DUBAI (Reuters) – Iran’s hardline judiciary has indicted 11 people for the killing of a Basij security guard during riots, state media reported on Saturday. Authorities were trying to quell nine weeks of protests.
News agency IRNA said several of the 10 men and one woman could face the death penalty for crimes that led to the death of members of the pro-government Basij volunteer militia on 3 November. He was charged with “corruption,” he said. In Karaj near Tehran.
Protests sparked by Masa Amini’s death in moral police custody after being arrested for “improperly dressed” are one of the most daring challenges to the Islamic Republic since the 1979 revolution is shown. Women have played an important role, waving and burning headscarves enforced under a strict dress code.
A video posted on social media is said to show the national basketball team refraining from singing the national anthem during a game against China in Tehran on Friday.
Activist news agency HRANA said 336 protesters, including 52 minors, had died in the riots as of Friday. 39 members of the security forces were also killed and nearly 15,100 detained.
The widely followed 1500tasvir Twitter account posted a video allegedly from overnight protests in the Caspian coastal town of Babolsar, showing Molotov cocktails being dropped on the Basij base covered in pro-government banners. .
Reuters was unable to independently verify the video.
The Iranian government has accused the protests of a riot instigated by opponents, including the United States, and accused armed separatist groups of wreaking havoc.
A UN expert noted that capital charges were filed against eight people in Tehran on 29 October, urging Iran to “stop using the death penalty as a means of suppressing protests.” did.
Iranians from all walks of life are taking part in the protests, and government opponents are encouraged by what they see as a series of shows of support from Iranian athletes.
Earlier this week, a video posted on social media showed the national water polo team not singing the national anthem at a tournament in Thailand.
“Increase the pressure”
On Friday, clerics in the northwestern city of Urmia prayed for punishment for players who refrained from singing the national anthem, according to Iran’s news agency.
The Iranian shooter said she didn’t realize her hijab had fallen off her head at an award ceremony in Tehran. Her statement was met with skepticism on social media.
The unrest has added strain to Iran’s relations with Western countries that have imposed sanctions on Iranian groups and individuals linked to the crackdown.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has said he is in favor of new sanctions by the European Union next week.
“We want to continue to increase pressure on the Revolutionary Guard and the political leadership,” he said in a video posted on Twitter.
“Here in Germany, hundreds of thousands of fellow citizens with Iranian roots fear their relatives. They are appalled and disgusted by what the Mullah regime is doing to the demonstrators. I am also shocked by the images that arrive,” he said.
France said on Saturday that two more citizens were likely detained in Iran, bringing the total of its own citizens detained there to seven.
On October 6, France accused Iran of “dictatorial practices” and lashed out at holding Iranians hostage after a video appeared to show a French couple confessing to espionage.
Reported by Dubai Newsroom. Additional reporting by Tom Sims of Frankfurt and John Eilish of Paris. Written by Tom Perry.Editing by Andrew Cawthorne
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