At least 108 killed in Iranian protest over Mahsa Amini death : Report

According to Iran Human Rights, an organisation based in Oslo, at least 108 people have died as a result of Iran’s crackdown on more than three weeks of statewide protests brought on by Mahsa Amini’s death.

IHR said in a statement that the Iranian security forces also killed at least another 93 people during separate clashes in the city of Zahedan, in the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan.

Iran experienced nationwide unrest on September 16, when Amini, who had been arrested by morality police in Tehran for allegedly violating the country’s severe dress code for women, passed away three days after going into a coma.

Anger over the alleged rape of a teenage girl by a police commander in the area sparked protests that led to violence in Zahedan on September 30.

On Tuesday, human rights organisations expressed concern over the severity of the crackdown in Sanandaj, the capital of Amini’s native Kurdistan province in western Iran.

Internet censorship, according to IHR, made it more difficult to research the scale of “repression” in Kurdistan and foreshadowed a “bloody crackdown” on protesters in the western province.

IHR stated, adding that the current death toll for the province did not include those killed during that time period.

The Olso-based group said it had so far recorded 28 deaths in Mazandaran province, 14 in Kurdistan, 12 in both Gilan and West Azerbaijan, and 11 in Tehran province.

It said the Iranian security forces had also arrested many children protesting on the streets and at schools in the past week.

“Children have a legal right to protest. The United Nations has an obligation to defend children’s rights in Iran by applying pressure on the Islamic Republic,” said Amiry-Moghaddam.

“Its toll also excluded six deaths that reportedly occurred during protests inside Rasht central prison in northern Iran on Sunday as it was still investigating the case”, IHR said.

It also said that the workers had also joined in nationwide strikes and protests at Asalouyeh petrochemical plant in Iran’s southwest, Abadan in western Iran and Bushehr to the south.