Iranian human rights organization Hengau reported that the Iranian regime has imposed a strict security atmosphere in the city of Sakez, Mahsa Amini’s hometown, which marks the 40th anniversary of her death today, Wednesday.
The organization explained that Iranian security forces took to the streets fearing the outbreak of demonstrations marking the 40th anniversary of Amini’s assassination.
Activists issued calls for strikes and mass demonstrations today, Wednesday, and the protesting activists demanded that protests be organized to continue throughout the day.
The protests are not expected to be limited to the city of Saqqaz, but will spread to various Iranian cities, where the protests have spread since the assassination of Amini.
On Tuesday, students demonstrated at universities across Iran despite the crackdown they face. “A student may die, but he will not accept humiliation,” chant students at Shahid Chamran University in Ahwas (southwest).
Young women and schoolgirls are at the forefront of protests following Amini’s death last month after she was arrested for allegedly violating Iran’s strict dress code.
Amini, 22, an Iranian of Kurdish descent, died on September 16, three days after she was arrested by the vice police while visiting Tehran with her younger brother.
Activists said security services warned Amini’s family not to hold a ceremony on the anniversary of her death, but asked people to visit her grave on Wednesday in Kurdistan province, otherwise “they should worry about their son’s life.” Wednesday marks 40 days since Amini’s death.
On Tuesday, the IRNA news agency released a statement from the family saying, “Given the circumstances and in order to avoid any unfortunate issues, we will not be commemorating the 40th anniversary” of Mahsa’s death.
The activists said the announcement was made under duress, noting that the honoring ceremony, however, would be organized at Amini’s grave.
They were stripped naked, searched and beaten
Videos posted online show students demonstrating on Tuesday at Beheshti University and Khoja Nasir Tosi Technological University in Tehran, as well as Shahid Chamran University in Ahwas in Khuzestan province.
More demonstrations came a day after activists accused security forces of beating schoolgirls at the Shaheed Al-Sadr Girls’ Vocational School in Tehran on Monday.
1500 Filming reported that “girls from Al Sadr High School were attacked, stripped naked, searched and beaten.”
At least one schoolgirl, 16-year-old Sana Suleimani, was taken to hospital, according to 1500 Filming, which monitors violations by Iranian security forces.
She added, “Families later protested in front of the school. The security forces attacked the neighborhood and opened fire on people’s houses.”
For its part, the Iranian Ministry of Education said that a dispute arose between students and their parents, as well as school staff, after the director asked them to follow the rules for using mobile phones.
Iranian news agency ISNA quoted a ministry spokesman as “harsh” on the death of a schoolgirl in the standoff.
The video shows families screaming for information in front of a school in Tehran’s Salsabil district.
Reports like these have fueled Iranian anger over the crackdown, which has killed at least 141 people on Tuesday, according to Oslo-based Human Rights Watch.
Boycott the words of a high-ranking official
These bloody riots rocked the province of Kurdistan (west), Amini’s hometown, as well as Zahedan in the far southeast of Iran, where, according to Iranian Human Rights, 93 people were killed in demonstrations that erupted on September 30 over reports of rape of a teenage girl by a police commander.
And Iranian news agency Tasnim reported that unidentified gunmen killed two Islamic Revolutionary Guardsmen in Zahedan on Tuesday, bringing the total number of security personnel killed in Sistan and Balochistan to eight.
Despite a “violent and ruthless campaign of repression”, according to Amnesty International, young women and men staged protests again, according to records posted online on Tuesday.
Young women appear at metro stations in Tehran chanting “Death to the dictator” and “Death to the guards of the Islamic revolution.”
Students also boycotted a speech by presidential spokesman Ibrahim Raisi at Khoja Nasir University in Tehran, according to a video released by the reformist newspaper Ham Heiman.
In the video, students can be heard shouting to Ali Bahaduri Jahromi: “Speaker, get out of here” and “We don’t need a corrupt regime, we don’t need an assassin.”
Human rights organization: death toll from protests in Iran rises to 234
Iran
Iran protests Human rights organization: death toll from protests in Iran rises to 234
Professors participated in a nationwide strike on Sunday and Monday to protest the crackdown, and on Tuesday there were reports of another strike in Kurdistan province.
Amnesty reports that the crackdown on demonstrations in Iran has killed at least 23 children, and Human Rights in Iran said Tuesday that at least 29 children have been killed.
Security forces launched a campaign of mass arrests of demonstrators and their supporters, including academics, journalists and music stars.
On Monday, the judiciary announced that more than 300 people had been charged in connection with the protests that followed Amini’s death, adding that four of them were facing charges that could lead to the death penalty.
On Tuesday, official media reported that more than 210 people have been charged in connection with the protests in Kurdistan, Qazvin and Isfahan.