video showed demonstrations in minority Baluch areas of the southeast.
The mass demonstrations that erupted after the Sept. 16 death in custody of 22-year old Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini spread rapidly across the country but have been most intense in areas populated by ethnic minorities, many of whom are Sunni Muslims.
The unrest has posed one of the biggest challenges to Iran's Shi'ite clerical rulers since they came to power in the 1979 Islamic Revolution, with previous bouts of sustained protest eventually being crushed.
Activist website 1500Tavsir posted footage it said was from Friday's protests in Zahedan, the capital of Sistan-Baluchistan province, with the sound of gunshots and, in one video, demonstrators running for cover. Reuters could not independently verify their authenticity.
A prominent Baluch Sunni Muslim cleric, Molavi Abdolhamid, used his Friday prayers in Zahedan to call for an end to the repression of protests through arrests and killings.
"The people's protest has shown that the policies of the last 43 years have reached a dead end," his website quoted him as saying.
More Revolutionary Guards armoured units and special forces were heading to the west and northwest border regions, home to the Kurdish minority, several state news agencies reported, after earlier reinforcements were announced on Sunday.
The semi-official Tasnim news agency showed a photograph of smiling Revolutionary Guards commanders standing on a military vehicle and saluting a long line of troops.
CRACKDOWN
Iran has accused Western countries of orchestrating the unrest and accused protesters in ethnic minority regions of working on behalf of separatist groups.
It has escalated its crackdown in Kurdish areas, with the U.N. rights commissioner noting on Monday reports of more than 40 deaths in those areas over the previous week. On Tuesday Iran said it had struck a Kurdish group in northern Iraq, the latest of several missile and drone attacks on Kurdish dissidents in recent weeks.
Molavi Abdolhamid also used his sermon to denounce the reported abuse of detainees.
"Things are said about the mistreatment of women in the media that are heavy and I can't bring myself to say," he said, apparently referring to reports of alleged rapes of detained women.
Baluch women were shown in a video posted by the Iran Human Rights Group marching in Zahedan chanting "Rape! Crime! Down with this clerical leadership".
Videos posted by other activists and rights groups showed dozens of men marching in Zahedan, shouting slogans against Iran's supreme leader, the Basij militia and Revolutionary Guards, and chanting "Kurds and Baluch are brothers".
Another video appeared to show demonstrators in Zahedan carrying a wounded protester.
Reuters could not immediately verify the authenticity of the videos.
The activist HRANA news agency also reported protests in Khash and Saravan in Sistan-Baluchistan.
Amnesty International has said security forces killed at least 66 people in a violent crackdown in Zahedan on Sept. 30. Other sources put the toll higher. read more
The U.N. Human Rights Council, which on Thursday voted to start investigating Iran's crackdown, has demanded the authorities halt the violence.
Reuters
sweep_shot
Test Captain
- Joined
- Mar 30, 2016
- Runs
- 47,565
Kurds seem to be causing issues in Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria (all four countries).
Iran should arrest the instigators. Lock them up.
- Joined
- Oct 2, 2004
- Runs
- 217,978
Confrontations between pro-Iran government fans and protesters broke out at the country's second World Cup match in Qatar on Friday.
Some protesting fans said they had flags taken away from them while others were shouted at and harassed.
Stadium security officials also confiscated T-shirts and other items displaying anti-government sentiments.
Protests have been sweeping Iran since the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in September.
Ms Amini was arrested in Tehran by the morality police for allegedly not covering her hair properly and died in police custody three days later. The demonstrations spread across the country with people demanding changes such as more freedoms or an overthrow of the state, and the government has responded with a deadly crackdown.
On Friday - at Iran's World Cup game against Wales - some protesters had Persian pre-revolutionary flags snatched from them by pro-government fans at the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium.
Insults were also reportedly hurled at some people wearing T-shirts emblazoned with the words "woman, life, freedom" - a phrase that has become a rallying cry among protesters against Iran's authorities.
One Iranian spectator alleged that Qatari police ordered her to wash off the names of protesters killed by Iran's security forces from her arms and chest after pro-government fans complained.
Another woman said she was prevented from wearing a T-shirt with Ms Amini's face in the stadium.
Women giving interviews to foreign press about the protests were also seen being harried by at least one group of men.
Some used their mobiles to film the women who were also subjected to verbal attacks and the men loudly chanting: "The Islamic Republic of Iran".
The match itself, which Iran won 2-0 against Wales, saw Iranian players booed and whistled at as they sang the country's national anthem before kick-off.
At their earlier game against England on Monday, the players remained silent during the anthem in an apparent expression of support for anti-government protests.
Some fans in the stadium wore hats with the name of former Iranian football player, Voria Ghafouri, written on them.
A critic of Iran's government, he was arrested in Iran on Thursday and reportedly taken away by authorities after being accused of spreading propaganda.
Capped 28 times for his country, Mr Ghafouri was part of Iran's 2018 World Cup team and his absence from the 2022 squad surprised many.
The Iranian-Kurdish player has been a high profile voice defending Iranian Kurds within the country.
Earlier this week, the UN Human Rights Council voted to set up a fact-finding mission to investigate the crackdown on the anti-government protests in Iran.
The UN said Iran was in a "full-fledged" crisis and more than 300 people had been killed and 14,000 others arrested over the past nine weeks.
Iran dismissed it as an arrogant political ploy.
BBC
Some protesting fans said they had flags taken away from them while others were shouted at and harassed.
Stadium security officials also confiscated T-shirts and other items displaying anti-government sentiments.
Protests have been sweeping Iran since the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in September.
Ms Amini was arrested in Tehran by the morality police for allegedly not covering her hair properly and died in police custody three days later. The demonstrations spread across the country with people demanding changes such as more freedoms or an overthrow of the state, and the government has responded with a deadly crackdown.
On Friday - at Iran's World Cup game against Wales - some protesters had Persian pre-revolutionary flags snatched from them by pro-government fans at the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium.
Insults were also reportedly hurled at some people wearing T-shirts emblazoned with the words "woman, life, freedom" - a phrase that has become a rallying cry among protesters against Iran's authorities.
One Iranian spectator alleged that Qatari police ordered her to wash off the names of protesters killed by Iran's security forces from her arms and chest after pro-government fans complained.
Another woman said she was prevented from wearing a T-shirt with Ms Amini's face in the stadium.
Women giving interviews to foreign press about the protests were also seen being harried by at least one group of men.
Some used their mobiles to film the women who were also subjected to verbal attacks and the men loudly chanting: "The Islamic Republic of Iran".
The match itself, which Iran won 2-0 against Wales, saw Iranian players booed and whistled at as they sang the country's national anthem before kick-off.
At their earlier game against England on Monday, the players remained silent during the anthem in an apparent expression of support for anti-government protests.
Some fans in the stadium wore hats with the name of former Iranian football player, Voria Ghafouri, written on them.
A critic of Iran's government, he was arrested in Iran on Thursday and reportedly taken away by authorities after being accused of spreading propaganda.
Capped 28 times for his country, Mr Ghafouri was part of Iran's 2018 World Cup team and his absence from the 2022 squad surprised many.
The Iranian-Kurdish player has been a high profile voice defending Iranian Kurds within the country.
Earlier this week, the UN Human Rights Council voted to set up a fact-finding mission to investigate the crackdown on the anti-government protests in Iran.
The UN said Iran was in a "full-fledged" crisis and more than 300 people had been killed and 14,000 others arrested over the past nine weeks.
Iran dismissed it as an arrogant political ploy.
BBC
Iran's Khamenei praises Basij forces for confronting 'rioters'
DUBAI, Nov 26 (Reuters) - Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Saturday Iran's Basij militia forces have sacrificed their lives in what he called riots, the wave of protests sparked by the death in custody of a young Iranian Kurdish woman in September.
The protests that began after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while in the custody of Iran's morality police on Sept. 16 have turned into one of the boldest challenges to the clerical leadership since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Challenging the Islamic Republic’s legitimacy, protesters from all walks of life have burned pictures of Khamenei and called for the downfall of the Islamic Republic.
The Basij forces, affiliated with the country's elite Revolutionary Guards, have been at the forefront of the state crackdown on the unrest in the past weeks.
"They have sacrificed their lives to protect people from rioters ... the presence of Basij shows that the Islamic Revolution is alive," Khamenei said in a televised speech.
Iran's clerical establishment has blamed the country's foreign enemies, particularly the United States, and their agents for the unrest.
On Saturday, videos posted on social media showed renewed protests at several universities in the capital Tehran and the central city of Isfahan. Reuters could not verify the footage.
Meanwhile, a group of 140 Iranian eye doctors issued a statement warning that birdshot and paintball bullets used by security forces were blinding many protesters in one or both eyes, according to the reformist news website Sobhema and social media postings.
Amnesty International has said Iran's security forces have been using unlawful force, including live ammunition and birdshot, killing dozens of people. Iranian authorities have blamed some shootings on unidentified dissidents.
The activist news agency HRANA said that as of Friday 448 protesters have been killed, including 63 children. It said 57 members of the security forces have also been killed, and an estimated 18,170 people arrested.
Authorities have not provided a death toll for protesters, but a senior official on Thursday said 50 police had been killed in the unrest.
Iran's hardline judiciary has sentenced at least six protesters to death and thousands have been indicted for their role in the unrest, according to officials.
SOCCER TEAM
After many Iranian fans on social media accused the national soccer team of siding with the violent state crackdown on the unrest, Khamenei applauded the squad for their win in their World Cup match against Wales on Friday.
"Yesterday, Team Melli (the National Team) made our people happy. May God make them happy," said Khamenei.
The soccer team sang along to the Islamic Republic's national anthem before Friday's match, unlike in their first match against England in the opening game earlier this week when they chose not to sing, in apparent support for protesters at home.
Akram Khodabandehlou, captain of the national Iranian women’s taekwondo team, said in an Instagram post on Saturday that she was leaving the team after a 12-year run in the team. She said she was doing so for "respect for my people’s sad hearts in these difficult days".
Reuters
DUBAI, Nov 26 (Reuters) - Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Saturday Iran's Basij militia forces have sacrificed their lives in what he called riots, the wave of protests sparked by the death in custody of a young Iranian Kurdish woman in September.
The protests that began after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while in the custody of Iran's morality police on Sept. 16 have turned into one of the boldest challenges to the clerical leadership since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Challenging the Islamic Republic’s legitimacy, protesters from all walks of life have burned pictures of Khamenei and called for the downfall of the Islamic Republic.
The Basij forces, affiliated with the country's elite Revolutionary Guards, have been at the forefront of the state crackdown on the unrest in the past weeks.
"They have sacrificed their lives to protect people from rioters ... the presence of Basij shows that the Islamic Revolution is alive," Khamenei said in a televised speech.
Iran's clerical establishment has blamed the country's foreign enemies, particularly the United States, and their agents for the unrest.
On Saturday, videos posted on social media showed renewed protests at several universities in the capital Tehran and the central city of Isfahan. Reuters could not verify the footage.
Meanwhile, a group of 140 Iranian eye doctors issued a statement warning that birdshot and paintball bullets used by security forces were blinding many protesters in one or both eyes, according to the reformist news website Sobhema and social media postings.
Amnesty International has said Iran's security forces have been using unlawful force, including live ammunition and birdshot, killing dozens of people. Iranian authorities have blamed some shootings on unidentified dissidents.
The activist news agency HRANA said that as of Friday 448 protesters have been killed, including 63 children. It said 57 members of the security forces have also been killed, and an estimated 18,170 people arrested.
Authorities have not provided a death toll for protesters, but a senior official on Thursday said 50 police had been killed in the unrest.
Iran's hardline judiciary has sentenced at least six protesters to death and thousands have been indicted for their role in the unrest, according to officials.
SOCCER TEAM
After many Iranian fans on social media accused the national soccer team of siding with the violent state crackdown on the unrest, Khamenei applauded the squad for their win in their World Cup match against Wales on Friday.
"Yesterday, Team Melli (the National Team) made our people happy. May God make them happy," said Khamenei.
The soccer team sang along to the Islamic Republic's national anthem before Friday's match, unlike in their first match against England in the opening game earlier this week when they chose not to sing, in apparent support for protesters at home.
Akram Khodabandehlou, captain of the national Iranian women’s taekwondo team, said in an Instagram post on Saturday that she was leaving the team after a 12-year run in the team. She said she was doing so for "respect for my people’s sad hearts in these difficult days".
Reuters
Niece of Iran's Supreme Leader urges world to cut ties with Tehran over unrest -online video
DUBAI, Nov 27 (Reuters) - Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's niece, a well known rights activist, has called on foreign governments to cut all ties with Tehran over its violent crackdown on popular unrest kindled by the death in police custody of a young woman.
A video of a statement by Farideh Moradkhani, an engineer whose late father was a prominent opposition figure married to Khamenei's sister, was being widely shared online after what activist news agency HRANA said was her arrest on Nov. 23.
"O free people, be with us and tell your governments to stop supporting this murderous and child-killing regime," Moradkhani said in the video. "This regime is not loyal to any of its religious principles and does not know any rules except force and maintaining power."
Khamenei's office did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
HRANA said 450 protesters had been killed in more than two months of nationwide unrest as of Nov. 26, including 63 minors. It said 60 members of the security forces had been killed, and 18,173 protesters detained.
The protests, sparked by the death of 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman Mahsa Amini after her arrest for "inappropriate attire", pose one of the strongest challenges to the country's clerical establishment since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Jalal Mahmoudzadeh, a member of parliament from the mainly Kurdish city of Mahabad, said on Sunday that as many as 105 people had been killed in Kurdish-populated areas during the protests. He was speaking during a debate in parliament as quoted by the Entekhan website.
Challenging the Islamic Republic’s legitimacy, protesters from all walks of life have burned pictures of Khamenei and called for the downfall of Iran's Shi'ite Muslim theocracy.
The video was shared on YouTube on Friday by her brother, France-based Mahmoud Moradkhani, who presents himself as "an opponent of the Islamic Republic" on his Twitter account, and then by prominent Iranian rights activists.
On Nov. 23, Mahmoud Moradkhani reported her sister's arrest as she was heeding a court order to appear at the Tehran prosecutor's office. Farideh had been arrested earlier this year by Iran's Intelligence Ministry and later released on bail.
HRANA said she was in Tehran's Evin security prison. Moradkhani, it said, had earlier faced a 15-year prison sentence on unspecified charges.
Her father, Ali Moradkhani Arangeh, was a Shi'ite cleric married to Khamenei's sister and recently passed away in Tehran following years of isolation due to his stance against the Islamic Republic, according to his website.
Farideh Moradkhani added in her video: "Now is the time for all free and democratic countries to recall their representatives from Iran as a symbolic gesture and to expel the representatives of this brutal regime from their countries."
On Thursday, the United Nations top human rights body decided by a comfortable margin to establish a new investigative mission to look into Tehran's violent security crackdown on the anti-government protests.
Criticism of the Islamic Republic by relatives of top officials is not unprecedented. In 2012, Faezeh Hashemi Rafsanjani, the daughter of late former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, was sentenced to jail for "anti-state propaganda".
Reuters
DUBAI, Nov 27 (Reuters) - Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's niece, a well known rights activist, has called on foreign governments to cut all ties with Tehran over its violent crackdown on popular unrest kindled by the death in police custody of a young woman.
A video of a statement by Farideh Moradkhani, an engineer whose late father was a prominent opposition figure married to Khamenei's sister, was being widely shared online after what activist news agency HRANA said was her arrest on Nov. 23.
"O free people, be with us and tell your governments to stop supporting this murderous and child-killing regime," Moradkhani said in the video. "This regime is not loyal to any of its religious principles and does not know any rules except force and maintaining power."
Khamenei's office did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
HRANA said 450 protesters had been killed in more than two months of nationwide unrest as of Nov. 26, including 63 minors. It said 60 members of the security forces had been killed, and 18,173 protesters detained.
The protests, sparked by the death of 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman Mahsa Amini after her arrest for "inappropriate attire", pose one of the strongest challenges to the country's clerical establishment since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Jalal Mahmoudzadeh, a member of parliament from the mainly Kurdish city of Mahabad, said on Sunday that as many as 105 people had been killed in Kurdish-populated areas during the protests. He was speaking during a debate in parliament as quoted by the Entekhan website.
Challenging the Islamic Republic’s legitimacy, protesters from all walks of life have burned pictures of Khamenei and called for the downfall of Iran's Shi'ite Muslim theocracy.
The video was shared on YouTube on Friday by her brother, France-based Mahmoud Moradkhani, who presents himself as "an opponent of the Islamic Republic" on his Twitter account, and then by prominent Iranian rights activists.
On Nov. 23, Mahmoud Moradkhani reported her sister's arrest as she was heeding a court order to appear at the Tehran prosecutor's office. Farideh had been arrested earlier this year by Iran's Intelligence Ministry and later released on bail.
HRANA said she was in Tehran's Evin security prison. Moradkhani, it said, had earlier faced a 15-year prison sentence on unspecified charges.
Her father, Ali Moradkhani Arangeh, was a Shi'ite cleric married to Khamenei's sister and recently passed away in Tehran following years of isolation due to his stance against the Islamic Republic, according to his website.
Farideh Moradkhani added in her video: "Now is the time for all free and democratic countries to recall their representatives from Iran as a symbolic gesture and to expel the representatives of this brutal regime from their countries."
On Thursday, the United Nations top human rights body decided by a comfortable margin to establish a new investigative mission to look into Tehran's violent security crackdown on the anti-government protests.
Criticism of the Islamic Republic by relatives of top officials is not unprecedented. In 2012, Faezeh Hashemi Rafsanjani, the daughter of late former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, was sentenced to jail for "anti-state propaganda".
Reuters
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- Oct 2, 2004
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- 217,978
Iran's football federation has complained to Fifa after the Islamic Republic emblem was removed from its flag in social media posts by the United States team.
Before their World Cup meeting on Tuesday, the US removed the Allah symbol in graphics posted on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
The US said they decided not to use Iran's official flag to show "support for the women in Iran fighting for basic human rights", amid mass anti-government protests in the country.
The protests in Iran, met with a fierce crackdown, have been sparked by the death in custody in September of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who was detained by morality police for allegedly breaking the strict rules around head coverings.
"In an unprofessional act, the Instagram page of the US football federation removed the Allah symbol from the Iranian flag," said Iran state news agency IRNA.
"The Iran Football Federation sent an email to Fifa [football's world governing body] to demand it issue a serious warning to the US federation."
A US Soccer spokesman later said the posts had been removed and replaced with ones using the correct Iran flag, but added: "We still support the women of Iran."
Iran has accused the US and other foreign adversaries of instigating the protests, with the US government imposing sanctions on Iranian officials over the crackdown.
The US and Iran cut diplomatic relations in 1980.
Before their World Cup meeting on Tuesday, the US removed the Allah symbol in graphics posted on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
The US said they decided not to use Iran's official flag to show "support for the women in Iran fighting for basic human rights", amid mass anti-government protests in the country.
The protests in Iran, met with a fierce crackdown, have been sparked by the death in custody in September of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who was detained by morality police for allegedly breaking the strict rules around head coverings.
"In an unprofessional act, the Instagram page of the US football federation removed the Allah symbol from the Iranian flag," said Iran state news agency IRNA.
"The Iran Football Federation sent an email to Fifa [football's world governing body] to demand it issue a serious warning to the US federation."
A US Soccer spokesman later said the posts had been removed and replaced with ones using the correct Iran flag, but added: "We still support the women of Iran."
Iran has accused the US and other foreign adversaries of instigating the protests, with the US government imposing sanctions on Iranian officials over the crackdown.
The US and Iran cut diplomatic relations in 1980.
sweep_shot
Test Captain
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- Mar 30, 2016
- Runs
- 47,565
America is slowly becoming more and more Godless. Nothing surprising.
Opportunity for Iran to knock out these drama queen Yankees.
Iran Revolutionary Guards Militia Member Killed In Attack: Report
Tehran: A member of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards militia was shot dead Monday, the Guards said, as the Islamic republic has been gripped by more than two months of protest.
An investigation is underway to identify the perpetrators of the attack in the central city of Isfahan, said deputy local governor Mohammad-Reza Jannessari, the IRNA news agency reported.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said in a statement the man was killed in "a terrorist action carried out by mercenaries of the global arrogance", a term used for the United States and its allies.
It said the man was a member of the IRGC Basij militia.
In mid-November in Isfahan, two assailants on a motorcycle fired automatic weapons at security guards, killing a police colonel and two paramilitaries.
Iran has been rocked by a wave of protests since the September 16 death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd arrested by morality police for violating Iran's strict dress code for women.
Dozens of people, mainly protesters but also members of the security forces, have been killed since, according to the authorities.
NDTV
Tehran: A member of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards militia was shot dead Monday, the Guards said, as the Islamic republic has been gripped by more than two months of protest.
An investigation is underway to identify the perpetrators of the attack in the central city of Isfahan, said deputy local governor Mohammad-Reza Jannessari, the IRNA news agency reported.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said in a statement the man was killed in "a terrorist action carried out by mercenaries of the global arrogance", a term used for the United States and its allies.
It said the man was a member of the IRGC Basij militia.
In mid-November in Isfahan, two assailants on a motorcycle fired automatic weapons at security guards, killing a police colonel and two paramilitaries.
Iran has been rocked by a wave of protests since the September 16 death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd arrested by morality police for violating Iran's strict dress code for women.
Dozens of people, mainly protesters but also members of the security forces, have been killed since, according to the authorities.
NDTV
Iran Frees Hundreds After World Cup Win Over Wales
Iran has released more than 700 prisoners after the national team's World Cup football victory over Wales, the judiciary's Mizan Online website said Monday. It announced that "709 detainees were freed from different prisons in the country" following the 2-0 victory on Friday. Among those are "some arrested during the recent events," Mizan Online said, making indirect reference to demonstrations which have shaken Iran for more than two months. It gave no further detail.
The ongoing protests were triggered by the September 16 death in custody of Mahsa Amini, 22, after her arrest by morality police for an alleged breach of Iran's strict dress rules for women.
Other Iranian media separately reported that prominent Iranian actor Hengameh Ghaziani had been released on bail after her arrest for having supported the protests.
Two of the most prominent figures detained over the demonstrations -- former international footballer Voria Ghafouri and dissident Hossein Ronaghi -- were also let out on bail, reports said.
State news agency IRNA reported on Monday that former state television host Mahmoud Shahriari, 63, had been released after two months in prison for "encouraging riots".
Iran on Friday scored twice deep into stoppage time to stun Wales and breathe new life into its World Cup campaign ahead of a politically charged showdown Tuesday against the United States.
Iran lost its first World Cup match to England, 6-2.
Iran's judiciary says more than 2,000 people have been charged since the start of the protests.
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk last week said around 14,000 people have been arrested.
NDTV
Iran has released more than 700 prisoners after the national team's World Cup football victory over Wales, the judiciary's Mizan Online website said Monday. It announced that "709 detainees were freed from different prisons in the country" following the 2-0 victory on Friday. Among those are "some arrested during the recent events," Mizan Online said, making indirect reference to demonstrations which have shaken Iran for more than two months. It gave no further detail.
The ongoing protests were triggered by the September 16 death in custody of Mahsa Amini, 22, after her arrest by morality police for an alleged breach of Iran's strict dress rules for women.
Other Iranian media separately reported that prominent Iranian actor Hengameh Ghaziani had been released on bail after her arrest for having supported the protests.
Two of the most prominent figures detained over the demonstrations -- former international footballer Voria Ghafouri and dissident Hossein Ronaghi -- were also let out on bail, reports said.
State news agency IRNA reported on Monday that former state television host Mahmoud Shahriari, 63, had been released after two months in prison for "encouraging riots".
Iran on Friday scored twice deep into stoppage time to stun Wales and breathe new life into its World Cup campaign ahead of a politically charged showdown Tuesday against the United States.
Iran lost its first World Cup match to England, 6-2.
Iran's judiciary says more than 2,000 people have been charged since the start of the protests.
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk last week said around 14,000 people have been arrested.
NDTV
sweep_shot
Test Captain
- Joined
- Mar 30, 2016
- Runs
- 47,565
I hope the shooter will be caught and will be given a harsh punishment.
I think time has come to take gloves off and finish off this unproductive and disruptive protest.
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- Oct 2, 2004
- Runs
- 217,978
A man is reported to have been killed by security forces in northern Iran, as anti-government protesters publicly celebrated the national football team's elimination from the World Cup.
Activists said Mehran Samak was shot in the head after he honked his car's horn in Bandar Anzali on Tuesday night.
Videos from other cities showed crowds cheering and dancing in the streets.
Many Iranians refused to support their football team in Qatar, seeing it as a representation of the Islamic Republic.
State-affiliated media blamed hostile forces both inside and outside Iran for putting unfair pressure on the players following their 1-0 loss to the USA in the final group game.
The players did not sing the national anthem before their first game, a 6-2 defeat by England, in an apparent expression of solidarity with the protesters.
But they did sing at the Wales game, which they won 2-0, and at the politically-charged showdown against the USA.
Some protesters saw that as a betrayal of their cause even though there were reports that the team came under intense pressure from Iranian authorities.
The unrest started 10 weeks ago following the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman arrested by morality police in Tehran for allegedly violating the strict rules requiring women to cover their hair with a hijab.
Authorities have responded to what they have portrayed as foreign-backed "riots" with a violent crackdown in which the Norway-based group Iran Human Rights says at least 448 people have been killed, including 60 children. More than 18,000 others are reported to have been arrested.
Iran Human Rights reported that security personnel shot and killed Mehran Samak, 27, when he honked his car's horn in the Caspian Sea city of Bandar Anzali on Tuesday night to celebrate the Iranian football team's defeat.
BBC Persian obtained a video that showed Mr Samak's burial on Wednesday morning. The mourners can be heard chanting "You are the filth, you are the immoral, I am a free woman" - a slogan frequently used during the protests.
Iranian security forces have denied killing peaceful protesters.
However, the opposition activist collective 1500tasvir posted videos that it said showed security forces opening fire at people in the south-western city of Behbahan overnight and beating a woman in Qazvin, south of Bandar Anzali.
Other videos showed men and women celebrating the World Cup elimination in Tehran and a number of cities in the predominantly Kurdish north-west of the country. Dozens of protesters have reportedly been killed in recent weeks there as security forces intensified their crackdown.
In footage from Mahsa Amini's home city of Saqqez, dozens of people could be seen cheering and waving scarves in a main square before fireworks are set off.
Crowds were also filmed dancing to music in Sanandaj, an epicentre of the unrest, while in Kermanshah and Marivan they were heard chanting "Woman, life, freedom" - one of the main slogans of the protests.
Kurdish human rights group Hengaw reported that at least 30 people were shot and wounded by security forces while celebrating in Marivan, Sanandaj, Kermanshah, Saqqez, Ilam and Bukan.
In Tehran, students at Imam Sadiq University gathered outside a hall of residence and chanted "Death to the dishonourable" - an adjective protesters have used against security forces and which was shouted by fans inside the stadium during Iran's match against England.
There was also a confrontation between opponents and supporters of the government outside the Al Thumama Stadium in Qatar after Tuesday's match.
Danish journalist Rasmus Tantholdt filmed several men carrying Iranian flags shoving a man wearing a T-shirt saying "Woman, life, freedom" in English. A woman with him is then heard complaining that she was attacked and asking for help to leave the stadium safely.
Another video obtained by BBC Persian showed a male protester being violently arrested by security guards outside the stadium while shouting "Woman, life, freedom".
Asked about the treatment of Iranian spectators who staged protests in Qatar, football's world governing body Fifa said it continued "to work closely with the host country to ensure the full implementation of related regulations and agreed protocols".
State-affiliated media in Iran meanwhile praised the national football team despite their failure to qualify for the World Cup's knockout stages.
The conservative Farhikhtegan newspaper said "we are proud of Iran", while the Revolutionary Guards-linked daily Javan said the team had "won the real game: the game of uniting people's hearts".
Before the match, the hard-line Tasnim news agency rejected a report by CNN, which cited an unnamed security source as saying that the Revolutionary Guards had threatened the families of the Iranian players with "imprisonment and torture" if they did not "behave".
BBC
Activists said Mehran Samak was shot in the head after he honked his car's horn in Bandar Anzali on Tuesday night.
Videos from other cities showed crowds cheering and dancing in the streets.
Many Iranians refused to support their football team in Qatar, seeing it as a representation of the Islamic Republic.
State-affiliated media blamed hostile forces both inside and outside Iran for putting unfair pressure on the players following their 1-0 loss to the USA in the final group game.
The players did not sing the national anthem before their first game, a 6-2 defeat by England, in an apparent expression of solidarity with the protesters.
But they did sing at the Wales game, which they won 2-0, and at the politically-charged showdown against the USA.
Some protesters saw that as a betrayal of their cause even though there were reports that the team came under intense pressure from Iranian authorities.
The unrest started 10 weeks ago following the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman arrested by morality police in Tehran for allegedly violating the strict rules requiring women to cover their hair with a hijab.
Authorities have responded to what they have portrayed as foreign-backed "riots" with a violent crackdown in which the Norway-based group Iran Human Rights says at least 448 people have been killed, including 60 children. More than 18,000 others are reported to have been arrested.
Iran Human Rights reported that security personnel shot and killed Mehran Samak, 27, when he honked his car's horn in the Caspian Sea city of Bandar Anzali on Tuesday night to celebrate the Iranian football team's defeat.
BBC Persian obtained a video that showed Mr Samak's burial on Wednesday morning. The mourners can be heard chanting "You are the filth, you are the immoral, I am a free woman" - a slogan frequently used during the protests.
Iranian security forces have denied killing peaceful protesters.
However, the opposition activist collective 1500tasvir posted videos that it said showed security forces opening fire at people in the south-western city of Behbahan overnight and beating a woman in Qazvin, south of Bandar Anzali.
Other videos showed men and women celebrating the World Cup elimination in Tehran and a number of cities in the predominantly Kurdish north-west of the country. Dozens of protesters have reportedly been killed in recent weeks there as security forces intensified their crackdown.
In footage from Mahsa Amini's home city of Saqqez, dozens of people could be seen cheering and waving scarves in a main square before fireworks are set off.
Crowds were also filmed dancing to music in Sanandaj, an epicentre of the unrest, while in Kermanshah and Marivan they were heard chanting "Woman, life, freedom" - one of the main slogans of the protests.
Kurdish human rights group Hengaw reported that at least 30 people were shot and wounded by security forces while celebrating in Marivan, Sanandaj, Kermanshah, Saqqez, Ilam and Bukan.
In Tehran, students at Imam Sadiq University gathered outside a hall of residence and chanted "Death to the dishonourable" - an adjective protesters have used against security forces and which was shouted by fans inside the stadium during Iran's match against England.
There was also a confrontation between opponents and supporters of the government outside the Al Thumama Stadium in Qatar after Tuesday's match.
Danish journalist Rasmus Tantholdt filmed several men carrying Iranian flags shoving a man wearing a T-shirt saying "Woman, life, freedom" in English. A woman with him is then heard complaining that she was attacked and asking for help to leave the stadium safely.
Another video obtained by BBC Persian showed a male protester being violently arrested by security guards outside the stadium while shouting "Woman, life, freedom".
Asked about the treatment of Iranian spectators who staged protests in Qatar, football's world governing body Fifa said it continued "to work closely with the host country to ensure the full implementation of related regulations and agreed protocols".
State-affiliated media in Iran meanwhile praised the national football team despite their failure to qualify for the World Cup's knockout stages.
The conservative Farhikhtegan newspaper said "we are proud of Iran", while the Revolutionary Guards-linked daily Javan said the team had "won the real game: the game of uniting people's hearts".
Before the match, the hard-line Tasnim news agency rejected a report by CNN, which cited an unnamed security source as saying that the Revolutionary Guards had threatened the families of the Iranian players with "imprisonment and torture" if they did not "behave".
BBC
"Who Would've Thought...": Iranians Celebrate Team's Loss At World Cup
The Iran football team's defeat to the US in the FIFA World Cup on Wednesday triggered unusual celebrations in their home country, sharply contrasting with the reaction expected after any national football team's loss.
Scenes of jubilation on the streets of Iran have been widely shared on social media as the country, engulfed in protests, continues to disown the football team that they deem as a part of the oppressive regime.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Iran is a country where people are very passionate about football. Now they are out in the streets in the city of Sanandaj & celebrate the loss of their football team against US. <br>They don’t want the government use sport to normalize its murderous regime.<a href="https://t.co/EMh8mREsQn">pic.twitter.com/EMh8mREsQn</a> <a href="https://t.co/MqpxQZqT20">pic.twitter.com/MqpxQZqT20</a></p>— Masih Alinejad ��️ (@AlinejadMasih) <a href="https://twitter.com/AlinejadMasih/status/1597733531379470336?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 29, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Videos shared on Twitter show Iranians dancing on the streets in a rare display of joy after the videos of burning tires and protesting crowds that have emerged from the country in recent months. But the dancing and celebratory honking was also a show of protest as they denounced the football team's participation in the World Cup at such a tumultuous time.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Celebration in the Kurdish-Iranian city of <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Kamyaran?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Kamyaran</a> as the regime’s national team has lost to the US in the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WorldCup?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WorldCup</a>.<br><br>Tonight, all over Iran, people are celebrating. Our <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/IranRevolution?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#IranRevolution</a> is stronger. Iranians want this regime out.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MahsaAmini?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MahsaAmini</a> <a href="https://t.co/vdgBn0h7cX">pic.twitter.com/vdgBn0h7cX</a></p>— Masih Alinejad ��️ (@AlinejadMasih) <a href="https://twitter.com/AlinejadMasih/status/1597763533994831872?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 30, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Protests against the death of Mahsa Amini have rocked the nation with over 300 people, including children, killed since September. Mahsa Amini was killed in police custody by Iran's notorious morality police for the "crime" of not wearing her hijab in a proper manner on September 16.
In Mahsa Amini's hometown of Saqez, as well as several other cities across Iran, citizens celebrated using fireworks. "Saqez citizens have started to celebrate and use fireworks after America's first goal against Iran's football team," said the London-based Iran Wire website on Twitter.
"Who would've ever thought I'd jump three meters and celebrate America's goal!" tweeted Iranian game journalist Saeed Zafarany after the loss. Podcaster Elahe Khosravi also tweeted: "This is what playing in the middle gets you. They lost to the people, the opponent, and even" the government.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Surreal: Fireworks reportedly from Saqqez <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Iran?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Iran</a> tonight celebrating US win over Iranian team at World Cup. Saqqez is <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MahsaAmini?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MahsaAmini</a>’s hometown, the woman whose death has sparked mass protests against regime <a href="https://t.co/1qoXxmBkfK">pic.twitter.com/1qoXxmBkfK</a></p>— Joyce Karam (@Joyce_Karam) <a href="https://twitter.com/Joyce_Karam/status/1597717640617021443?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 29, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The joy in Iran after the Iranian team lost to USA and was eliminated from the World Cup <a href="https://t.co/Xft6KgnlR4">pic.twitter.com/Xft6KgnlR4</a></p>— Adam Albilya (@AdamAlbilya) <a href="https://twitter.com/AdamAlbilya/status/1597816483580891137?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 30, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Protests have since raged through the nation, challenging the authority of the government.
The Iranian football team, in their own version of a protest, declined to sing the national anthem before their opening match against England on November 22. While the rebellion was accepted as courageous by some, many Iranians still say the football team doesn't represent the people of Iran, but the government.
NDTV
The Iran football team's defeat to the US in the FIFA World Cup on Wednesday triggered unusual celebrations in their home country, sharply contrasting with the reaction expected after any national football team's loss.
Scenes of jubilation on the streets of Iran have been widely shared on social media as the country, engulfed in protests, continues to disown the football team that they deem as a part of the oppressive regime.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Iran is a country where people are very passionate about football. Now they are out in the streets in the city of Sanandaj & celebrate the loss of their football team against US. <br>They don’t want the government use sport to normalize its murderous regime.<a href="https://t.co/EMh8mREsQn">pic.twitter.com/EMh8mREsQn</a> <a href="https://t.co/MqpxQZqT20">pic.twitter.com/MqpxQZqT20</a></p>— Masih Alinejad ��️ (@AlinejadMasih) <a href="https://twitter.com/AlinejadMasih/status/1597733531379470336?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 29, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Videos shared on Twitter show Iranians dancing on the streets in a rare display of joy after the videos of burning tires and protesting crowds that have emerged from the country in recent months. But the dancing and celebratory honking was also a show of protest as they denounced the football team's participation in the World Cup at such a tumultuous time.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Celebration in the Kurdish-Iranian city of <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Kamyaran?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Kamyaran</a> as the regime’s national team has lost to the US in the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WorldCup?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WorldCup</a>.<br><br>Tonight, all over Iran, people are celebrating. Our <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/IranRevolution?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#IranRevolution</a> is stronger. Iranians want this regime out.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MahsaAmini?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MahsaAmini</a> <a href="https://t.co/vdgBn0h7cX">pic.twitter.com/vdgBn0h7cX</a></p>— Masih Alinejad ��️ (@AlinejadMasih) <a href="https://twitter.com/AlinejadMasih/status/1597763533994831872?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 30, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Protests against the death of Mahsa Amini have rocked the nation with over 300 people, including children, killed since September. Mahsa Amini was killed in police custody by Iran's notorious morality police for the "crime" of not wearing her hijab in a proper manner on September 16.
In Mahsa Amini's hometown of Saqez, as well as several other cities across Iran, citizens celebrated using fireworks. "Saqez citizens have started to celebrate and use fireworks after America's first goal against Iran's football team," said the London-based Iran Wire website on Twitter.
"Who would've ever thought I'd jump three meters and celebrate America's goal!" tweeted Iranian game journalist Saeed Zafarany after the loss. Podcaster Elahe Khosravi also tweeted: "This is what playing in the middle gets you. They lost to the people, the opponent, and even" the government.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Surreal: Fireworks reportedly from Saqqez <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Iran?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Iran</a> tonight celebrating US win over Iranian team at World Cup. Saqqez is <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MahsaAmini?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MahsaAmini</a>’s hometown, the woman whose death has sparked mass protests against regime <a href="https://t.co/1qoXxmBkfK">pic.twitter.com/1qoXxmBkfK</a></p>— Joyce Karam (@Joyce_Karam) <a href="https://twitter.com/Joyce_Karam/status/1597717640617021443?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 29, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The joy in Iran after the Iranian team lost to USA and was eliminated from the World Cup <a href="https://t.co/Xft6KgnlR4">pic.twitter.com/Xft6KgnlR4</a></p>— Adam Albilya (@AdamAlbilya) <a href="https://twitter.com/AdamAlbilya/status/1597816483580891137?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 30, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Protests have since raged through the nation, challenging the authority of the government.
The Iranian football team, in their own version of a protest, declined to sing the national anthem before their opening match against England on November 22. While the rebellion was accepted as courageous by some, many Iranians still say the football team doesn't represent the people of Iran, but the government.
NDTV
SalimBhai
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dont get this. at first the team was on the side of the protestors? and then on the side of the regime? Did their families get threatened by the regime?
KingKhanWC
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I missed this. They are out now, so if they apologise let them be. If they continue to attack their own nation, ban them from football for life.
I still find it strange the lie isnt about. The woman DIED in public, before even touched. It was never murder let alone torture.
It seems the enemies of Iran, mainly the Zionists and others are desperate for Iran to demonised but any military attack will see Israel attacked like they cannot imagine.
Leave Iran alone is the best policy for all.
SalimBhai
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The young woman died while in police custody. She had bruises all over her body.
sweep_shot
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Anyone who is not a radical liberal should refrain from supporting these unproductive and cringy protesters.
GLORY OF '92
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Unfortunately the Iranian people are being used by the Western/Israeli axis. Also the celebrations of the team losing are disgusting and all those should be stripped of citizenship and sent to prison.
KingKhanWC
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No she didnt ,there is a clear video of her collapsing in public.
But of course the liberal supporters in the West are blind like mice with no eyes or ears.
KingKhanWC
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Some are disappointed Iranians decided to stick to football. Its difficult for them to sleep now. My advice would be to visit Iran and see for yourself.
SalimBhai
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I will state again. No news outlet states anything differently than what I stated. Also I have been to Iran. So the treatment of women but the brutal regime is not surprising.
KingKhanWC
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Many have.
Im sure you were there present while the torture was taking place. But can we believe you when you are so biased? No. You've made your point , now go protest.
SalimBhai
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If there was a credible source you would post it . There is none. Also many more civilians killed after her also. They also all had cardiac arrest?
sweep_shot
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Is there any footage of torture? If not, it doesn't exist.
It seems like radical liberals want to make up events out of thin air.
KingKhanWC
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What is credible to some will never be credible to you.
But here, lets see if you were the coroner or was he in Iran.
"An Iranian coroner's report into the death of Mahsa Amini said she did not die due to blows to the head but from multiple organ failure caused by cerebral hypoxia."
https://www.iranintl.com/en/202210072530
But please post your top 3 credible links to prove your narrative? This will be interesting.
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SalimBhai
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This is from the article you just posted
Bleeding from the right ear can be seen in this hospital photo of Mahsa Amini
When Amini’s incident became public in mid-September, Iranian officials tried to claim that she had previous brain problems or chronic health issues that led her to lose consciousness during her arrest. As evidence emerged that her skull was broken, they stopped making such claims for a while, but after using brutal force against protesters, they are now sticking to their guns, denying wrongdoing.
That tactic also relates to cases of at least two teenage girls who were killed during protests. Officials claim that Nika Shakrami and Sarina Esmailzadeh both fell from rooftops and died. In case of Esmailzadeh, Amnesty International has verified that she was beaten on the head by heavy batons by security forces and taken to hospital by her friends but she died before any medical help was administered.
daytrader
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Iranian killed ‘celebrating’ World Cup loss to US
An Iranian man was shot dead by the security forces after celebrating when the United States eliminated his country’s national team from the World Cup, rights groups said on Wednesday.
Iran was knocked out of the World Cup by its arch enemy the United States in Qatar on Tuesday night, drawing a mixed response from pro- and anti-regime supporters.
Many had refused to support the national team as a result of a bloody government crackdown on more than two months of protests sparked by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini.
Mehran Samak, 27, was shot dead after honking his car horn in Bandar Anzali, a city on the Caspian Sea coast northwest of Tehran, human rights groups said. Samak “was targeted directly and shot in the head by security forces following the defeat of the national team against America”, said Oslo-based group Iran Human Rights (IHR).
The New York-based Centre for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) also reported that he had been killed by the security forces while celebrating. It published a video from his funeral in Tehran on Wednesday at which mourners could be heard shouting “Death to the dictator”.
The chant aimed at Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is one of the main slogans of the protests that flared after Amini’s death in custody on Sept 16.
Iran’s security forces have killed at least 448 people in the crackdown on the protests, including 60 children under the age of 18 and 29 women, according to IHR.
Court upholds death penalty
Iran’s supreme court on Wednesday upheld the death penalty for four men accused of working with the intelligence services of Israel, the Islamic republic’s arch enemy, the judiciary said.
The four were sentenced to death for “their intelligence cooperation with the Zionist regime (Israel) and kidnapping”, the judiciary’s Mizan Online website reported, adding there was no recourse to appeal.
It identified the men as Hossein Ordoukhanzadeh, Shahin Imani Mahmoudabad, Milad Ashrafi Atbatan and Manouchehr Shahbandi Bojandi, without elaborating on their backgrounds.
Mizan Online said three other defendants were sentenced to between five and 10 years in prison for crimes against the country’s security, complicity in kidnapping and possession of weapons.
Iran and Israel have been engaged in a years-long shadow war, with the Islamic republic accusing its arch-foe of carrying out sabotage attacks against its nuclear sites and assassinations of key figures, including scientists.
On May 22, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it had arrested members of “a network acting under the direction of the Israeli intelligence service”.
“These people committed theft, destruction of personal and public property, kidnapping and extortion of false confessions,” a Guards statement said at the time.
In late July, Iran reported the arrest of agents linked to Israel’s Mossad, alleging they were members of a banned Kurdish rebel group that was planning to target “sensitive sites”.
The latest court ruling comes at a time of heightened tensions in Iran after more than two months of protests sparked by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini.
The 22-year-old Iranian of Kurdish origin died on Sept 16 after her arrest in Tehran for an alleged breach of the Islamic republic’s dress code for women.
DAWN
An Iranian man was shot dead by the security forces after celebrating when the United States eliminated his country’s national team from the World Cup, rights groups said on Wednesday.
Iran was knocked out of the World Cup by its arch enemy the United States in Qatar on Tuesday night, drawing a mixed response from pro- and anti-regime supporters.
Many had refused to support the national team as a result of a bloody government crackdown on more than two months of protests sparked by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini.
Mehran Samak, 27, was shot dead after honking his car horn in Bandar Anzali, a city on the Caspian Sea coast northwest of Tehran, human rights groups said. Samak “was targeted directly and shot in the head by security forces following the defeat of the national team against America”, said Oslo-based group Iran Human Rights (IHR).
The New York-based Centre for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) also reported that he had been killed by the security forces while celebrating. It published a video from his funeral in Tehran on Wednesday at which mourners could be heard shouting “Death to the dictator”.
The chant aimed at Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is one of the main slogans of the protests that flared after Amini’s death in custody on Sept 16.
Iran’s security forces have killed at least 448 people in the crackdown on the protests, including 60 children under the age of 18 and 29 women, according to IHR.
Court upholds death penalty
Iran’s supreme court on Wednesday upheld the death penalty for four men accused of working with the intelligence services of Israel, the Islamic republic’s arch enemy, the judiciary said.
The four were sentenced to death for “their intelligence cooperation with the Zionist regime (Israel) and kidnapping”, the judiciary’s Mizan Online website reported, adding there was no recourse to appeal.
It identified the men as Hossein Ordoukhanzadeh, Shahin Imani Mahmoudabad, Milad Ashrafi Atbatan and Manouchehr Shahbandi Bojandi, without elaborating on their backgrounds.
Mizan Online said three other defendants were sentenced to between five and 10 years in prison for crimes against the country’s security, complicity in kidnapping and possession of weapons.
Iran and Israel have been engaged in a years-long shadow war, with the Islamic republic accusing its arch-foe of carrying out sabotage attacks against its nuclear sites and assassinations of key figures, including scientists.
On May 22, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it had arrested members of “a network acting under the direction of the Israeli intelligence service”.
“These people committed theft, destruction of personal and public property, kidnapping and extortion of false confessions,” a Guards statement said at the time.
In late July, Iran reported the arrest of agents linked to Israel’s Mossad, alleging they were members of a banned Kurdish rebel group that was planning to target “sensitive sites”.
The latest court ruling comes at a time of heightened tensions in Iran after more than two months of protests sparked by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini.
The 22-year-old Iranian of Kurdish origin died on Sept 16 after her arrest in Tehran for an alleged breach of the Islamic republic’s dress code for women.
DAWN
SpiritOf1903
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A country in serious turmoil. The current rule is idiotic and it caused a mass exodus from the county. Their time was always numbered and it may not last long but Kurds have been used as political pawns for some time by the USA.. with philanthropists like christopher hitchens advocates of Kurdish independence/ public disorder
IMMY69
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You can equally argue that Muslim radicals should keep their small minded backward mindset to themselves...
IMMY69
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These mullahs are not Muslims, not by any means...
SalimBhai
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@kiingkhan
That’s a self goal I believe. Please read before you post. This contradicts what you have been claiming for months .
SalimBhai
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If a woman is being beaten by the brutal regime. Who would be making the video? That’s an absurd statement . Nobody is making up anything. You are just defending the indefensible.
SalimBhai
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sweep_shot
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I am not "defending the indefensible". I simply asked for proof but you couldn't provide any.
SalimBhai
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Sir your friend from this PP provided the link that counter my argument. I guess he did not read it. It counters his argument. Look above. 2nd do you need a video of the beating. Would you apply to everything for proof. If the brutal regime is beating someone why would they video tape it. Thats an absurd statement.
KingKhanWC
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"The coroner's report said her death was "not caused by blow to the head and limbs""
Your whole story along with the West is a lie.
move on, Iran will not become the gay capital of Asia.
SalimBhai
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The article you claimed your point, contradicts it. Please read the articles before you post.
SalimBhai
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The CT scan shows serious injuries to the brain, according to the article you provided. Coroner report was provided by the government after they did her in. What do you expect from them. Common sense really. The CT scan is provided in the link that YOU provided. Thanks. I rest my case....
KingKhanWC
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Sure lets believe you and the western media but not the Coroner. Believe what you like, Iranian regime isnt going anywhere and most Iranians support the government.
SalimBhai
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The CT scan is in the link you provided. I would believe an independent human rights group, the father of the victim, the CT Scan itself that you provided . Not the brutal regime of the Coroner dept that works under the regime, Most Iranians dint support the brutal regime by looking at the protests. And the the regime is on its last leg. Not his year, but soon inshallah. Anyway thanks for providing the link , really helped to prove my point.
KingKhanWC
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You read what suits you.
Most support their government esp on this issue. Of course you will also not read or see the mass pro Iran protests in Iran.
Youre wasting your time, Iran is there for stay , keep making up stories if you prefer.
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SalimBhai
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You read what suits you.
Most support their government esp on this issue. Of course you will also not read or see the mass pro Iran protests in Iran.
Youre wasting your time, Iran is there for stay , keep making up stories if you prefer.
It’s just hilarious that the article you posted in your defense contradicts you. . Moral of the story please read articles before you post. Hilarious really. . But on a serious note please read articles before posting.
Actor Elnaaz Norouzi Takes 'Put A Finger Down Challenge', Shares Strong Message On Iran Protests
Elnaaz Norouzi, an Iranian born actor known for her work in Netflix series 'The Sacred Games', has posted a new video against the country's government in her home country and in support of the anti-hijab protests. She has been vocal about the issues women in Iran are facing and her encounter with the "morality police" in the country. She had joined the massive protest by helping women assert their right to wear anything they want.
In the latest video posted on Instagram, Ms Nourozi can be seen undertaking the 'put a finger down challenge.' She puts a finger down in different scenarios, exhibiting that she has undertaken that activity. Some of the scenarios include sitting next to someone of the opposite sex in school, dancing in public, swimming with both of your parents in a public pool, kissing a member of the same sex as you, been on a date and holding your partner's hand in public. It is to be noted that the actor kept a finger down in most of the scenarios implying that she had done these activities in the past.
However, what comes next is a surprise. The text super in the video reads, "If you have at least one finger down, you did not grow up in Iran cause all these are forbidden there and you could get killed for doing them."
She captioned the post as, "Do this Challenge !!!! If my Parents wouldn't have taken the decision to move to Germany while I was a child... none of my fingers would have been down... this is how life in Iran is... I hope now you understand that it's not just about Hijab... besides these issues mentioned in the video it's the horrible economy that Iranians have to deal with despite Iran being one of the richest countries in the world."
Since being shared, the post has amassed over four lakh views and 34,000 likes.
"Great presentation of what's going on in Iran in all these years! The ridiculous part is that some people can't imagine it and some ignore it!" said one user.
"What a great way to educate the world about the atrocities in Iran. Will never believe Iran to be a humanitarian country," said a second user.
A third person added, "God help iran, yes iran was one of the best country in the world. I wish iran will again very soon one of the best country soon. #iranfreedom"
NDTV
Elnaaz Norouzi, an Iranian born actor known for her work in Netflix series 'The Sacred Games', has posted a new video against the country's government in her home country and in support of the anti-hijab protests. She has been vocal about the issues women in Iran are facing and her encounter with the "morality police" in the country. She had joined the massive protest by helping women assert their right to wear anything they want.
In the latest video posted on Instagram, Ms Nourozi can be seen undertaking the 'put a finger down challenge.' She puts a finger down in different scenarios, exhibiting that she has undertaken that activity. Some of the scenarios include sitting next to someone of the opposite sex in school, dancing in public, swimming with both of your parents in a public pool, kissing a member of the same sex as you, been on a date and holding your partner's hand in public. It is to be noted that the actor kept a finger down in most of the scenarios implying that she had done these activities in the past.
However, what comes next is a surprise. The text super in the video reads, "If you have at least one finger down, you did not grow up in Iran cause all these are forbidden there and you could get killed for doing them."
She captioned the post as, "Do this Challenge !!!! If my Parents wouldn't have taken the decision to move to Germany while I was a child... none of my fingers would have been down... this is how life in Iran is... I hope now you understand that it's not just about Hijab... besides these issues mentioned in the video it's the horrible economy that Iranians have to deal with despite Iran being one of the richest countries in the world."
Since being shared, the post has amassed over four lakh views and 34,000 likes.
"Great presentation of what's going on in Iran in all these years! The ridiculous part is that some people can't imagine it and some ignore it!" said one user.
"What a great way to educate the world about the atrocities in Iran. Will never believe Iran to be a humanitarian country," said a second user.
A third person added, "God help iran, yes iran was one of the best country in the world. I wish iran will again very soon one of the best country soon. #iranfreedom"
NDTV
Women Join Anti-Hijab Protests In Iran's Conservative Southeast
Paris: Women in Iran's Sistan-Baluchistan province on Friday joined nationwide protests sparked by Mahsa Amini's death, in what a rights group called a "rare" move in the staunchly conservative southeastern region.
Online videos showed dozens of women on the streets of the provincial capital Zahedan holding banners that declared "Woman, life, freedom" -- one of the main slogans of the protest movement that erupted in mid-September.
"Whether with hijab, whether without it, onwards to revolution," women clad in black, body-covering chadors chanted in videos posted on Twitter and verified by AFP.
Women-led protests have swept Iran since Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian of Kurdish origin, died following her arrest in Tehran for an alleged breach of the Islamic republic's dress code based on sharia law.
Security forces have killed at least 448 protesters, with the largest toll in Sistan-Baluchistan on Iran's southeastern border with Afghanistan and Pakistan, according to Iran Human Rights, an Oslo-based non-governmental organisation.
"It is indeed rare," IHR director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam said of the latest protests by women in Zahedan, which has seen men take to the streets after Friday prayers for more than two months.
"The ongoing protests in Iran are the beginning of a revolution of dignity," he told AFP.
"Women and minorities, who have for more than four decades been treated as second class citizens, are empowered through these protests to come out to the streets and demand their fundamental human rights."
Baluchi women were among the "most oppressed" in Iran and their protests on Friday were the most organised by them so far since the demonstrations broke out across the country, Amiry-Moghaddam added.
Scores of men also took to the streets again on Friday, chanting "We don't want a child-killing government", in other footage that activists posted on social media networks.
Security forces were seen opening firewith bird shot and tear gas on male protesters in Taftan, a locality elsewhere in Sistan-Baluchistan, in a video published by the IHR group.
- 'Bloody Friday' -
Mainly Sunni Muslim Sistan-Baluchistan is Iran's poorest region whose ethnic Baluch inhabitants feel discriminated against.
At least 128 people have been killed in Sistan-Baluchistan during the protest crackdown, according to IHR, by far its biggest toll for deaths recorded in 26 of Iran's 31 provinces.
More than 90 of them were killed on September 30 alone -- a massacre that activists have dubbed "Black Friday".
Those protests were triggered by the alleged rape in custody of a 15-year-old girl by a police commander in the province's port city of Chabahar.
Analysts say the Baluchi were inspired by the protests that flared over Amini's death, which were initially driven by women's rights but expanded over time to include other grievances.
"Iran's Baluchi minority face entrenched discrimination that curtails their access to education, health care, employment, adequate housing and political office," Amnesty International said on Tuesday.
"The Baluchi minority have borne the brunt of the vicious crackdown by security forces during the uprising that has swept across Iran since September," the London-based rights group said in a statement.
The second province on IHR's list is Kurdistan, Amini's home province on Iran's western border with Iraq, another epicentre of the protests with a Sunni majority, where 53 people died.
Iran accuses its arch enemy the United States and its allies Britain and Israel of fomenting what it calls "riots".
It blames protest-related violence in Kurdistan on separatists, and has repeatedly launched deadly cross-border strikes on Kurdish groups exiled in Iraq.
"If Kurds and Baluchs were separatists, they would've fought against Iran, not for Iran," said a banner held aloft by protesters in Zahedan on Friday.
An Iranian general said this week that "more than 300 martyrs and people" have been killed in the unrest.
Thousands of Iranians and around 40 foreigners have been arrested during the demonstrations and more than 2,000 people have been charged, according to the country's judicial authorities.
NDTV
Paris: Women in Iran's Sistan-Baluchistan province on Friday joined nationwide protests sparked by Mahsa Amini's death, in what a rights group called a "rare" move in the staunchly conservative southeastern region.
Online videos showed dozens of women on the streets of the provincial capital Zahedan holding banners that declared "Woman, life, freedom" -- one of the main slogans of the protest movement that erupted in mid-September.
"Whether with hijab, whether without it, onwards to revolution," women clad in black, body-covering chadors chanted in videos posted on Twitter and verified by AFP.
Women-led protests have swept Iran since Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian of Kurdish origin, died following her arrest in Tehran for an alleged breach of the Islamic republic's dress code based on sharia law.
Security forces have killed at least 448 protesters, with the largest toll in Sistan-Baluchistan on Iran's southeastern border with Afghanistan and Pakistan, according to Iran Human Rights, an Oslo-based non-governmental organisation.
"It is indeed rare," IHR director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam said of the latest protests by women in Zahedan, which has seen men take to the streets after Friday prayers for more than two months.
"The ongoing protests in Iran are the beginning of a revolution of dignity," he told AFP.
"Women and minorities, who have for more than four decades been treated as second class citizens, are empowered through these protests to come out to the streets and demand their fundamental human rights."
Baluchi women were among the "most oppressed" in Iran and their protests on Friday were the most organised by them so far since the demonstrations broke out across the country, Amiry-Moghaddam added.
Scores of men also took to the streets again on Friday, chanting "We don't want a child-killing government", in other footage that activists posted on social media networks.
Security forces were seen opening firewith bird shot and tear gas on male protesters in Taftan, a locality elsewhere in Sistan-Baluchistan, in a video published by the IHR group.
- 'Bloody Friday' -
Mainly Sunni Muslim Sistan-Baluchistan is Iran's poorest region whose ethnic Baluch inhabitants feel discriminated against.
At least 128 people have been killed in Sistan-Baluchistan during the protest crackdown, according to IHR, by far its biggest toll for deaths recorded in 26 of Iran's 31 provinces.
More than 90 of them were killed on September 30 alone -- a massacre that activists have dubbed "Black Friday".
Those protests were triggered by the alleged rape in custody of a 15-year-old girl by a police commander in the province's port city of Chabahar.
Analysts say the Baluchi were inspired by the protests that flared over Amini's death, which were initially driven by women's rights but expanded over time to include other grievances.
"Iran's Baluchi minority face entrenched discrimination that curtails their access to education, health care, employment, adequate housing and political office," Amnesty International said on Tuesday.
"The Baluchi minority have borne the brunt of the vicious crackdown by security forces during the uprising that has swept across Iran since September," the London-based rights group said in a statement.
The second province on IHR's list is Kurdistan, Amini's home province on Iran's western border with Iraq, another epicentre of the protests with a Sunni majority, where 53 people died.
Iran accuses its arch enemy the United States and its allies Britain and Israel of fomenting what it calls "riots".
It blames protest-related violence in Kurdistan on separatists, and has repeatedly launched deadly cross-border strikes on Kurdish groups exiled in Iraq.
"If Kurds and Baluchs were separatists, they would've fought against Iran, not for Iran," said a banner held aloft by protesters in Zahedan on Friday.
An Iranian general said this week that "more than 300 martyrs and people" have been killed in the unrest.
Thousands of Iranians and around 40 foreigners have been arrested during the demonstrations and more than 2,000 people have been charged, according to the country's judicial authorities.
NDTV
IMMY69
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I really wish those that have no clue about Persian people and only think about Islam minded their own business.
GLORY OF '92
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Why? The Persians are long dead.
It's the Islamic Republic and it's not going anywhere despite the betrayals.
IMMY69
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Only in your mind....
KingKhanWC
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lol. What is hilarious is your are ignoring the coroners report but focusing on scan obtained by Iran International, a group which is pro Iranian opposition. They have been using propaganda against Iran for years. They are based in London.
Your debating skills along with your credibility would improve if you can see the trees through the woods. From your posts if the West told you the sky is Green, youd believe it.
SalimBhai
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Sorry I was still laughing from your last post. Self goal. There is only one lesson to be learned here. Read what you are posting. The link you posted contradicts everything you have said in this thread. I will just leave it that.
James
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<b>Al Jazeera: Iran says more than 200 killed in country’s continuing unrest</b>
Tehran — Iran interior ministry’s state security council has provided its first death toll relating to months-long anti-government protests.
A security body in Iran has provided its first official assessment of continuing unrest across the country, saying more than 200 people have been killed since September.
In a statement published on Saturday, the state security council of the Iranian interior ministry provided its first death toll that it said has come as a result of “riots”.
It said the deceased include security forces, those killed in “terrorist acts”, those killed by foreign-affiliated groups and framed as killed by the state, “rioters” and “armed anti-revolutionary elements who were members of secessionist groups”.
The security body also cited “innocent people who have died in conditions of security disarray” but did not disclose how they were killed.
The announcement comes days after Amir Ali Hajizadeh, a top general in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), said more than 300 people have been “martyred and killed” during the unrest.
The figures are lower than those provided by a number of foreign-based rights organisations, which put the death toll at more than 400.
Protests erupted across Iran shortly after the September 16 death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who was arrested by the country’s “morality police” in Tehran for alleged non-compliance with a mandatory dress code.
Iranian authorities have accused the United States, Israel, the United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia of being behind the unrest.
The security body’s statement on Saturday also emphasised the role of foreign intervention in the protests, saying the country has been dealing with a “hybrid war” waged by adversary states and “terrorist” media groups.
“What is being witnessed today by the people is not civil protest but destruction, violence and insecurity by a minority of rioters,” it said.
The United Nations has called on Iranian authorities to refrain from using “disproportionate force” in response to the protests and has called for the release of a number of political prisoners while opposing death sentences linked with the protests.
Last month, the UN Human Rights Council voted to launch a fact-finding mission to investigate the protests. Tehran condemned it as a “political” effort that it said it will not cooperate with.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/12/3/iran-says-over-200-killed-in-countrys-ongoing-unrest
Tehran — Iran interior ministry’s state security council has provided its first death toll relating to months-long anti-government protests.
A security body in Iran has provided its first official assessment of continuing unrest across the country, saying more than 200 people have been killed since September.
In a statement published on Saturday, the state security council of the Iranian interior ministry provided its first death toll that it said has come as a result of “riots”.
It said the deceased include security forces, those killed in “terrorist acts”, those killed by foreign-affiliated groups and framed as killed by the state, “rioters” and “armed anti-revolutionary elements who were members of secessionist groups”.
The security body also cited “innocent people who have died in conditions of security disarray” but did not disclose how they were killed.
The announcement comes days after Amir Ali Hajizadeh, a top general in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), said more than 300 people have been “martyred and killed” during the unrest.
The figures are lower than those provided by a number of foreign-based rights organisations, which put the death toll at more than 400.
Protests erupted across Iran shortly after the September 16 death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who was arrested by the country’s “morality police” in Tehran for alleged non-compliance with a mandatory dress code.
Iranian authorities have accused the United States, Israel, the United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia of being behind the unrest.
The security body’s statement on Saturday also emphasised the role of foreign intervention in the protests, saying the country has been dealing with a “hybrid war” waged by adversary states and “terrorist” media groups.
“What is being witnessed today by the people is not civil protest but destruction, violence and insecurity by a minority of rioters,” it said.
The United Nations has called on Iranian authorities to refrain from using “disproportionate force” in response to the protests and has called for the release of a number of political prisoners while opposing death sentences linked with the protests.
Last month, the UN Human Rights Council voted to launch a fact-finding mission to investigate the protests. Tehran condemned it as a “political” effort that it said it will not cooperate with.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/12/3/iran-says-over-200-killed-in-countrys-ongoing-unrest
SalimBhai
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I think it’s more than 200 killed. Oh sorry I mean cardiac arrest. But seriously I think it was on 300s a few days i go. Shame
SpiritOf1903
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It was coming to Iran. They needed only to look at Venezuela to see how quickly things can go south
Iran abolishes controversial morality police amid huge anti-hijab unrest: Report
Iran Anti-Hijab Protests: "Morality police have nothing to do with the judiciary" and have been abolished, Attorney General Mohammad Jafar Montazeri was quoted as saying.
Iran has abolished the country’s morality police, AFP reported quoting the prosecutor general. This comes as protests have raged across Iran prompting confrontations between demonstrators and security forces for more than two months of protests triggered by the arrest of Mahsa Amini for allegedly violating the country's strict female dress code.
"Morality police have nothing to do with the judiciary" and have been abolished, Attorney General Mohammad Jafar Montazeri was quoted as saying by the ISNA news agency.
https://www.hindustantimes.com/worl...id-massive-unrest-report-101670145795129.html
Iran Anti-Hijab Protests: "Morality police have nothing to do with the judiciary" and have been abolished, Attorney General Mohammad Jafar Montazeri was quoted as saying.
Iran has abolished the country’s morality police, AFP reported quoting the prosecutor general. This comes as protests have raged across Iran prompting confrontations between demonstrators and security forces for more than two months of protests triggered by the arrest of Mahsa Amini for allegedly violating the country's strict female dress code.
"Morality police have nothing to do with the judiciary" and have been abolished, Attorney General Mohammad Jafar Montazeri was quoted as saying by the ISNA news agency.
https://www.hindustantimes.com/worl...id-massive-unrest-report-101670145795129.html
Iran's 'Morality Police' Disbanded After Massive Anti-Hijab Protests
Tehran: Iran has scrapped its morality police after more than two months of protests triggered by the arrest of Mahsa Amini for allegedly violating the country's strict female dress code, local media said Sunday.
"Morality police have nothing to do with the judiciary" and have been abolished, Attorney General Mohammad Jafar Montazeri was quoted as saying by the ISNA news agency.
His comment came at a religious conference where he responded to a participant who asked "why the morality police were being shut down", the report said.
The morality police -- known formally as the Gasht-e Ershad or "Guidance Patrol" -- were established under hardline president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to "spread the culture of modesty and hijab", the female head covering.
The units began patrols in 2006.
The announcement of their abolition came a day after Montazeri said that "both parliament and the judiciary are working (on the issue)" of whether the law requiring women to cover their heads needs to be changed.
President Ebrahim Raisi said in televised comments Saturday that Iran's republican and Islamic foundations were constitutionally entrenched "but there are methods of implementing the constitution that can be flexible".
NDTV
Tehran: Iran has scrapped its morality police after more than two months of protests triggered by the arrest of Mahsa Amini for allegedly violating the country's strict female dress code, local media said Sunday.
"Morality police have nothing to do with the judiciary" and have been abolished, Attorney General Mohammad Jafar Montazeri was quoted as saying by the ISNA news agency.
His comment came at a religious conference where he responded to a participant who asked "why the morality police were being shut down", the report said.
The morality police -- known formally as the Gasht-e Ershad or "Guidance Patrol" -- were established under hardline president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to "spread the culture of modesty and hijab", the female head covering.
The units began patrols in 2006.
The announcement of their abolition came a day after Montazeri said that "both parliament and the judiciary are working (on the issue)" of whether the law requiring women to cover their heads needs to be changed.
President Ebrahim Raisi said in televised comments Saturday that Iran's republican and Islamic foundations were constitutionally entrenched "but there are methods of implementing the constitution that can be flexible".
NDTV
SalimBhai
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The brutal regime is scared and compromising now.
Iran protesters call for strike, prosecutor says morality police shut down
DUBAI, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Protesters in Iran called on Sunday for a three-day strike this week, stepping up pressure on authorities after the public prosecutor said the morality police whose detention of a young woman triggered months of protests had been shut down.
There was no confirmation of the closure from the Interior Ministry which is in charge of the morality police, and Iranian state media said Public Prosecutor Mohammad Jafar Montazeri was not responsible for overseeing the force.
Top Iranian officials have repeatedly said Tehran would not change the Islamic Republic's mandatory hijab policy, which requires women to dress modestly and wear headscarves, despite 11 weeks of protests against strict Islamic regulations.
Hundreds of people have been killed in the unrest which erupted in September after the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman who was detained by the morality police for flouting the hijab rules
Protesters seeking to maintain their challenge to Iran's clerical rulers have called for a three-day economic strike and a rally to Tehran's Azadi (Freedom) Square on Wednesday, according to individual posts shared on Twitter by accounts unverified by Reuters.
President Ebrahim Raisi is due to address students in Tehran on the same day to mark Student Day in Iran.
Similar calls for strike action and mass mobilisation have in past weeks resulted in an escalation in the unrest which has swept the country - some of the biggest anti-government protests since Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution.
The activist HRANA news agency said 470 protesters had been killed as of Saturday, including 64 minors. It said 18,210 demonstrators were arrested and 61 members of the security forces were killed.
Iran's Interior Ministry state security council said on Saturday the death toll was 200, according to the judiciary's news agency Mizan.
Residents posting on social media and newspapers such as Shargh daily say there have been fewer sightings of the morality police on the streets in recent weeks as authorities apparently try to avoid provoking more protests.
On Saturday, Montazeri was cited by the semi-official Iranian Labour News Agency as saying that the morality police had been disbanded.
"The same authority which has established this police has shut it down," he was quoted as saying. He said the morality police was not under the judiciary's authority, which "continues to monitor behavioural actions at the community level."
Al Alam state television said foreign media were depicting his comments as "a retreat on the part of the Islamic Republic from its stance on hijab and religious morality as a result of the protests", but that all that could be understood from his comments was that the morality police were not directly related to the judiciary.
EXECUTIONS
State media said four men convicted of cooperating with Israel's spy agency Mossad were executed on Sunday.
They had been arrested in June - before the current unrest sweeping the country - following cooperation between the Ministry of Intelligence and the Revolutionary Guards, Tasnim news agency reported.
The prime minister's office in Israel, which oversees Mossad, declined to comment.
The Islamic Republic has long accused arch-enemy Israel of carrying out covert operations on its soil. Tehran has recently accused Israeli of plotting a civil war in Iran, a charge it has also made against the United States and other Western countries.
"Western countries are using the protests to interfere in Iran's internal affairs," Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian told a news conference on Sunday.
Iranian state media reported on Wednesday that the country's Supreme Court had upheld the death sentence handed out to the four men "for the crime of cooperating with the intelligence services of the Zionist regime and for kidnapping".
Three other people were handed prison sentences of between five and 10 years after being convicted of crimes that included acting against national security, aiding in kidnapping and possessing illegal weapons, the Mehr news agency said.
Reuters
DUBAI, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Protesters in Iran called on Sunday for a three-day strike this week, stepping up pressure on authorities after the public prosecutor said the morality police whose detention of a young woman triggered months of protests had been shut down.
There was no confirmation of the closure from the Interior Ministry which is in charge of the morality police, and Iranian state media said Public Prosecutor Mohammad Jafar Montazeri was not responsible for overseeing the force.
Top Iranian officials have repeatedly said Tehran would not change the Islamic Republic's mandatory hijab policy, which requires women to dress modestly and wear headscarves, despite 11 weeks of protests against strict Islamic regulations.
Hundreds of people have been killed in the unrest which erupted in September after the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman who was detained by the morality police for flouting the hijab rules
Protesters seeking to maintain their challenge to Iran's clerical rulers have called for a three-day economic strike and a rally to Tehran's Azadi (Freedom) Square on Wednesday, according to individual posts shared on Twitter by accounts unverified by Reuters.
President Ebrahim Raisi is due to address students in Tehran on the same day to mark Student Day in Iran.
Similar calls for strike action and mass mobilisation have in past weeks resulted in an escalation in the unrest which has swept the country - some of the biggest anti-government protests since Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution.
The activist HRANA news agency said 470 protesters had been killed as of Saturday, including 64 minors. It said 18,210 demonstrators were arrested and 61 members of the security forces were killed.
Iran's Interior Ministry state security council said on Saturday the death toll was 200, according to the judiciary's news agency Mizan.
Residents posting on social media and newspapers such as Shargh daily say there have been fewer sightings of the morality police on the streets in recent weeks as authorities apparently try to avoid provoking more protests.
On Saturday, Montazeri was cited by the semi-official Iranian Labour News Agency as saying that the morality police had been disbanded.
"The same authority which has established this police has shut it down," he was quoted as saying. He said the morality police was not under the judiciary's authority, which "continues to monitor behavioural actions at the community level."
Al Alam state television said foreign media were depicting his comments as "a retreat on the part of the Islamic Republic from its stance on hijab and religious morality as a result of the protests", but that all that could be understood from his comments was that the morality police were not directly related to the judiciary.
EXECUTIONS
State media said four men convicted of cooperating with Israel's spy agency Mossad were executed on Sunday.
They had been arrested in June - before the current unrest sweeping the country - following cooperation between the Ministry of Intelligence and the Revolutionary Guards, Tasnim news agency reported.
The prime minister's office in Israel, which oversees Mossad, declined to comment.
The Islamic Republic has long accused arch-enemy Israel of carrying out covert operations on its soil. Tehran has recently accused Israeli of plotting a civil war in Iran, a charge it has also made against the United States and other Western countries.
"Western countries are using the protests to interfere in Iran's internal affairs," Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian told a news conference on Sunday.
Iranian state media reported on Wednesday that the country's Supreme Court had upheld the death sentence handed out to the four men "for the crime of cooperating with the intelligence services of the Zionist regime and for kidnapping".
Three other people were handed prison sentences of between five and 10 years after being convicted of crimes that included acting against national security, aiding in kidnapping and possessing illegal weapons, the Mehr news agency said.
Reuters
Sidilicious
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And some posters here claim that the protesters here are only a small minority of the population.
IMMY69
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They have absolutely no clue whatsoever.
The majority marched the streets to overthrow Shah, from the very next day the monitory realised mistake and now the majority are firmly against this tyrannical, anti islam, government.
Cpt. Rishwat
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The morality police have been in operation from 2006? I'm sure they were there back in Khomeini's day as well, that sounds incorrect.
In any case, I am surprised it took this long for Iran to wake up and realise you can't force people to wear extreme clothing. And if you do, your days are numbered.
In any case, I am surprised it took this long for Iran to wake up and realise you can't force people to wear extreme clothing. And if you do, your days are numbered.
SalimBhai
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Will be interesting next few weeks. Lets see
Sidilicious
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Though I do understand the coup against the Shah. Good or bad, he came into power with the help of foreign powers, who overthrew a democratically elected government.
However, it doesn’t mean you go completely other way. Hopefully Iranians get to choose how they want to live and don’t impose strict laws on other people.
Shops Across Iran Shut Amid Protests Demanding Fall Of Rulers
Iranian shops shut their doors in several cities on Monday, following calls for a three-day nationwide general strike from protesters seeking the fall of clerical rulers, with the head of the judiciary blaming "rioters" for threatening shopkeepers.
Iran has been rocked by nationwide unrest following the death of Iranian Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini on Sept. 16 in police custody, posing one of the strongest challenges to the Islamic Republic since the 1979 revolution.
Amini was arrested by Iran's morality police for flouting the strict hijab policy, which requires women to dress modestly and wear headscarfs.
The semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Monday that an amusement park at a Tehran shopping centre was closed by the judiciary because its operators were not wearing the hijab properly.
The reformist-leaning Hammihan newspaper said that morality police had increased their presence in cities outside Tehran, where the force has been less active over recent weeks.
Iran's public prosecutor on Saturday was cited by the semi-official Iranian Labour News Agency as saying that the morality police had been disbanded. But there was no confirmation from the Interior Ministry and state media said the public prosecutor was not responsible for overseeing the force.
Last week, Vice President for Women's Affairs Ensieh Khazali said that the hijab was part of the Islamic Republic's general law and that it guaranteed women's social movement and security.
In the shop protests, 1500tasvir, a Twitter account with 380,000 followers focused on the protests, shared videos on Monday of shut stores in key commercial areas, such as Tehran's Bazaar, and other large cities such as Karaj, Isfahan, Mashhad, Tabriz, and Shiraz.
Reuters could not immediately verify the footage.
The head of Iran's judiciary, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, said that "rioters" were threatening shopkeepers to close their businesses and added they would be swiftly dealt with by the judiciary and security bodies. Ejei added that protesters condemned to death would soon be executed.
The Revolutionary Guards issued a statement praising the judiciary and calling on it to swiftly and decisively issue a judgement against "defendants accused of crimes against the security of the nation and Islam".
Security forces would show no mercy towards "rioters, thugs, terrorists", the semi-official Tasnim news agency quoted the guards as saying.
Witnesses speaking to Reuters said riot police and the Basij militia had been heavily deployed in central Tehran.
The semi-official Fars news agency confirmed that a jewellery shop belonging to former Iranian football legend Ali Daei was sealed by authorities, following its decision to close down for the three days of the general strike.
Similar footage by 1500tasvir and other activist accounts was shared of closed shops in smaller cities like Bojnourd, Kerman, Sabzevar, Ilam, Ardabil and Lahijan.
Kurdish Iranian rights group Hengaw also reported that 19 cities had joined the general strike movement in western Iran, where most of the country's Kurdish population live.
Hundreds of people have been killed in the unrest since the death of Amini, a 22-year-old woman who was detained by the morality police for flouting hijab rules.
NDTV
Iranian shops shut their doors in several cities on Monday, following calls for a three-day nationwide general strike from protesters seeking the fall of clerical rulers, with the head of the judiciary blaming "rioters" for threatening shopkeepers.
Iran has been rocked by nationwide unrest following the death of Iranian Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini on Sept. 16 in police custody, posing one of the strongest challenges to the Islamic Republic since the 1979 revolution.
Amini was arrested by Iran's morality police for flouting the strict hijab policy, which requires women to dress modestly and wear headscarfs.
The semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Monday that an amusement park at a Tehran shopping centre was closed by the judiciary because its operators were not wearing the hijab properly.
The reformist-leaning Hammihan newspaper said that morality police had increased their presence in cities outside Tehran, where the force has been less active over recent weeks.
Iran's public prosecutor on Saturday was cited by the semi-official Iranian Labour News Agency as saying that the morality police had been disbanded. But there was no confirmation from the Interior Ministry and state media said the public prosecutor was not responsible for overseeing the force.
Last week, Vice President for Women's Affairs Ensieh Khazali said that the hijab was part of the Islamic Republic's general law and that it guaranteed women's social movement and security.
In the shop protests, 1500tasvir, a Twitter account with 380,000 followers focused on the protests, shared videos on Monday of shut stores in key commercial areas, such as Tehran's Bazaar, and other large cities such as Karaj, Isfahan, Mashhad, Tabriz, and Shiraz.
Reuters could not immediately verify the footage.
The head of Iran's judiciary, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, said that "rioters" were threatening shopkeepers to close their businesses and added they would be swiftly dealt with by the judiciary and security bodies. Ejei added that protesters condemned to death would soon be executed.
The Revolutionary Guards issued a statement praising the judiciary and calling on it to swiftly and decisively issue a judgement against "defendants accused of crimes against the security of the nation and Islam".
Security forces would show no mercy towards "rioters, thugs, terrorists", the semi-official Tasnim news agency quoted the guards as saying.
Witnesses speaking to Reuters said riot police and the Basij militia had been heavily deployed in central Tehran.
The semi-official Fars news agency confirmed that a jewellery shop belonging to former Iranian football legend Ali Daei was sealed by authorities, following its decision to close down for the three days of the general strike.
Similar footage by 1500tasvir and other activist accounts was shared of closed shops in smaller cities like Bojnourd, Kerman, Sabzevar, Ilam, Ardabil and Lahijan.
Kurdish Iranian rights group Hengaw also reported that 19 cities had joined the general strike movement in western Iran, where most of the country's Kurdish population live.
Hundreds of people have been killed in the unrest since the death of Amini, a 22-year-old woman who was detained by the morality police for flouting hijab rules.
NDTV
Anti-Hijab Activists Deny Iran's Claim Of Abolishing Its Morality Police
Campaigners backing Iran's protest movement on Monday dismissed a claim that the Islamic republic is disbanding its notorious morality police, insisting there was no change to its restrictive dress rules for women.
There were also calls on social media for a three-day strike, more than two months into the wave of civil unrest sparked by the death of Kurdish-Iranian woman Mahsa Amini, 22, after her arrest by the morality police in Tehran.
Amini was accused of flouting Iran's strict dress code demanding women wear modest clothing and the hijab headscarf, and her death sparked protests that have spiralled into the biggest challenge to the regime since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
Iran's Prosecutor General Mohammad Jafar Montazeri, in a surprise move at the weekend, was quoted as saying that the morality police units -- known as gasht-e ershad (guidance patrol) -- had been closed down.
But activists were sceptical about his comments, which appeared to be an impromptu response to a question at a conference rather than a clearly signposted announcement on the morality police, which is run by the interior ministry.
Moreover, they said, their abolition would mark no change to Iran's headscarf policy -- a key ideological pillar for its clerical leadership -- but rather a switch in tactics on enforcing it.
Scrapping the units would be "probably too little too late" for the protesters who now demand outright regime change, Roya Boroumand, co-founder of the US-based Abdorrahman Boroumand Center rights group, told AFP.
"Unless they remove all legal restrictions on women's dress and the laws controlling citizens' private lives, this is just a PR move," she said, adding that "nothing prevents other law enforcement" bodies from policing "the discriminatory laws".
'Civil disobedience'
The guidance patrols have been a familiar sight on Tehran's streets since 2006 when they were introduced during the presidency of the ultra-conservative Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. But the clerical leadership had been strictly enforcing the rules, including the headscarf, well before then.
Under the last shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, women had been free to dress as they wished with fashions little different from Western countries in secular areas of Tehran. His father Reza Shah had gone a step further in an edict issued in 1936, seeking to ban all Islamic veils and headscarves.
It was anger over the obligatory headscarf rule that sparked the first protests over the death of Amini, who died from what her family says was a blow to a head sustained in custody. The authorities dispute this.
But the movement, fed also by years of anger over economic grievances and political repression, is now marked by calls for an end to the Islamic republic led by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Reports from Tehran have suggested the feared vans of the guidance patrols had already become much less common or even vanished after the protests broke out.
Images have also shown women smashing decades-long taboos by attending protests or even carrying out daily tasks like going shopping without headscarves.
'Pillar of Islamic republic'
The authorities have meanwhile been concentrating on battling the protests themselves in a crackdown that has left at least 448 people dead, according to Norway-based group Iran Human Rights.
"The alleged suspension of Iran's morality police doesn't mean anything as it had already become irrelevant due to the massive level of women's civil disobedience and defying hijab-related rules," said Omid Memarian, a senior Iran analyst at Democracy for the Arab World Now.
He described the mandatory headscarf as "one of the pillars of the Islamic republic" and said that "abolishing those laws and structures would mean a fundamental change in the Islamic Republic's identity and existence".
Mr Montazeri's declaration and the confusion the comments sparked were seen as a sign of the disquiet within the regime over how to handle the protests which are continuing across the country despite the crackdown.
Within Iran on Monday there appeared to be hesitancy over the meaning of the comments with only reformist dailies putting the issue on their front page and conservative media largely ignoring it.
"The end of the morality police," read a headline in daily Sazandegi. But the Sharq newspaper was more circumspect. "Is this the end of the patrols?" it asked, noting the police public relations had not confirmed it.
"We should not be fooled by deceptive moves the Islamic Republic employs at times of desperation, as they might come back with other restrictive policies and measures," said Mr Memarian.
The hijab is "still compulsory", said Shadi Sadr, co-founder of the London based group Justice for Iran. While the protests started over the death of Amini, he predicted, "Iranians won't rest until the regime is gone."
NDTV
Campaigners backing Iran's protest movement on Monday dismissed a claim that the Islamic republic is disbanding its notorious morality police, insisting there was no change to its restrictive dress rules for women.
There were also calls on social media for a three-day strike, more than two months into the wave of civil unrest sparked by the death of Kurdish-Iranian woman Mahsa Amini, 22, after her arrest by the morality police in Tehran.
Amini was accused of flouting Iran's strict dress code demanding women wear modest clothing and the hijab headscarf, and her death sparked protests that have spiralled into the biggest challenge to the regime since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
Iran's Prosecutor General Mohammad Jafar Montazeri, in a surprise move at the weekend, was quoted as saying that the morality police units -- known as gasht-e ershad (guidance patrol) -- had been closed down.
But activists were sceptical about his comments, which appeared to be an impromptu response to a question at a conference rather than a clearly signposted announcement on the morality police, which is run by the interior ministry.
Moreover, they said, their abolition would mark no change to Iran's headscarf policy -- a key ideological pillar for its clerical leadership -- but rather a switch in tactics on enforcing it.
Scrapping the units would be "probably too little too late" for the protesters who now demand outright regime change, Roya Boroumand, co-founder of the US-based Abdorrahman Boroumand Center rights group, told AFP.
"Unless they remove all legal restrictions on women's dress and the laws controlling citizens' private lives, this is just a PR move," she said, adding that "nothing prevents other law enforcement" bodies from policing "the discriminatory laws".
'Civil disobedience'
The guidance patrols have been a familiar sight on Tehran's streets since 2006 when they were introduced during the presidency of the ultra-conservative Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. But the clerical leadership had been strictly enforcing the rules, including the headscarf, well before then.
Under the last shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, women had been free to dress as they wished with fashions little different from Western countries in secular areas of Tehran. His father Reza Shah had gone a step further in an edict issued in 1936, seeking to ban all Islamic veils and headscarves.
It was anger over the obligatory headscarf rule that sparked the first protests over the death of Amini, who died from what her family says was a blow to a head sustained in custody. The authorities dispute this.
But the movement, fed also by years of anger over economic grievances and political repression, is now marked by calls for an end to the Islamic republic led by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Reports from Tehran have suggested the feared vans of the guidance patrols had already become much less common or even vanished after the protests broke out.
Images have also shown women smashing decades-long taboos by attending protests or even carrying out daily tasks like going shopping without headscarves.
'Pillar of Islamic republic'
The authorities have meanwhile been concentrating on battling the protests themselves in a crackdown that has left at least 448 people dead, according to Norway-based group Iran Human Rights.
"The alleged suspension of Iran's morality police doesn't mean anything as it had already become irrelevant due to the massive level of women's civil disobedience and defying hijab-related rules," said Omid Memarian, a senior Iran analyst at Democracy for the Arab World Now.
He described the mandatory headscarf as "one of the pillars of the Islamic republic" and said that "abolishing those laws and structures would mean a fundamental change in the Islamic Republic's identity and existence".
Mr Montazeri's declaration and the confusion the comments sparked were seen as a sign of the disquiet within the regime over how to handle the protests which are continuing across the country despite the crackdown.
Within Iran on Monday there appeared to be hesitancy over the meaning of the comments with only reformist dailies putting the issue on their front page and conservative media largely ignoring it.
"The end of the morality police," read a headline in daily Sazandegi. But the Sharq newspaper was more circumspect. "Is this the end of the patrols?" it asked, noting the police public relations had not confirmed it.
"We should not be fooled by deceptive moves the Islamic Republic employs at times of desperation, as they might come back with other restrictive policies and measures," said Mr Memarian.
The hijab is "still compulsory", said Shadi Sadr, co-founder of the London based group Justice for Iran. While the protests started over the death of Amini, he predicted, "Iranians won't rest until the regime is gone."
NDTV
Iranian Expats in Iraq Divided Over End of 'Morality Police'
Arbil, Iraq: Iranians in Iraq expressed scepticism at reports Sunday that Tehran has abolished its feared morality police, a force indelibly associated with months of protests in the Islamic republic.
Iran's morality police in mid-September arrested young Iranian-Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini for allegedly breaching the country's strict dress code for women, and she subsequently died in their custody, triggering ongoing protests.
Late Saturday, Iran's attorney general said that the force had "been abolished".
But the move received short shrift in Iraqi Kurdistan, where Iranian opposition groups have lately been the target of cross-border missile and drone strikes by the regime.
"The protesters' slogan is not that the morality police should be disbanded," said Nachmil Abdi, who works in a shop selling women's shoes.
"Yes, one of the claims is an end to the compulsory headscarf," she added. "But the true demand is the elimination of the regime".
Soma Hakimzada, a 32-year-old journalist born in Iraqi Kurdistan to parents who fled Iran, also viewed the move dimly.
"I don't think women appreciate this Iranian announcement," she said, adding that she hoped it would not dampen the fervour of protests inside the Islamic republic.
Elsewhere in Iraq, views were mixed.
"If we want to have a morality police, it must be done with soft words," pleaded Wahid Sarabi, speaking in the Iraqi holy city of Najaf, but who is from the western Iran city of Hamedan.
Younis Radoui, a 36-year-old Iranian originally from Mashhad, took the view that laws in Iran "imposes respect for the hijab -- and therefore all citizens must respect the law and the hijab".
NDTV
Arbil, Iraq: Iranians in Iraq expressed scepticism at reports Sunday that Tehran has abolished its feared morality police, a force indelibly associated with months of protests in the Islamic republic.
Iran's morality police in mid-September arrested young Iranian-Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini for allegedly breaching the country's strict dress code for women, and she subsequently died in their custody, triggering ongoing protests.
Late Saturday, Iran's attorney general said that the force had "been abolished".
But the move received short shrift in Iraqi Kurdistan, where Iranian opposition groups have lately been the target of cross-border missile and drone strikes by the regime.
"The protesters' slogan is not that the morality police should be disbanded," said Nachmil Abdi, who works in a shop selling women's shoes.
"Yes, one of the claims is an end to the compulsory headscarf," she added. "But the true demand is the elimination of the regime".
Soma Hakimzada, a 32-year-old journalist born in Iraqi Kurdistan to parents who fled Iran, also viewed the move dimly.
"I don't think women appreciate this Iranian announcement," she said, adding that she hoped it would not dampen the fervour of protests inside the Islamic republic.
Elsewhere in Iraq, views were mixed.
"If we want to have a morality police, it must be done with soft words," pleaded Wahid Sarabi, speaking in the Iraqi holy city of Najaf, but who is from the western Iran city of Hamedan.
Younis Radoui, a 36-year-old Iranian originally from Mashhad, took the view that laws in Iran "imposes respect for the hijab -- and therefore all citizens must respect the law and the hijab".
NDTV
GLORY OF '92
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Please stop posting on Iran you are clueless.
IMMY69
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Like I said, only in your head.
For the record, I have family and friends living in Tehran, Shiraz, Esfahan and Yazd.
I have first hand knowledge of the ground reality and what people think of the gruesome and corrupt regime.
Tell me, have you even ever been to Iran, other than to Tehran and Mashad?
SalimBhai
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I have been to iran. The feeling I got was people were sick of the brutal regime . The days are numbered the the regime knows it. Hence trying to negotiate.
GLORY OF '92
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Yes been there for 8 weeks and have many friends in the UK from Iran. 90% are saying the normal people want the protests to end. It's an attempt to get a US/UK puppet regime in. Like in Pakistan real democracy can't work in Iran. You need tough leadership and tough punishments. It's been working for 43 years and made Iran the only Muslim country which has stood up for Islam. Unfortunately some weak corrupt souls in Iran are willing to end that for some dollars.
Not every country has to support LQBT+- and want all decency out the window. Stop trying to force the Western mindset on other cultures. It needs to stop.
SalimBhai
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These protests are not about LGBTQ. Also the brutal Regime is corrupt to the core and oppressive. Hence the heavy hand. Now I dont want an y Western interference here. There is enough there that organically a movement can topple this brutal regime. Not this year. But soon.
IMMY69
Senior T20I Player
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Facing a serious challenge from ongoing widespread unrest, Iran's government is blaming Kurdish separatists for inciting the unrest, an Iranian academic has said.
Protests demanding the overthrow of Iran's clerical rulers are now in their fourth month, which erupted after the death of Mahsa Amini, a Kurdish-Iranian woman, while in custody of the morality police.
"For the government it's useful to say this is Kurdish separatists," Yassamine Mather, an academic, said.
The Oxford University scholar told Sky News: "The protesters see themselves as part of a much bigger Iran protest."
Ms Amini, who was 22, is being held up as a symbol and rallying cry, while the regime's brutal crackdown has lead to the deaths of more than 470 protesters, according to the activist HRANA news agency.
Grappling with perhaps the biggest threat to its rule in decades, the government has accused foreign nations of inciting the demonstrations.
The regime has also levelled blame at its Kurdish population, much of which lives near the border of Iraq.
A hardline Iranian security official told Reuters: "The Kurdish opposition groups are using Amini's case as an excuse to reach their decades-long goal of separating Kurdistan from Iran, but they will not succeed."
Iranian state media has called the nationwide protests a "political plot" ignited by Kurdish separatist groups, particularly the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran.
Ms Amini was from the Kurdish city of Saqqez, the first area to witness protests after her death in September.
Ms Mather said that "the demonstrations I've seen online, the slogans that I read don't point to" a separatist motive.
"On the contrary they seem to emphasise their part in a larger Iran, like they call on people in Baluchestan, in Tehran, in Azerbaijan to support them," she said.
"If you wanted separation, you wouldn't do that."
The regime appeared to make a concession to the protesters when the attorney general suggested the morality police, which enforces the country's strict dress code, had been disbanded, but the interior ministry has not confirmed the claim and state media has since said the official in question is not responsible for running the force.
'The whole of Iran rose up'
Samira, 42, is a mother of two teenage boys and lives in Sanandaj city, the regional capital of the Kurdistan region in northwestern Iran.
She told Sky News that her Kurdish roots and being Sunni Muslim means her people have been under oppression for decades.
"We as Kurds want our human rights and have no interest in separating Kurdistan from Iran - in contrast to what the government is promoting," she said.
"It is natural the more they violate our rights, voices for federalism and separation grow.
"But the fact that a Kurdish girl was killed, but the whole of Iran rose up, shows that we as Iranians from any background or tribes are not separate, and we support each other."
Dr Arshin Adib-Moghaddam, a professor at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, said the protests are "certainly not primarily sectarian" and involve "every strata of Iranian society".
He told Sky News: "At the core of Iran, there is an ancient culture, a common historical memory, rites and rituals that are clearly shared.
"Conversely, the Iranian state attempts to rally a weary population around an ideology that denies that ingrained diversity."
Dr Adib-Moghaddam, author of What Is Iran?, added: "The Iranian state is prudent enough not to sectarianise this conflict and probably realistic enough to understand, that the protests address the recent unwillingness of Iran to reform, and therefore also the idea of the Islamic Republic itself."
The Iranian government has also accused Kurdish opposition groups based across the border in northern Iraq of inciting the demonstrations and smuggling weapons into the country.
The authorities have not provided evidence for these claims, which Kurdish groups have denied.
Nonetheless, a senior Iranian military official visiting Baghdad last month threatened Iraq with a ground military operation if the Iraqi army does not fortify the countries' shared border against Kurdish opposition groups.
"We're being used as a scapegoat," Khelil Nadri, a spokesman for the Kurdistan Freedom party, told the Financial Times.
SKY
Protests demanding the overthrow of Iran's clerical rulers are now in their fourth month, which erupted after the death of Mahsa Amini, a Kurdish-Iranian woman, while in custody of the morality police.
"For the government it's useful to say this is Kurdish separatists," Yassamine Mather, an academic, said.
The Oxford University scholar told Sky News: "The protesters see themselves as part of a much bigger Iran protest."
Ms Amini, who was 22, is being held up as a symbol and rallying cry, while the regime's brutal crackdown has lead to the deaths of more than 470 protesters, according to the activist HRANA news agency.
Grappling with perhaps the biggest threat to its rule in decades, the government has accused foreign nations of inciting the demonstrations.
The regime has also levelled blame at its Kurdish population, much of which lives near the border of Iraq.
A hardline Iranian security official told Reuters: "The Kurdish opposition groups are using Amini's case as an excuse to reach their decades-long goal of separating Kurdistan from Iran, but they will not succeed."
Iranian state media has called the nationwide protests a "political plot" ignited by Kurdish separatist groups, particularly the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran.
Ms Amini was from the Kurdish city of Saqqez, the first area to witness protests after her death in September.
Ms Mather said that "the demonstrations I've seen online, the slogans that I read don't point to" a separatist motive.
"On the contrary they seem to emphasise their part in a larger Iran, like they call on people in Baluchestan, in Tehran, in Azerbaijan to support them," she said.
"If you wanted separation, you wouldn't do that."
The regime appeared to make a concession to the protesters when the attorney general suggested the morality police, which enforces the country's strict dress code, had been disbanded, but the interior ministry has not confirmed the claim and state media has since said the official in question is not responsible for running the force.
'The whole of Iran rose up'
Samira, 42, is a mother of two teenage boys and lives in Sanandaj city, the regional capital of the Kurdistan region in northwestern Iran.
She told Sky News that her Kurdish roots and being Sunni Muslim means her people have been under oppression for decades.
"We as Kurds want our human rights and have no interest in separating Kurdistan from Iran - in contrast to what the government is promoting," she said.
"It is natural the more they violate our rights, voices for federalism and separation grow.
"But the fact that a Kurdish girl was killed, but the whole of Iran rose up, shows that we as Iranians from any background or tribes are not separate, and we support each other."
Dr Arshin Adib-Moghaddam, a professor at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, said the protests are "certainly not primarily sectarian" and involve "every strata of Iranian society".
He told Sky News: "At the core of Iran, there is an ancient culture, a common historical memory, rites and rituals that are clearly shared.
"Conversely, the Iranian state attempts to rally a weary population around an ideology that denies that ingrained diversity."
Dr Adib-Moghaddam, author of What Is Iran?, added: "The Iranian state is prudent enough not to sectarianise this conflict and probably realistic enough to understand, that the protests address the recent unwillingness of Iran to reform, and therefore also the idea of the Islamic Republic itself."
The Iranian government has also accused Kurdish opposition groups based across the border in northern Iraq of inciting the demonstrations and smuggling weapons into the country.
The authorities have not provided evidence for these claims, which Kurdish groups have denied.
Nonetheless, a senior Iranian military official visiting Baghdad last month threatened Iraq with a ground military operation if the Iraqi army does not fortify the countries' shared border against Kurdish opposition groups.
"We're being used as a scapegoat," Khelil Nadri, a spokesman for the Kurdistan Freedom party, told the Financial Times.
SKY
Last edited:
Iran Announces Death Penalty To 5 Over Anti-Hijab Protest-Linked Killing
Tehran: Iran sentenced five people to hang for killing a paramilitary member, the judiciary said Tuesday, a ruling condemned by rights activists as a means to "spread fear" and stop protests over Mahsa Amini's death.
Another 11 people, including three children, were handed long jail terms over the murder, judiciary spokesman Massoud Setayeshi told a news conference, adding the sentences could be appealed.
Prosecutors said paramilitary member Ruhollah Ajamian, 27, was stripped naked and killed by a group of mourners who had been paying tribute to a slain protester, Hadis Najafi.
Najafi was killed on September 21, five days into the wave of protests that erupted across Iran after the death of Amini, following her arrest by the morality police for an alleged breach of the country's hijab dress code for women.
Iran has struggled to quell the largely peaceful protests.
In a surprise move, Iran's prosecutor general, Mohammad Jafar Montazeri was Sunday quoted as saying that the morality police units -- known formally as Gasht-e Ershad ("Guidance Patrol") -- had been closed down.
But his comments have yet to be followed up by an official announcement and have drawn widespread scepticism.
Ajamian had died on November 3 in Karaj, west of Tehran, after being attacked with "knives, stones, fists, kicks" and being dragged along a street, said the judiciary spokesman.
He belonged to the Basij, a state-sanctioned volunteer force that is linked to Iran's powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
- Protesters again defy crackdown -
The five sentenced to death were convicted of "corruption on earth" -- one of the most serious offences under Islamic sharia law in Iran.
The other 11, including a woman, were convicted for "their role in the riots" and received lengthy prison terms, said Setayeshi.
The rulings bring to 11 the number of people sentenced to death over the protests.
They were condemned by Norway-based non-governmental organisation Iran Human Rights.
"These people are sentenced after unfair processes and without due process," IHR director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam told AFP. "The aim is to spread fear and make people stop protesting."
Despite a crackdown that has killed hundreds, images posted online showed shops closed in cities across the country on Tuesday, the second day of a strike that culminates Wednesday on Student Day.
"Freedom, freedom, freedom," dozens of students from Tehran's Allameh Tabatabai University were heard chanting in a video published by IHR.
At least 448 people have been "killed by security forces in the ongoing nationwide protests", the Oslo-based rights group said in its latest toll issued on November 29.
Iran, which accuses the United States and its allies Britain and Israel of fomenting the rest, said on Saturday that more than 200 people have been killed since the protests began. A general had put the figure at more than 300 last week.
- Campaign of arrests -
Iran currently executes more people annually than any nation other than China, Amnesty International says.
The London-based rights group said on November 16 that, based on official reports, at least 21 protesters had been charged with crimes that could see them hanged in what it called "sham trials".
The crackdown has also seen thousands of people arrested, including 40 foreigners and prominent actors, journalists and lawyers.
Among them are a dozen alleged members of an unnamed European-linked group accused of planning acts of sabotage.
The Revolutionary Guards in Markazi province, southwest of Tehran, said Tuesday they had arrested "a network with 12 members with links abroad".
They had been "under the guidance of counter-revolutionary agents living in Germany and the Netherlands" and had "attempted to procure weapons and intended to carry out subversive acts".
The Guards, referring to the nationwide protests, said that the "riots project has failed".
It warned acts of sabotage would continue, however, and appealed for the "vigilance of loyal people... especially shopkeepers, students and workers" to foil them.
Iranian lawmaker Hossein Jalali called on the authorities to send women who fail to observe hijab text messages threatening to block their bank accounts, Shargh newspaper said.
Meanwhile police in Britain said a fire broke out overnight next to the London office of the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI) opposition group. There was no evidence so far that it was a deliberate attack.
NDTV
Tehran: Iran sentenced five people to hang for killing a paramilitary member, the judiciary said Tuesday, a ruling condemned by rights activists as a means to "spread fear" and stop protests over Mahsa Amini's death.
Another 11 people, including three children, were handed long jail terms over the murder, judiciary spokesman Massoud Setayeshi told a news conference, adding the sentences could be appealed.
Prosecutors said paramilitary member Ruhollah Ajamian, 27, was stripped naked and killed by a group of mourners who had been paying tribute to a slain protester, Hadis Najafi.
Najafi was killed on September 21, five days into the wave of protests that erupted across Iran after the death of Amini, following her arrest by the morality police for an alleged breach of the country's hijab dress code for women.
Iran has struggled to quell the largely peaceful protests.
In a surprise move, Iran's prosecutor general, Mohammad Jafar Montazeri was Sunday quoted as saying that the morality police units -- known formally as Gasht-e Ershad ("Guidance Patrol") -- had been closed down.
But his comments have yet to be followed up by an official announcement and have drawn widespread scepticism.
Ajamian had died on November 3 in Karaj, west of Tehran, after being attacked with "knives, stones, fists, kicks" and being dragged along a street, said the judiciary spokesman.
He belonged to the Basij, a state-sanctioned volunteer force that is linked to Iran's powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
- Protesters again defy crackdown -
The five sentenced to death were convicted of "corruption on earth" -- one of the most serious offences under Islamic sharia law in Iran.
The other 11, including a woman, were convicted for "their role in the riots" and received lengthy prison terms, said Setayeshi.
The rulings bring to 11 the number of people sentenced to death over the protests.
They were condemned by Norway-based non-governmental organisation Iran Human Rights.
"These people are sentenced after unfair processes and without due process," IHR director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam told AFP. "The aim is to spread fear and make people stop protesting."
Despite a crackdown that has killed hundreds, images posted online showed shops closed in cities across the country on Tuesday, the second day of a strike that culminates Wednesday on Student Day.
"Freedom, freedom, freedom," dozens of students from Tehran's Allameh Tabatabai University were heard chanting in a video published by IHR.
At least 448 people have been "killed by security forces in the ongoing nationwide protests", the Oslo-based rights group said in its latest toll issued on November 29.
Iran, which accuses the United States and its allies Britain and Israel of fomenting the rest, said on Saturday that more than 200 people have been killed since the protests began. A general had put the figure at more than 300 last week.
- Campaign of arrests -
Iran currently executes more people annually than any nation other than China, Amnesty International says.
The London-based rights group said on November 16 that, based on official reports, at least 21 protesters had been charged with crimes that could see them hanged in what it called "sham trials".
The crackdown has also seen thousands of people arrested, including 40 foreigners and prominent actors, journalists and lawyers.
Among them are a dozen alleged members of an unnamed European-linked group accused of planning acts of sabotage.
The Revolutionary Guards in Markazi province, southwest of Tehran, said Tuesday they had arrested "a network with 12 members with links abroad".
They had been "under the guidance of counter-revolutionary agents living in Germany and the Netherlands" and had "attempted to procure weapons and intended to carry out subversive acts".
The Guards, referring to the nationwide protests, said that the "riots project has failed".
It warned acts of sabotage would continue, however, and appealed for the "vigilance of loyal people... especially shopkeepers, students and workers" to foil them.
Iranian lawmaker Hossein Jalali called on the authorities to send women who fail to observe hijab text messages threatening to block their bank accounts, Shargh newspaper said.
Meanwhile police in Britain said a fire broke out overnight next to the London office of the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI) opposition group. There was no evidence so far that it was a deliberate attack.
NDTV
sweep_shot
Test Captain
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Over 500 People Already Executed By Iran In 2022: Report
Iran has executed more than 500 people so far in 2022, far more than in the whole of last year, a rights group said Monday.
Norway-based group Iran Human Rights told AFP at least 504 people had now been executed in Iran this year and that it was still working to confirm additional cases of people said to have been hanged.
The figure comes as concern grows that the authorities will make extensive use of the death penalty against people involved in the anti-regime protests that have erupted in Iran since September.
IHR's count includes four people who official media said were put to death on Sunday accused of working with Israel's intelligence service.
The rights group said they were executed in Rajai Shahr prison in Karaj outside Tehran -- also known as Gohardasht -- within just seven months of arrest.
"These individuals were sentenced to death without due process or a fair trial behind the closed doors of the Revolutionary Court," said IHR director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam in a statement. "Their sentences lacked all legal validity."
"These executions are intended to create societal fear and divert public attention from the Islamic republic's intelligence failures," he added.
Another of those recently hanged was a woman executed on Saturday in Dastgerd in central Iran accused of murdering her father-in-law, IHR said.
Rights groups have expressed alarm over the numbers of women executed in Iran, often on charges of murdering parters or relatives in abusive relationships.
IHR said that the numbers executed this year are already the highest in five years.
According to its data, at least 333 people were executed in 2021, a 25 percent increase compared to 267 in 2020.
Amnesty International meanwhile put the number of recorded executions in Iran last year at 314 -- higher than in any other country worldwide, it says, while noting such data is not available for China, where it believes annual executions run into the thousands.
Six people have already been sentenced to death over Iran's protests in what IHR calls "show trials without access to their lawyers and due process."
It says 26 people, including three minors, are currently facing charges that could see them hanged.
The authorities have described those accused as rioters who attacked security forces and public buildings, but the circumstances of the cases are disputed by activists.
NDTV
Iran has executed more than 500 people so far in 2022, far more than in the whole of last year, a rights group said Monday.
Norway-based group Iran Human Rights told AFP at least 504 people had now been executed in Iran this year and that it was still working to confirm additional cases of people said to have been hanged.
The figure comes as concern grows that the authorities will make extensive use of the death penalty against people involved in the anti-regime protests that have erupted in Iran since September.
IHR's count includes four people who official media said were put to death on Sunday accused of working with Israel's intelligence service.
The rights group said they were executed in Rajai Shahr prison in Karaj outside Tehran -- also known as Gohardasht -- within just seven months of arrest.
"These individuals were sentenced to death without due process or a fair trial behind the closed doors of the Revolutionary Court," said IHR director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam in a statement. "Their sentences lacked all legal validity."
"These executions are intended to create societal fear and divert public attention from the Islamic republic's intelligence failures," he added.
Another of those recently hanged was a woman executed on Saturday in Dastgerd in central Iran accused of murdering her father-in-law, IHR said.
Rights groups have expressed alarm over the numbers of women executed in Iran, often on charges of murdering parters or relatives in abusive relationships.
IHR said that the numbers executed this year are already the highest in five years.
According to its data, at least 333 people were executed in 2021, a 25 percent increase compared to 267 in 2020.
Amnesty International meanwhile put the number of recorded executions in Iran last year at 314 -- higher than in any other country worldwide, it says, while noting such data is not available for China, where it believes annual executions run into the thousands.
Six people have already been sentenced to death over Iran's protests in what IHR calls "show trials without access to their lawyers and due process."
It says 26 people, including three minors, are currently facing charges that could see them hanged.
The authorities have described those accused as rioters who attacked security forces and public buildings, but the circumstances of the cases are disputed by activists.
NDTV
Sidilicious
T20I Debutant
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I hope you have the same sentiments for those that murdered Mahsa.
GLORY OF '92
Test Debutant
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She died due to previous illness. The protests will die out within a month. The Islamic Republic will exist for centuries. Sooner people except this the better.
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