BAccording to human rights activists, at least 314 people have been killed in the nationwide protests in Iran. Among the dead were 47 minors and 38 security forces, the United States-based organization Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) reported on Saturday. More than 14,000 people were also arrested. The protests, which have been ongoing since mid-September, have affected more than 130 cities in the country.
The trigger for the mass protests in Iran was the death of 22-year-old Iranian Kurd Mahsa Amini. The moral police had arrested her because she allegedly did not comply with the mandatory rules for wearing a headscarf. The woman died in police custody on September 16. Since her death, thousands have been demonstrating across the country against the government’s repressive course and the Islamic system of rule.
On Friday, the G-7 states sharply criticized Iran’s actions against demonstrators and Tehran’s arms deliveries to Russia and indirectly threatened further sanctions. One condemns “the brutal and disproportionate use of force against peaceful demonstrators and children”, it said in the final document of the two-day deliberations of the G-7 foreign ministers in Münster, Westphalia. The Iranian authorities were asked to “ensure that perpetrators of human rights violations and abuses are held accountable”.
