Amnesty International said security forces unlawfully killed at least 66 people in September after firing on protesters in Zahedan, the capital of Sistan-Baluchistan province. Authorities said dissidents sparked the clashes. A video posted by the widely followed Twitter account of activist 1500 Tasvir purported to show thousands protesting again in Zahedan on Friday. Reuters was unable to verify the authenticity of the video. Another video, which 1500 Tasvir said was from the southeastern city of Khash, showed protesters trampling and breaking a sign bearing the name of top general Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a 2020 US drone strike in Iraq. Public outrage in the run-up to the September 30 shootings was fueled by allegations of the rape of a local teenage girl by a police officer. Authorities said the case is under investigation. Anti-government protests also began to erupt that month following the death of a Kurdish woman, Mahsa Amini, who had been arrested by morality police for allegedly violating the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code imposed on women. Nationwide protests have since turned into a popular uprising, with people ranging from students to doctors, lawyers, workers and athletes taking part, with anger directed mainly at Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. A group of countries led by Germany and Iceland has called for a debate on the “deteriorating” situation in Iran at the top UN human rights body later this month, according to a document.
ORDER, TESTS
The government, which blamed Amini’s death on pre-existing medical problems, said the protests were being incited by Iran’s foreign enemies, including the United States, and vowed to restore order. It accuses armed separatists of committing violence and seeking to destabilize the Islamic Republic. Some of the worst unrest has occurred in areas home to minority ethnic groups with long-standing grievances against the state, including the Sistan-Baluchistan and Kurdish regions. Sistan-Baluchistan, near Iran’s southeastern borders with Pakistan and Afghanistan, is home to a Baloch minority estimated at 2 million people. They have faced discrimination and repression for decades, according to human rights groups. Iran denies this. The region is one of the poorest in the country and has been a hotbed of tension where Iranian security forces have come under attack from Balut militants. The activist news agency HRANA reported that 330 protesters had been killed in the unrest by Thursday, including 50 minors. Thirty-nine members of the security forces had also been killed, while nearly 15,100 people had been arrested, it said. Iran’s hardline judiciary will hold public trials for about 1,000 people accused of rioting in Tehran, a semi-official news agency reported on October 31. They were accused of acts of sabotage, attacking or killing members of the security forces or setting fire to public property.
VIDEOS, SERMONS
In a statement, United Nations human rights experts urged Iranian authorities on Friday to stop charging people with charges punishable by death for taking part in, or allegedly taking part in, peaceful protests. The experts, special rapporteurs, expressed concern that women and girls who have been on the front lines of the protests may be particularly targeted. Videos on social media purported to originate from the city of Sarawan in Sistan-Baluchistan showed protesters wearing traditional Baluchi robes calling for Khamenei’s death. “Where were the military forces trained to shoot people? Today it has become clear that people were killed unjustly,” Molavi Abdolhamid, Iran’s most prominent Sunni cleric and a longtime critic of Iran’s Shiite leaders, said in his prayer. sermon in Zahedan.”The authorities must condemn this crime and those who ordered (the events of Bloody Friday) and its perpetrators must be brought to justice,” Abdulhamid added. It looks like tensions could rise again in Zahedan. State television reported that the commander of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards, Brigadier General Mohammad Pakpour, told a gathering of Sunni and Shiite tribal elders and religious leaders that clerics should be careful what they say. Additional reporting by Emma Farge in Geneva: Writing by Michael Georgy. Editing by Angus MacSwan, Jonathan Oatis and Andrew Heavens Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
