The country’s religious leaders are trying to deal with the nationwide unrest
Iranians demonstrated today in the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan against the Sept. 30 crackdown by security forces known as “Bloody Friday,” as the country’s religious leaders grapple with nationwide unrest and UN experts call on Iran to stop threatening protesters with the death penalty.
Amnesty International reported that security forces killed at least 66 people, between whose childrenfiring live fire, metal pellets and tear gas at protesters that day in the city of Zahedan in Sistan-Baluchistan province.
Public outrage erupted on September 30 following accusations of the rape of a young woman there by a police officer. Authorities said the case was being investigated. However, the cauldron was already boiling over after the death of the young Kurdish woman of Iranian origin. Mahsha Aminon September 16, after her arrest by the morals police.
The demonstrations quickly turned into a popular uprisingin the largest wave of protest in the country since the Islamic Revolution of 1979, with citizens from all walks of life participating, from students to doctors, lawyers, workers and athletes.
The government, which blamed Amini’s death on pre-existing medical problems, believes thatThe protests are being incited by Iran’s foreign enemiesincluding the US, and has pledged to restore order.
It accuses armed separatists of committing atrocities 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 ethnic groups in Sistan-Baluchistan and Kurdish-populated provinces.
Sistan-Baluchistan, near Iran’s southeastern borders with Pakistan and Afghanistan, is home to a Baloch minority estimated at 2 million people. They have been discriminated against and repressed for decades, according to human rights organizations. Iran denies these accusations.
The region is one of the poorest in the country and has been a hotbed of tension where Iranian security forces have been attacked by Baloch militants.
The provincial security council said armed dissidents sparked the clashes in Zahedan, which led to the deaths of innocent people, but admitted police “inadequacies” it said led to the firings.
Security forces are struggling to quell protests that continue unabated despite warnings from the powerful Revolutionary Guards, and operations by the Basiz militia, which is leading the crackdown.
The activists’ HRANA news agency reported that 330 protesters had been killed in the unrest as of 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.
UN experts call on Iran to stop threatening protesters with the death penalty
Iran’s hardline judiciary will hold public trials for around 1,000 people accused of rioting in Tehran, Iran’s semi-official news agency reported on October 31.
Those arrested are accused of acts of sabotage, attacks or killings of members of the security forces or setting fire to public property. In a statement today, United Nations human rights experts called on Iranian authorities to stop charging people with charges that carry the death penalty for taking part in, or allegedly taking part in, peaceful protests.
UN experts and special rapporteurs have expressed concern that women and girls on the front lines of the protests may be particularly targeted. They called on Tehran to “immediately release all protesters who have been arbitrarily deprived of their freedom.”
“With the continued crackdown on protests, many more indictments for crimes carrying the death penalty or death sentences could soon be issued,” the experts warned.
“Women and girls, who have been on the front lines of protests … could be particularly targeted.”
The death penalty has been widely imposed on protesters in Iran since major protests three years ago, on “baseless charges of murder or vague charges of national security”, experts noted.
“In 2020, at least two people were executed after taking part in protests,” they added.
The experts called on the Human Rights Council to urgently convene a meeting on the situation in Iran and organize an international investigation to “end persistent impunity regarding serious human rights violations.”
Videos on social media purportedly from the city of Sarawan in Sistan-Baluchistan show protesters wearing traditional Baloch clothing calling for the death of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and members of the Basij.
Amnesty International has listed the names of at least 100 protesters, bystanders and worshippers, including 16 children, killed by security forces in Sistan-Baluchistan province since 30 September.
“Where were the military trained to shoot people? Today it has become clear that people have been killed unjustly,” said Molavi Abdulhamid, Iran’s most prominent Sunni cleric and a long-time critic of Iran’s Shiite leaders, at today’s Friday prayers 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,” Abdelhamid said.
The tensions appear to be escalating again in Zahedan.
Revolutionary Guards ground forces commander Mohammad Pakpour told a gathering of Sunni and Shiite elders and religious leaders in Zahedan: “The way to calm in the region is the responsible presence of religious leaders.”
“Our spiritual leader, whether Shiite or Sunni, must be careful what he says,” Pakpour said, state television reported.
Many videos posted on social media show a gathering at the Behest-e-Zahra cemetery in Tehran for the funeral of Amir Mehdi Farooquipour, a 17-year-old who was reportedly killed by security forces 40 days ago. Attendees at the funeral were seen chanting “Death to the dictator” after singing a patriotic song.
HRANA aired a video it said was filmed in Rusk, with protesters watching one protester who had been shot in the back and another in the arm.
Videos posted on social media showed protests in Hass, where at least 18 people were killed by security forces on November 4, according to Amnesty International, and other southeastern cities, including Iransakhr, where protesters were seen running to avoid tear gas in through sounds of possible gunshots.
The government has not responded to Amnesty’s report, but has dismissed similar criticism as biased.
At the same time, today the British government summoned the Iranian Chargé d’Affaires in the United Kingdom, reporting threats against journalists based in the country.
“I called Iran’s envoy today after journalists working in the UK received death threats from Iran,” British Foreign Secretary James Cleverley tweeted.
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