The death toll rose to 35 in protests against the death of Iranian Kurdish Mahsa Amini at the age of 22. This Saturday (24), an official press agency in Iran reported that 739 protesters, 60 of whom were women, were arrested in the north of the country the previous day.

Tehran was again the scene of demonstrations on Friday night (23), a week after the protests began, triggered by the death of a young woman who was detained by the country’s morality police for wearing the Islamic headscarf in a way deemed wrong. Videos posted on social media show a soldier shooting at protesters, a scene that became commonplace during the events.

The Oslo-based opposition organization for Human Rights in Iran says the actual death toll could be as high as 50 so far. This NGO reported that there were protests in about 80 places in Iran last week.

Calling for “urgent global action to end the crackdown” on Friday night, Amnesty International said it had collected evidence from 20 cities in Iran that “Iranian security forces deliberately and illegally fired real ammunition”. The NGO warned of “the risk of further bloodshed in the context of an intentionally enforced internet outage”.

According to Iranian media, the police have already arrested an unspecified number of people. Describing the demonstrators as “counter-revolutionaries” or “conspirators”, the authorities decided to organize demonstrations after the Friday prayers, attended by hundreds of women, some of whom were wearing burqas.

death investigation

Mahsa Amini was arrested on September 13 in Tehran for “wearing inappropriate clothing” while following the strict Islamic Republic dress code, according to police assessment. The young woman died 3 days later in the hospital where she was taken.

In Iran, women must cover their hair and cannot wear short or tight coats or ripped jeans.

On Friday night, Interior Minister Ahmed Vahidi reiterated that Mahsa Amini was not beaten by security forces.

“We received reports from surveillance services, listened to witnesses, reviewed videos, received forensic reports and determined that there was no beating,” Vahidi said on television. According to him, the Iranian government is “investigating the cause of Mahsa Amini’s death, (but) we have to wait for the coroner’s final opinion, which takes time”.

suppression of protests

The minister also criticized “those who display irresponsible attitudes (…) and incite violence” and accused them of “following the United States, European countries and anti-revolutionary groups”. The Interior Ministry warned on Saturday that it will continue to “deal with disturbances to protect the rights of citizens,” while respecting all legal and Islamic norms.

According to media reports and activists, protesters clashed with security forces, set fire to police vehicles and chanted anti-government slogans in various cities of Iran, which has a population of more than 80 million and is 90% Shia.

New night demonstrations were held in Tehran and other major cities, including Tabriz, on Friday, at the request of the authorities, after a march by thousands in favor of mandatory wearing of the veil.

With information from AFP