at least 50 dead in suppressed protests, internet cut

They protest against the death of Mahsa Amini. The young woman, aged 22, was arrested on September 13 in Tehran for “wearing inappropriate clothes” by the morality police responsible for enforcing the dress code of the Islamic Republic. She died three days later in hospital.

Images posted on social media show Iranian women burning their veils to oppose the omnipresence of the morality police. In the street, at the risk of their lives, others demonstrate. According to the NGO Iran Human Rights on Friday, these are now at least 50 people who died in suppressed protests.

In the Islamic Republic, women must cover their hair and are not allowed to wear short or tight coats or jeans with holes.

Internet cut

Iranian authorities have also severely restricted access to the internet and mobile networks, to attempt to limit gathering capacity demonstrators and be able to repress them behind closed doors, according to NGOs. Human rights defenders are particularly concerned about the blocking of Instagram, an extremely popular social network in Iran, which could allow a crackdown “behind closed doors”, according to Amnesty International. The WhatsApp application is also affected.

NetBlocks, a London-based site that monitors internet blockages around the world, described the restrictions as “the toughest” in Iran since the deadly repression of the demonstrations of November 2019, caused by the increase in the price of fuels, when the internet had been almost completely cut off. The organization claims that the mobile networks have been temporarily suspended “at national scale”. Observers have sometimes noted a geographical targeting of the blockages, in particular in Kurdistan (north-west), region of origin of Mahsa Amini, where some of the most violent demonstrations took place.

The government has blocked the internet because it wants to prevent people from sharing evidence of state atrocities with the outside world.

Restrictions “complicate” the publication of videos of the demonstrations, but “they continue to circulate”according to Mahsa Alimardani, Iran researcher for the rights organization Article 19. of the security forces firing on the crowd.

Amnesty International says “very concerned about the disruptions of access to the internet and mobile networks caused by the authorities”and calls on the international community to exert prompt pressure so that Tehran “stop killing and injuring more protesters out of sight”. Hadi Ghaemi, the director of CHRI, believes that “the possibility of a bloodbath is now real”. According to him “The government has blocked the internet because it wants to prevent people from sharing evidence of state atrocities with the outside world”.

After the banning of several platforms in recent years, such as Facebook, Twitter, Telegram, Youtube or TikTok, Instagram and WhatsApp have become the most widely used social networks in Iran.


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