A protest movement in Iran over the death of Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini in custody entered its third week on Friday, despite a tightening crackdown that rights activists say has claimed at least 83 lives.
The women-led protests erupted after 22-year-old Amini died three days after she was arrested by Tehran’s notorious morality police for allegedly violating the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code for women.
“Women, life, freedom!” Protesters chanted Thursday night in Sanandaj, the capital of Amini’s home province of Kurdistan in northwestern Iran, before the crackle of gunfire was heard, in a video posted to Twitter by news website Iran Wire.
Crowds were seen in cities across the country, including Tehran, Isfahan and Yazd, “chanting slogans and confronting security forces,” said the website, which is run by Iranian journalists based abroad.
In the shrine city of Mashhad, protesters clashed with security forces, throwing stones at them and shouting, “We will kill anyone who killed my sister!”
“Thousands of people were arrested and dozens … were killed. Journalists are in prison. Students, professors, truck drivers and many others have gone on strike,” Iran Wire reported.
Protests over Amini’s death announced on September 16, the largest since protests in November 2019 over rising fuel prices, have seen women defiantly burning their headscarves and cutting their hair.
Amnesty International said Iran was deliberately using lethal force against the protesters, adding that without international action “beyond statements of conviction,” more people risk being killed.
“The Iranian authorities have mobilized their sophisticated repressive machinery to ruthlessly crack down on nationwide protests to thwart any challenge to their power,” it said.
– Order to meet protests “mercilessly” –
Amnesty said it received a leaked official document, which was issued on September 21 to commanders of the armed forces in all provinces, instructing them to “confront protesters seriously”.
Another leaked document showed that the commander of the armed forces in Mazandaran province, where some of the deadliest clashes have taken place, said on 23 “revolutionaries”.
The NGO said it has confirmed 52 deaths in the protests, but the death toll is likely higher. Another human rights group, Oslo-based Iran Human Rights, said 83 people had been killed, while Iran’s Fars news agency put the number of dead at “around 60”.
Amnesty’s warning comes as Iran proceeds with a deepening crackdown that has seen many journalists, activists and other prominent figures arrested.
Former Iran international Hossein Manahi was arrested on Friday after supporting the protests on his social media accounts, state news agency IRNA said.
Security forces also arrested singer Shervin Hajipour, whose song “Baraye” (“For”), which consisted of tweets about the protests, went viral on Instagram, according to rights group Article 19 and Persian-language media based outside of Iran.
His song, which garnered millions of views on Instagram, prompting many to comment that it brought them to tears, has now been removed from his account.
– External Forces –
The Washington-based Committee to Protect Journalists says it documented the arrests of at least 29 journalists.
This includes two female reporters, Nilufar Hamedi and Elahe Mohammadi, who helped publicize Amini’s case to the world by covering her hospital and funeral, respectively.
The crackdown has drawn widespread international condemnation.
Solidarity protests with Iranian women have taken place around the world, and rallies are planned for Saturday in 77 cities.
Iran has blamed external forces for the protests and launched cross-border missile and drone strikes on Wednesday that killed 14 people in Iraq’s Kurdistan region, accusing exiled armed groups based there of fueling the unrest.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guards have promised to carry out further attacks until the groups are disarmed.
The United States said Thursday one of its citizens was killed in the Iranian strikes and separately announced it would re-enforce sanctions on the Islamic Republic’s oil sales.
The Iranian economy is already being hit by punitive sanctions over its controversial nuclear program.
On Thursday, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said she was doing “everything” she could to press for European Union sanctions against those “who beat women to death and shoot protesters in the name of religion.”
