Iran riots death toll rises as protests intensify

DUBAI, Sept 21 (Reuters) – Three people, including a member of the security forces, were killed on Tuesday in unrest that swept the country over the death of a woman detained by ethics police, Iranian authorities said. Anger sparked protests. Day 5.

Official sources now say seven people have been killed since protests erupted Saturday over the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in Iranian Kurdistan, who was arrested in Tehran last week for “inappropriate clothing”. Died after capture.

The Kurdish rights group Hengaw reported that security forces killed seven protesters in or near the Kurdish region in the northwest of the country, three of them on Tuesday, where unrest was particularly intense and deadly.

Officials deny that security forces killed the protesters.

Hengaw also said internet access had been cut off in Kurdistan province — a move that would hinder the sharing of videos in the region, where authorities have previously cracked down on unrest by the Kurdish minority.read more

Internet shutdown watchdog NetBlocks and residents say Iran has restricted access to Instagram, the only major social media platform that Iran does not normally block. It has about 48 million users in the country, a senior official said recently.

The communications minister said he was misquoted after news outlets quoted him as saying authorities may have disrupted internet services for security reasons.read more

Amini’s death sparked outrage over issues such as the Islamic Republic’s freedom and an economy teetering on sanctions. Women waved and burned their veils during the protests, and some cut their hair in public.

Protests swept through much of the country after starting Saturday at Amini’s funeral in the Kurdish region, sparking confrontations as security forces tried to suppress them.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei did not mention the protests in his speech on Wednesday commemorating the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war – the worst in Iran since street clashes over water shortages last year riot.read more

A senior aide to Khamenei offered his condolences to Amini’s family this week, promising to follow up on the case and saying the Supreme Leader was affected and distressed by her death.

A “police assistant” died of his injuries on Tuesday in the southern city of Shiraz, the official IRNA news agency said.

“Some people clashed with police, which resulted in the killing of a police assistant. Four other police officers were injured in this incident,” IRNA said. IRNA quoted an official as saying that 15 protesters were arrested in Shiraz.

In Kermanshah, city prosecutors said two people were killed in the unrest on Tuesday. “We are convinced that this was done by counter-revolutionaries because the victims were killed by weapons not used by the security agencies,” the semi-official Fars news agency quoted prosecutor Shahram Karami as saying.

Commenting on the semi-official Tasnim news agency on Wednesday, the Kurdistan police chief confirmed that four people had died in the Kurdistan province earlier this week. He said they were hit by a bullet not used by security forces, saying the “gang” wanted to blame police and security officials.

Hengaw said a total of 450 people were injured in addition to seven Kurdish protesters, who said they had died in “direct fire” by government forces in the past four days. Reuters could not independently confirm the casualty report.

Amini died in a coma while waiting with other women held by the ethics police, which enforce strict rules in the Islamic Republic requiring women to cover their hair and wear loose clothing in public.read more

Her father said she had no health problems and that she had bruises on her legs while in custody. He believes the police are responsible for her death. Police denied hurting her.

The UN Human Rights Commissioner has called for an impartial investigation into her death and allegations of torture and ill-treatment.read more

“Death of a Dictator”

Videos shared on social media also showed demonstrators vandalising symbols of the Islamic Republic and confronting security forces.

One of the photos shows a man climbing the façade of the town hall in the northern city of Surrey, tearing down the walls of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who founded the Islamic Republic after the 1979 revolution. portrait.

The semi-official ISNA news agency said 12 ambulances were attacked and banks and public properties were damaged in several cities.Protesters accuse police of using ambulances to transport troops and detain demonstrators

A video shared by 1500tasvir showed people rallying again in Tehran on Wednesday, with hundreds chanting “death to the dictator” at the University of Tehran.

Reuters was unable to verify the authenticity of the video.

State media and officials described the unrest as one of “counter-revolutionaries”.

Basij, a militia group under Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, held its own rally in Tehran on Wednesday. “The moral police are just an excuse, their target is the regime itself,” they chanted in a video posted on 1500tasvir.

Reporting from Dubai Newsroom; Writing by Tom Perry; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne, William Maclean and David Gregorio

Our Standard: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.