Mahsa amini’s death: Clashes continue as Iran protests enter 3rd week

Iranian security forces opened fire on angry protesters as street violence sparked by the death of Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini entered a third week yesterday, foreign-based opposition media reported.

At least 83 people had been killed in a crackdown on the protests that erupted when Amini, 22, died in custody three days after her arrest by the notorious morality police in Tehran for allegedly breaching the Islamic republic's strict dress code for women.

"Death to the dictator," bare-headed women chanted in the northwestern city of Ardabil, said Iran International, a Persian-language television station based in London.

In the southwestern city of Ahvaz, security forces fired tear gas to disperse scores of people who streamed onto the streets jeering and shouting anti-government slogans, in another video shared by the channel.

Men braved gunfire as they stoned a police station in Zahedan, near Iran's southeastern border with Pakistan, other footage showed. AFP was unable to immediately verify the videos.

Women have defiantly burned their headscarves and cut their hair in the protests over Amini's death, announced September 16, that are the biggest seen in Iran since protests in November 2019 over fuel price rises.

Amnesty International said Iran was intentionally using lethal force against the protesters, adding that without international action "beyond statements of condemnation" more people risk being killed.

"The Iranian authorities have mobilised their well-honed machinery of repression to ruthlessly crack down on nationwide protests in an attempt to thwart any challenge to their power," it said.

Amnesty said it had obtained a leaked official document issued to the commanders of armed forces in all provinces on September 21 instructing them to "severely confront" protesters.

Former Iranian international footballer Hossein Manahi was arrested yesterday after supporting the protests on his social media accounts, state media said.

Security forces also arrested singer Shervin Hajipour, whose song "Baraye" ("For") made up of tweets about the protests went viral on Instagram, the rights group Article 19 said.

Iran also arrested a woman who drew praise online after being shown eating out in Tehran without a headscarf in an image that went viral on social media.

The Committee to Protect Journalists says at least 29 journalists have been arrested, including Nilufar Hamedi and Elahe Mohammadi, female reporters who helped expose Amini's case.

The crackdown has drawn widespread international condemnation.