Tens killed in Iran amid internet outage
ERBIL, KRI, Iraq (North Press) – Security forces in Iran have killed at least 50 protesters since the start of protests at the background of the death of the Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini (Zhina), as internet was cut off in most Iranian cities that witness protests more than a week, according to well-informed sources.
Protests erupted at the funeral procession of Mahsa Amini on September 17. Last week, protests spread to cover 15 towns and cities in Iran, including Kurdish ones.
A well-informed source from Bukan in western Iran known by the Kurds as Eastern Kurdistan, told North Press that it is difficult to obtain delicate information as authorities cut off internet in the country.
The source said the outcome of deaths up to September 23 was 50 people including women and children killed at the hands of the security forces.
The Human Rights Organization in Kurdistan said the anti-riot police and Basij killed at least four youths aged 15-16 in the two cities of Urmia and Shno, eastern Iran.
Women participated widely in the protests especially in nightly organized ones.
The Kurdish woman Amini (Zhina in Kurdish) was killed at the hands of the morality police in the capital Tehran on September 16 two days after receiving a blow at the head. The Iranian authorities claim she was not killed but died due to a “health failure.”
Before the internet outage, footage went viral showing women removing their headscarves and men burning facilities of the security.
Slogans such as “Women are Life and Freedom,” and “Death to the Dictator,” “Down With the Regime” were widely hoisted all over the country.
Protests came to be known as “feminist uprising” as it started at the background of repression against women in the Islamic Republic.
The city of Shno was said to have been emptied of “security detachments” and fully under the control of protesters, according to the source who added with the internet shutdown it is more likely that authorities practice more violence and repression against protesters.