Iran Steps Up Violence Against Protesters
Sentences Five Activists to Death
HAVANA TIMES – In Iran, women and youth-led protests continue two months after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while in police custody. Crackdowns on the mobilizations are also intensifying.
On Tuesday, police opened fire on protesters inside a metro station in Tehran. In other parts of Iran, as many as 15 people were killed Wednesday night. Some of the deaths were attributed to gunmen on motorcycles. Iran has blamed “terrorists,” though some local witnesses have said security forces are responsible.
Demonstrators this week are commemorating 2019’s “Bloody November,” when hundreds were killed during popular protests spurred by rising fuel prices. In major cities across Iran, crowds called for an end to clerical rule and the removal of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Meanwhile, Iran has sentenced at least five people to death in connection with the protests. Amnesty International condemned the “chilling use of the death penalty to further brutally quell the popular uprising.” A human rights group says security forces have killed at least 348 people over the past two months of protests. Nearly 16,000 have been arrested.
Iran is the kind of ally that the Diaz-Canel regime admires.