Iranian security forces opened fire on Wednesday, according to an NGO, at protesters gathered in the hometown of Mahsa Amini, where thousands of people had attended a ceremony to pay tribute to the end of the traditional mourning of 40 days.
“Security forces fired tear gas and opened fire at people in Zindan Square in Saghez,” Hengaw, a Norwegian-based Iranian Kurdish rights group, announced on Twitter.
Defying a reinforced security device, shouting “Woman, life, freedom” or “Death to the dictator”, a crowd of men and women had gathered since the morning around the tomb of the young woman in the Aichi cemetery of Saghez, Mahsa Amini’s hometown in Kurdistan, western Iran, according to videos posted on social media.
The 22-year-old Iranian Kurd died on September 16, three days after she was arrested in Tehran, where she was visiting with her younger brother, by morality police who accused her of breaking the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code. , imposing in particular the wearing of the veil for women.
His death sparked a wave of protests unprecedented for three years, which continues across Iran. Young women and schoolgirls took to the front line, many bareheaded, burning their veils and defying the security forces.
Wednesday, 40e day following the death of Mahsa Amini, marked the end of the traditional period of mourning in Iran.
As of Tuesday evening, the authorities reinforced their system in Saghez, deploying forces in a central square. Access to the city would also have been blocked.
According to human rights activists, the security forces had warned the young woman’s parents against organizing a tribute ceremony at her grave, going so far as to threaten “the life of their son”.
“The Year of Blood”
Despite this, the faithful began early Wednesday to reach the cemetery, where according to the Iranian agency Fars around 2,000 people have gathered.
But images posted online by activists and human rights defenders showed huge crowds, in cars and on motorbikes, walking through fields and along roads, or even crossing a river.
Clapping, shouting, honking, the crowd invaded the main road linking Saghez to the cemetery located eight kilometers away, according to images posted online by Hengaw, which this NGO told AFP to have verified.
“This year is the year of blood, Seyed Ali will be overthrown,” shouted a group on a video authenticated by AFP, in reference to the Iranian Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
“Kurdistan, Kurdistan, the cemetery of the fascists”, chanted another group, on a video shared on Twitter, which AFP could not immediately authenticate.
In several cities of Kurdistan, “Sanandaj, Saghez, Divandarreh, Marivan and Kamyaran, strikes are widely followed”, according to Hengaw. Likewise in Javanrud and Ravansar, in the province of Kermanshah (west).
New events
According to Hengaw, two figures of Iranian football, legendary striker Ali Daei and goalkeeper Hamed Lak, traveled to Saghez for the 40e day of mourning.
Both checked into the Kurd Hotel, according to Hengaw, but “were moved to the government guesthouse […] under the guard of the security forces”.
Ali Daei had previously been questioned for statements made online in support of the movement.
The daily Hammihan quoted the governor of Kurdistan Esmail Zarei Koosha assuring that Ali Daei and other celebrities were in Tehran and that “everything was calm in Saghez”.
“The enemy and his media […] try to use the 40e day of Mahsa Amini’s death as a pretext to provoke tension again, but fortunately the situation in the province is completely stable,” the governor said, as quoted by the official Irna agency. He denied that the roads were blocked.
According to Hengaw, most of the town was “empty” on Wednesday, with many residents heading to the cemetery.
New protests were underway elsewhere in Iran, including at universities in Tehran, Mashhad in the northeast, and Ahvaz in the southwest, according to the online media outlet. 1500tasvirwhich identifies human rights violations attributed to the security forces.
The crackdown on protests triggered by the death of Mahsa Amini has left at least 141 people dead, including children, according to a new report revealed on Tuesday by the NGO Iran Human Rights (IHR), based in Oslo.
23 children were killed in the crackdown across the country, according to Amnesty International, 29 according to the IHR.
On Wednesday, Iran announced sanctions against individuals, institutions and media in the European Union, in response to punitive measures imposed by Brussels against Iranian leaders and morality police due to the crackdown.