Iranian forces opened fire on a crowd at a mourning ceremony in a Kurdish town on Saturday, killing a man, an NGO said, nearly four months after the start of the protest movement in Iran.
The protests erupted after the September 16 death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman who died following her arrest by vice squad for breaching the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code, including wearing a headscarf in public for the women.
On Saturday, police fired live ammunition and tear gas at residents gathered at a cemetery in the Kurdish town of Javanroud (west) to mark the end of the 40-day mourning for dead protesters, according to Hengaw, an NGO based in Norway.
The inhabitants chanted “Death to the dictator”, in reference to the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei.
An Iranian man identified as Borhan Eliasi, 22, was shot dead and eight people injured, two seriously, Hengaw said.
This information could not be independently verified immediately.
Activists have further called on social media for rallies on Saturday in Tehran and other cities across Iran to protest deteriorating living conditions.
According to the US-based human rights group HRANA, small rallies took place in Tehran and the central cities of Isfahan and Najafabad. Protesters chanted anti-power slogans, according to videos shared on social media.
AFP was unable to immediately verify these images.
On Friday, hundreds of people demonstrated in Zahedan (southeast) chanting “Death to the dictator”, according to images shared by the online media 1500tasvir and verified by AFP.
It is Iranian human rights NGOs, opposition groups or international NGOs, all based abroad, which generally communicate on the demonstrations taking place in Iran. During the first weeks, protests affected a large number of provinces almost daily.
New trial
The authorities denounce these demonstrations as “riots” orchestrated by hostile foreign countries and opposition groups.
According to a latest report from Iran Human Rights (IHR), an Oslo-based NGO, at least 476 people have been killed by security forces since September 16. About 14,000 people have been arrested, according to the UN.
Iranian officials say hundreds of people were killed in the “riots”, including dozens of members of the security forces.
On Saturday, Mizan Online, the agency of the Judiciary, reported that the Iranian Supreme Court had ordered a new trial for a protester sentenced to death for his participation in the protest movement.
“The appeal of Sahand Nourmohammad-Zadeh, one of the defendants of the recent riots, has been accepted by the Supreme Court,” the agency said.
His lawyer Hamed Ahmadi said his client had been sentenced to death for moharebeh (“war against God”).
Sahand Nourmohammad-Zadeh, 26, is the third person sentenced to death to stand trial.
Justice announced that it had sentenced 11 people to death for their role in the protest. Activists estimate that figure to be twice as high.
Two death row inmates, aged 23, have already been executed, found guilty of killing or injuring police or paramilitaries during the protests.