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DUBAI (Reuters) – Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard on Thursday urged the Islamic Republic’s judiciary to prosecute “those who spread false news and rumors” about a young woman who died in police custody. asked.
Protesters in Tehran and other Iranian cities stormed police stations and vehicles early Thursday after reports of security forces being attacked and public anger over the deaths showed no signs of abating. arson.
Mahsa Amini, 22, died last week after being arrested in Tehran for “improperly dressed”. She fell into a coma during her custody. Authorities said they were launching an investigation into the cause of her death.
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In a statement, security guards expressed sympathy to Amini’s family and relatives.
“We have asked the judiciary to identify and decisively deal with those who spread false news and rumors on social media and on the streets, endangering the psychological safety of society,” he said in the past.
Pro-government protests are scheduled for Friday, according to Iranian media.
“This is the will of the Iranian people: no mercy for criminals,” said an editorial in the influential hard-line Cayhan newspaper.
Protests over Amini’s death are the largest in the Islamic Republic since 2019. While most are concentrated in Iran’s Kurdish northwest, it has spread to the capital and at least 50 cities and towns across the country, with police using force to disperse protesters.
A member of Iran’s pro-government militia, the Basij, was stabbed to death in the northeastern city of Mashhad on Wednesday, two Iranian semi-official news agencies reported Thursday.
Reports of stabbings by Tasnim and Fars media outlets were published on Telegram. There was no official confirmation of death.
Tasnim also said another member of the Basij was killed as a result of a gunshot wound inflicted by “rioters and gangsters” in Qazbin city on Wednesday, making the total number of reported security force members killed in the unrest.
In the northeast, protesters shouted “We will die, we will die, but we will take back Iran” near a police station that had been set on fire, a video posted to the Twitter account 1500tasvir showed. The account focuses on protests in Iran and has nearly 100,000 followers.
Reuters was unable to verify the footage.
Another police station in Tehran was set on fire after unrest spread from Kurdistan, where Amini is from and where she was buried on Saturday.
individual freedom
Amini’s death has rekindled anger over issues such as restrictions on individual freedoms in Iran, including strict dress codes for women, and the upheaval of economic sanctions.
Iran’s clerical rulers fear a return to the 2019 protests that erupted over the bloodiest gasoline price hike in the Islamic Republic’s history.
Protesters this week also expressed anger at Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. was seen doing
Reuters was unable to verify the video.
Kurdish rights group Hengaw, which Reuters could not confirm, reported 15 deaths in Kurdish areas.
Hengaw, residents, and internet blocking observatory NetBlocks reported that authorities restricted access to the internet as the protests showed no signs of abating.
Women play an important role in protests by waving their veils or burning their veils, and some even cut their hair in public.
In northern Iran, a crowd armed with batons and stones attacked two members of the security forces on motorbikes as the crowd cheered, as seen in a video that Reuters could not confirm.
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Reported by Dubai Bureau; Written by Michael Georgy. Edited by Raissa Kasolowsky and Mark Heinrich
Our criteria: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.