2 yıl önce

Iran security forces use tear gas, open fire as thousands mourn Mahsa Amini

Hundreds of protesters poured into the streets of a northwestern Iranian city to mark the watershed 40 days since the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini.

AFP

State-run media had announced that schools and universities in Iran's northwestern region would remain close, purportedly to curb "the spread of influenza."

Iranian security forces have opened fire on protesters who massed in their thousands in Mahsa Amini's hometown to mark 40 days since her death.

"Security forces have shot tear gas and opened fire on people in Zindan square, Saqez city," Hengaw, a Norway-based group that monitors rights violations, tweeted on Wednesday without specifying whether there were any dead or wounded.

A witness also confirmed that the riot police shot at mourners who gathered at the cemetery for Mahsa's memorial ceremony.

Iranian authorities were not available to comment.

Despite heightened security measures, columns of mourners had poured into Saqez in the western Kurdistan province to pay tribute to Amini at her grave at the end of the traditional mourning period.

But thousands more were seen making their way in cars, on motorbikes and on foot along a highway, through fields and even across a river, in videos widely shared online by activists and rights groups.

Hengaw said strikes were under way in Saqez as well as Divandarreh, Marivan, Kamyaran and Sanandaj, and in Javanrud and Ravansar in the western province of Kermanshah.

The Norway-based rights group said Iranian football stars Ali Daei and Hamed Lak had travelled to Saqez "to take part in the 40th day" service.

Wave of protests

22-year-old Amini died on September 16, three days after her arrest in Tehran by the morality police for allegedly breaching the dress code for women.

Anger flared at her funeral last month and quickly sparked the biggest wave of protests to rock Iran in almost three years.

Oslo-based group Iran Human Rights said the security forces' crackdown on the Amini protests has claimed the lives of at least 141 demonstrators, in an updated death toll Tuesday.

Amnesty International says the "unrelenting brutal crackdown" has killed at least 23 children, while IHR said at least 29 children have been slain.

SOURCE: TRTWorld and agencies