Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said Thursday that the death of young Mahsa Amini, which sparked protests in the Islamic Republic, must be investigated. The official death toll from the wave of popular unrest soared to at least 17.
At a news conference in New York, where he was attending the UN General Assembly, Raisi repeated the coroner’s version that Mahsa Amini, 22, was not beaten, a conclusion rejected by protesters.
“But I don’t want to rush to a conclusion,” Raisi said. “If there is a guilty party, it should certainly be investigated. I contacted the family of the deceased at the earliest opportunity and personally assured them that we will continue to vigorously investigate the incident,” she said.
Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman, died last week after being detained by Iran’s feared morality police for allegedly wearing her hijab “inappropriately”, sparking widespread outrage.
In video footage shared online, protesters could be heard shouting “death to the dictator” and “woman, life, freedom” during the biggest wave of protests to hit the country in almost three years.
The Oslo-based NGO Iran Human Rights gave a higher death toll than the official one, saying at least 31 civilians had been killed in a crackdown by Iranian security forces in six nights of violence.
Police and militants were among those killed in the clashes, state television reported, while many more deaths were reported by human rights groups based abroad, which could not be independently verified.
Security forces have fired into the crowd with rubber bullets and metal bullets, and have also deployed tear gas and water cannons, according to Amnesty International and other human rights groups.
The violence was feared to escalate further after Iranian authorities restricted internet access and blocked messaging apps including WhatsApp and Instagram, as they have done in previous crackdowns.
Some women have burned their scarves and symbolically cut their hair in protest at the strict dress code, in defiant actions that have been repeated in solidarity demonstrations abroad, from New York to Istanbul.
Activists have claimed that Amini, whose given name in Kurdish is Jhina, suffered a fatal blow to the head after her arrest in Tehran, a claim denied by the authorities, who have announced an investigation.
Fear among women in Iran
Iranian women on the streets of Tehran told AFP they were now more careful about their dress to avoid clashes with the morality police.
“I’m scared,” said Nazanin, a 23-year-old nurse who asked to be identified only by name for security reasons, adding that she believed the morality police “shouldn’t confront people at all.”
The president of the United States, Joe Biden, expressed his support for the population in a speech before the UN General Assembly on Wednesday. “We stand with the brave citizens and brave women of Iran who are demonstrating right now to secure their basic rights.”
Iran’s ultra-conservative President Raisi later complained in the same forum of “double standards,” pointing to Israeli actions in the Palestinian Territories and the deaths of indigenous women in Canada.
The protests come at a particularly sensitive time for Iranian leaders, as the country’s economy remains mired in crisis caused largely by sanctions imposed on its nuclear program.
Unprecedented footage has shown protesters defacing or burning images of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the late Revolutionary Guards commander Qassem Soleimani.
The wave of unrest “is a very important shock, it is a social crisis,” said Iran expert David Rigoulet-Roze of the French Institute of International and Strategic Affairs.
The Persian country restricts Internet access
The protests are among the most serious in Iran since the November 2019 riots, sparked by a sharp rise in gasoline prices. The crackdown then killed hundreds of people, according to Amnesty International.
Protesters have thrown stones at security forces, set fire to police vehicles and garbage containers and chanted anti-government slogans, according to the official IRNA news agency.
On Thursday, Iranian media claimed that three militiamen “mobilized to deal with rioters” were stabbed or shot dead in northwestern Tabriz, central Qazvin and northeastern Mashhad.
UN human rights experts condemned the “use of physical violence against women” and “state-ordered internet shutdowns,” which they say are often part of broader efforts “to stifle freedom of expression.” expression and to reduce ongoing protests.
The Iranian news agency Fars reported that “according to a decision by the authorities, it is no longer possible to access Instagram in Iran from Wednesday night and access to WhatsApp is also interrupted.”
The two apps were the most used in Iran after the blocking of other platforms in recent years, such as Facebook, Twitter, Telegram, YouTube and TikTok.
The threat of the Revolutionary Guard
Not only is the Iranian regime taking drastic measures, but the country’s powerful Revolutionary Guard has asked the Justice on Thursday to prosecute “those who spread false news and rumors.”
“We have asked the judiciary to identify those who spread false news and rumors on social networks and on the street and who endanger the psychological security of society, and to deal with them decisively,” said the Guard, who has cracked down on protests in the past.
In a statement, the guards also expressed their solidarity with Amini’s family and associates.
Pro-government protests are planned for Friday, according to Iranian media.
“The will of the Iranian people is this: Do not spare the criminals,” read an editorial in the influential hardline newspaper Kayhan.
This came as the US imposed sanctions on Iran’s morale police, accusing them of abuse and violence against women and violating the rights of peaceful protesters.
The US Treasury said it had imposed sanctions on the chiefs of the Iranian Army ground forces and Iran’s morale police, as well as the country’s intelligence minister. The Treasury has stated that it holds the morality police responsible for Amini’s death.
“Mahsa Amini was a brave woman whose death in the custody of the morality police was yet another act of brutality by the Iranian regime’s security forces against her own people,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a statement. a statement.
*Adapted from its English version
#Irans #president #vows #investigate #Mahsa #Aminis #death