Iran: More than 70 dead in a week in the crackdown on protests

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The total death toll has risen to 416 – Among the victims are 51 children and 21 women

Iranian security forces killed 72 people, including 56 in Kurdish areas of the country last week, during a crackdown on anti-regime protests, the Oslo-based non-governmental organization Iran Human Rights (IHR) said today.

The total death toll has risen to 416 since the start of protests sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsha Amini on September 16, after she was arrested for violating the dress code enforced on Iranian women. The demonstrations have evolved into a broad protest movement.

Among the victims are 51 children and 21 women, according to the IHR.

Over the past seven days, most of the casualties have been recorded in Kurdish-majority areas of western Iran, areas where Tehran has sent reinforcements as protests intensify.

Demonstrations were held in several cities – Mahabad, Javanrud and Piransar – often linked to funerals of people killed by the police.

Hengaw, an Iranian Kurdish rights NGO also based in Norway, accused the authorities of firing live shots at protesters.

According to Hengaw, five people were killed on Monday in Javanrud, where several thousand people had gathered to pay their respects to protesters who died over the weekend.

NetBlocks, a London-based website that tracks internet blackouts around the world, said internet access was blocked “for three-and-a-half hours” yesterday, Monday, during protests and its national team’s football match Iran at the World Cup during which the Iranian football players did not sing the national anthem.

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