At least 108 people have been murdered in Iran’s crackdown on more than three weeks of statewide protests prompted by the killing of Mahsa Amini, says Oslo-based NGO Iran Human Rights (IHR) (IHR).
The Iranian security forces allegedly murdered at least another 93 people during separate battles in the city of Zahedan, in the southeastern region of Sistan-Baluchistan, IHR stated in a statement.
Protests erupted across Iran on September 16, when Amini died three days after slipping into a coma following her detention in Tehran by the morality police for an alleged infraction of the Islamic republic’s stringent dress code for women.
The violence in Zahedan erupted on September 30 after protests that were spurred by indignation over the purported rape of a young girl by a police commander in the province.
Human rights groups also raised worry on Tuesday over the magnitude of the crackdown in Sanandaj, the capital of Amini’s native province of Kurdistan in Iran’s west.
“The international community must avoid more massacres in Kurdistan by sending a prompt response,” IHR director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam said in Wednesday’s statement.
IHR suggested its investigation into the scope of the “repression” in Kurdistan had been impeded by internet restrictions and warned of a “impending violent crackdown” on protestors in the western region.
“The city of Sanandaj in Kurdistan province has experienced extensive demonstrations and brutal crackdowns in the previous three days,” IHR stated, adding that the current death toll for the region omitted those slain in that period.
The Oslo-based organisation claimed it has so far reported 28 deaths in Mazandaran province, 14 in Kurdistan, 12 in both Gilan and West Azerbaijan, and 11 in Tehran province.
It added the Iranian security forces had also arrested several youngsters demonstrating on the streets and at schools in the last week.
“Children have a legal right to protest, the United Nations has a duty to safeguard children’s rights in Iran by placing pressure on the Islamic republic,” said Amiry-Moghaddam.
IHR said its toll also omitted six deaths that apparently happened during protests inside Rasht central jail in northern Iran on Sunday since it was still researching the issue.
It said employees had also engaged in countrywide strikes and protests at Asalouyeh petrochemical facility in Iran’s southwest, Abadan in western Iran and Bushehr to the south.
More than 100 ‘rioters’ charged: judiciary
Meanwhile, Iran has accused more than 100 individuals in two provinces over the wave of demonstrations caused by the death in jail last month of Mahsa Amini, the judiciary announced Thursday.
Tehran region accounted for 60 of the prosecutions while 65 persons have been accused for the “recent riots” in the southern province of Hormozgan, the judiciary’s Mizan Online news website stated.