Monday, October 31, 2022

UPDATES
Head of Iran’s IRGC warns protesters: ‘Today is last day of riots’


Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander Major General Hossein Salami speaks during a pro-government rally in the capital Tehran's central Enghelab Square on November 25, 2019. 
(AFP)

Reuters, Dubai
Published: 29 October ,2022

The commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Hossein Salami warned protesters that Saturday would be their last day of taking to the streets.

“Do not come to the streets! Today is the last day of the riots,” he said.

Iran has been gripped by protests since the death of 22-year-old Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini in morality police custody last month.

They have turned into a popular revolt by furious Iranians from all layers of society, posing one of the boldest challenges to the clerical leadership since the 1979 revolution.

Rights groups have said at least 250 protesters have been killed and thousands arrested across Iran.

On Friday, video footage on social media showed protesters calling for the death of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and the Basij militia, which has played a major role in the crackdown on demonstrators.

Read more:

Two killed after police open fire at demonstrators in Iran’s Zahedan: Activists

UN expert urges international probe of Iran ‘brutality’ amid protests

Police chief in Iran's restive Zahedan city dismissed: State media

Iran withholding bodies of protesters from families: UN


A police motorcycle burns during a protest over the death of Mahsa Amini, a woman who died after being arrested by the Islamic republic's morality police, in Tehran, Iran September 19, 2022. (Reuters)

Reuters
Published: 28 October ,2022

The UN human rights office on Friday voiced concern about Iran's treatment of detained protesters and said that authorities were refusing to release some of the bodies of those killed.

The death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody last month has ignited protests in one of the boldest challenges to Iran's clerical leadership since the 1979 revolution. Rights groups have said at least 250 protesters have been killed and thousands arrested.

“We've seen a lot of ill treatment ... but also harassment of the families of protesters,” Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, told a Geneva press briefing, citing multiple sources.

“Of particular concern is information that authorities have been moving injured protesters from hospitals to detention facilities and refusing to release the bodies of those killed to their families,” she said.

Shamdasani added that in some cases, authorities were placing conditions on the release of bodies, asking families not to hold a funeral or speak to the media. Protesters in detention were also sometimes being denied medical treatment, she said.

Iran places Mahsa Amini’s family under house arrest: Report


Iranian Americans rally outside the White House in support of anti-regime protests in Iran following the death of Mahsa Amini, in Washington, US, September 24, 2022.
 (File photo: Reuters)

Ayush Narayanan, Al Arabiya English
28 October ,2022

Iranian authorities have placed Mahsa Amini’s family members under house arrest, Al Arabiya reported on Thursday.

“We hold the Iranian authorities responsible for the killing of Mahsa Amini at the hands of the security forces,” Irfan Murtazai, a cousin of Amini confirmed in a call with Al Arabiya.

Protests took place in Amini’s hometown of Saqqez and other parts of Iran on Wednesday to mark 40 days since she died in police custody, videos shared on social media showed.

Iranian security forces reportedly opened fire at people who gathered at the cemetery where Mahsa Amini is buried, a witness told Reuters.

Demonstrations have swept across Iran since September 16 when 22-year-old Amini died three days after collapsing in police custody.

The demonstrations have become one of the boldest challenges to the Islamic Republic’s clerical leadership since the 1979 Iranian Revolution with protesters calling for regime change.

Over 200 protesters have been killed and thousands have been arrested, according to rights groups.


HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS REMOVING THEIR HIJAB ARE REVOLUTIONARIES

‘We don’t want regime change’: Iran’s reformists reaffirm allegiance to regime

A picture obtained by AFP outside Iran, shows people gathering next to a burning motorcycle in the capital Tehran on October 8, 2022. (AFP)

Yaghoub Fazeli, Al Arabiya English
Published: 25 October ,2022:

Iran’s reformists reject calls for regime change in the country’s ongoing protests, a leading reformist figure said on Monday.

“We cannot align with the protesters on the street who chant for regime change; we reject their slogans,” Behzad Nabavi, head of Iran’s Reform Front, told Iranian newspaper Hammihan.

Nabavi likened the regime to a building, saying: “We don’t want to blow up the building. Rather, we want to fix the same building and fix its defects, which we know is a very difficult and expensive task.”

The Reform Front headed by Nabavi is Iran’s leading reformist coalition, made up of 27 reformist groups.

Iran’s reformists are opposed to the overthrow of the Islamic Republic and insist that gradual reforms from within the system are the best way forward.

Anti-government protests sparked by the death in police custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini have rocked Iran for the past five weeks.

The protests quickly escalated and turned political with demonstrations taking place country-wide. Protesters have been chanting against Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and calling for regime change.

Over 200 protesters have been killed and thousands of others have been arrested, according to rights groups.

Read more:

Iran security forces fire tear gas near Tehran school after dispute

Iran charges 300 in Tehran protests, four could face death penalty



Iran’s security forces shoot dead protester tearing down poster of supreme leader

A social media image of Erfan Rezae
i. (Twitter)

Ayush Narayanan, Al Arabiya English
Published: 26 October ,2022:

Security forces in Iran have shot dead a protester who was seen removing a large government poster featuring the Islamic Republic’s supreme leader, BBC Persian reported on Tuesday.

Identified as Erfan Rezaei, the 21-year-old protester was killed after a pistol fired at his shoulder at close range, the British broadcaster reported citing a source close to the family

The incident took place on September 21. The family, reportedly under pressure from the government, was coerced into admitting that Rezaei was shot by a fellow protestor.

Iranian government officials have not commented on the incident.

Rezaei died as a result of “severe damage to the kidney and spleen caused by the bullet wound to his back,” the BBC reported citing the source.

Rezaei’s mother rushed to hospital after authorities informed her about his whereabouts. However, nurses refused to help her find him.

After three hours of searching, she eventually spotted his blood-stained clothes outside an operating room, the British broadcaster reported.

Authorities allowed Rezaei’s family to take his body for burial two days later on the condition that they hold a “quiet funeral,” the report added.

“I stare at your picture and cry for hours every day,” the victim’s heartbroken mother wrote on Instagram accompanied by a video of his grave.

Protests ignited by the death of Mahsa Amini while in the custody of Iran’s morality police on September 16 have become one of the boldest challenges to the Islamic Republic’s leadership since the 1979 Iranian Revolution.

A wide range of Iranians have come out onto the streets, with some calling for the downfall of the Islamic Republic and chanting “Death to (Supreme Leader Ali) Khamenei.”

As of Wednesday, riot police have been deployed in large numbers in Amini’s hometown of Saqez, Reuters reported, after activists called for protests across the country to mark 40 days since she died in detention over her “inappropriate attire.”

Witnesses in the capital Tehran and the cities of Tabriz and Rasht to the north also reported a heavy presence of security forces in the streets.

With Reuters


No comments: