Iranian security forces today (Saturday) shot dead at least three people in the western province of Kurdistan in the latest deadly demonstrations against the government, a human rights organization said.
The country’s theocratic rule is facing its biggest challenge since the Islamic revolution of 1979, in two months of violent protests after the death of teenager Mehsa Amini in custody in September.
The authorities responded to the demonstrations with violent repression. According to an Iranian human rights organization, at least 378 people have been killed since the protests began, half a dozen have already been sentenced to death and more than 15,000 have been arrested. According to other estimates, the actual number of dead exceeds 400.
Protests raged overnight in the Kurdistan town of Bukan, where the Revolutionary Guards opened fire on family members mourning a slain protester and took his body from the hospital before burying it in an undisclosed location, said Hangau, a Norway-based human rights group.
Activists accuse Iran’s security forces of carrying out secret burials of protesters they have killed, to prevent further violence from igniting at their funerals.
The rights group said security forces have killed at least 25 people in Kurdistan since Tuesday, when protesters thronged the streets.
The Nagas said: “23 people were killed by direct fire, one by torture and one by knife stabbing.”
Iran blames Western countries that host Persian-language media outlets for escalating the situation.
Authoritarian ruler Ali Khamenei claimed that the “riots” would end, saying that the protesters were “too inferior to be able to harm the establishment”.
Speaking during a meeting with a group of people from the central city of Isfahan, Khamenei said: “Now, when the organizers failed to bring the people to the place, they want to tire the officials, but they are wrong because these injustices make people hate them more.”
In an attempt to link the popular demonstrations with an attack on religion, he stated: “Enmity with all the wishes and sanctities of the Iranian nation means enmity with Islam.”
Khamenei’s denial of the reality of the national uprising indicates his refusal to take responsibility for the situation. Khamenei did not address the many victims of the protests, but said that “rioters” killed government forces, which he claimed would anger the nation.
Last weekend, the protests escalated when protesters set fire to the home of the founder of the Islamic Republic, Khomeini, which had been used as a museum for the past 30 years.
According to UNICEF, it is estimated that at least 50 children have lost their lives in the suppression of the protests in Iran so far.
Oil workers in Iran walk out. Hugely brave. Unbelievably significant. #IranRevolution #Mahsa_Amini #IranProtests2022 #OpIran #NationalStrikes pic.twitter.com/UF8828Mehn
– Omid Djalili (@omid9) November 15, 2022
Astonishing scenes from #Iran. Protesters have burned down the house of Ruhollah Khomeini, the Islamic Republic’s founder.
The house has been a museum for the past 30 years. This is an attack in the essence of the republic itself. pic.twitter.com/Qtk5jr5AR6
— David Patrikarakos (@dpatrikarakos) November 18, 2022
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