New demonstrations took place in Iran overnight from Thursday to Friday to protest against the murder of participants in the protest movement sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini, according to NGOs and videos verified by AFP.
Since the death of this 22-year-old Iranian Kurd six weeks ago, the protest, led in particular by women, has not weakened. Mahsa Amini died on September 16, three days after she was arrested by the vice squad for an alleged breach of the drastic dress code imposed on women.
To the initial slogan of “women, life, freedom” were added, over the course of demonstrations, however harshly repressed, slogans openly directed against the Islamic Republic founded in 1979.
“This year is the year of blood, Seyed Ali will be overthrown,” chanted protesters in a western Tehran neighborhood Thursday night, targeting Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s Supreme Leader, according to verified video by AFP.
The movement is fueled by anger at the number of people killed by the police, who are struggling to extinguish it: “at least 250” since mid-September, according to the UN special rapporteur on human rights. Man in Iran Javaid Rehman. The latter on Thursday denounced the “brutality” of the Iranian regime and called for the creation of an “international mechanism” of investigation.
NGOs fear an acceleration of repression as tributes are paid at the end of the traditional 40-day mourning to the first dead, killed at the start of the movement.
Wednesday thousands of people had flocked to Saghez, the city of origin of Mahsa Amini in the province of Kurdistan, for this end of mourning.
Incidents also broke out Thursday near Khorramabad (west) where a crowd had gathered at the grave of Nika Shahkarami, 16, who died 40 days earlier, according to verified videos.
“I will kill, I will kill, whoever killed my sister,” protesters chanted in a video released by HRANA, a US-based rights group.
Towards more repression?
Dozens of young men were seen throwing projectiles at security forces in riot gear near Shahkarami’s burial site, in video footage also verified by AFP.
Other incidents occurred on Thursday after the burial of a 35-year-old protester, Ismail Mauludi, in Mahabad (west) where security forces opened fire and killed three people, according to the human rights group. Hengaw.
“Death to the dictator,” protesters shouted, targeting Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as the offices of the governor of Mahabad burned, according to footage from a verified video shared on social media.
Two other protesters died in Baneh, also in the west, near the border with Iraq, according to Hengaw.
A total of eight protesters in four provinces (Kurdistan, West Azerbaijan, Kermanshah and Lorestan) were killed between Wednesday evening and Thursday, Amnesty International said on Thursday.
Amnesty International has warned of “inaction” by the UN Human Rights Council, saying it would “only encourage the Iranian authorities to continue their crackdown on mourners and protesters who must gather in the coming days at commemorations marking the 40 days.
Analysts point out that the Iranian authorities have tried to stifle the protest by means other than violent repression, no doubt to avoid fueling popular anger.
“For the moment, they seem to be trying other techniques – arrests and intimidation, calibrated Internet shutdowns, murder of certain demonstrators…”, Henry Rome, Iran specialist at the Washington Institute, told AFP.
“I doubt that the security forces have ruled out carrying out a violent repression on a larger scale,” he nevertheless estimated.
“They may be calculating that more killings would encourage protesters rather than deter them; if that judgment changes, then the situation could probably get even more violent,” he added.