Shabtabnews In this dark night, I have lost my way – Arise from a corner, oh you the star of guidance.
RFL/RE – More scattered protests and crackdown violence struck Iran on October 8 as demonstrators angry over the death of a young woman detained over the dress code continued to defy officials’ warnings of tough punishments to stem weeks of unrest.
Videos posted on social media from trusted sources showed small protests in Tehran, Karaji just outside the capital, and a few other cities.
There were also reports of striking workers in several cities in heavily Kurdish areas, where public outcry was initially strongest when word spread that 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died three days after being picked up in the capital by Iran’s morality police.
The Oslo-based Iran Human Rights group said at least 92 protesters have been killed by the security forces, although other groups cite death figures of 160 or more, along with hundreds more injured and thousands arrested.
A Norway-based network of human rights campaigners which monitors abuses in heavily Kurdish northwestern Iran said Iranian riot police opened fire on people in at least two cities on October 8, with the protests in their fourth week.SEE ALSO:Mother Of Dead Teen Protester Accuses Iranian Authorities Of ‘Lying’ About Her Death In Attempt To ‘Exempt Themselves’
“Security forces are shooting at the protesters in Sanandaj and Saqqez,” said the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights.
They also used tear gas against crowds, the group said.
A widely followed Twitter account called Tavsir1500 reported shootings at protesters in two cities.
Videos shared by Hengaw showed young women or girls chanting “Woman, life, freedom!” at a school in Amini’s hometown of Saqez, in Kurdistan Province.
Others waved their mandatory Islamic head scarves in the air in a daring challenge to the strict hijab laws that have been part of systemic discrimination against women and girls under Iran’s religious leadership since the 1979 revolution.
In another video it shared, a group of girls could be heard chanting the same phrase — the catchcry of the protests — as they entered a school in Sanandaj, the capital of Kurdistan Province.SEE ALSO:Iranian Digital Rights Activists Arrested For Protesting Nationwide Internet Shutdown
Another video Hengaw claimed was from Sanandaj showed a driver slumped at the wheel after the group claimed he was shot dead while honking amid a street demonstration.
AFP confirmed the presence of a large banner on an overpass in central Tehran that read, “We are not afraid anymore. We will fight.”
Iranian expulsions, censorship, and interrupted communications make reporting inside the country difficult.
Eyewitness accounts said Amini had been beaten during her arrest, while her father has said she suffered bruises to her legs and has held the police responsible for her death.
The state-controlled ISNA news agency said on October 7 that Iran’s Forensic Medicine Organization had determined “underlying diseases” were the cause of Amini’s death, while making no mention of whether she had suffered any injuries. A report on state television added that the forensic report showed Amini’s death was related to “surgery for a brain tumor at the age of 8.”
The street protests quickly spread after officials denied the dress-code enforcers were responsible before any investigations were done, and senior leaders including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei have since suggested that foreign elements are behind the unrest.
Hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi has made similar charges, including at a ceremony on October 8 at Tehran University to mark the start of the new academic year.
