The President of Iran has on Thursday made some fresh claims that the “riots” which had been sparked by Mahsa Amini’s death had also paved the way for “terrorist” attacks, a day after a gunman had killed at least 15 people at a Muslim shrine.
The bloody attack which had occurred in the southern city of Shiraz had come as some thousands of mourners had paid tribute to Amini on Wednesday in her western hometown, 40 days after her death in police custody.
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Ultra-conservative President Ebrahim Raisi had also appeared to link the two tragedies on Thursday, while had also declared that “the intention of the enemy is to disrupt the country’s progress, and then these riots pave the ground for terrorist acts”.
Raisi vowed “a severe response” over the mass killing at the Shiite Muslim Shah Cheragh mausoleum during evening prayers — an attack that was claimed by the Sunni extremist group Islamic State.
Protests have also gripped Iran since Amini, who is a 22-year-old of Kurdish origin, died on September 16, three days after her arrest in Tehran by the notorious morality police for allegedly breaching the Islamic dress code for women and he rallies have also been led by young women who have burned their headscarves and confronted security forces, in the biggest wave of unrest to rock Iran for years.
Nearly six weeks after Amini’s death, the demonstrations show no signs of ending, fuelled by public outrage over a crackdown that has claimed the lives of other young women and girls.
Despite heightened security measures, columns of mourners had poured into Amini’s hometown of Saqez in Kurdistan province on Wednesday, paying tribute at her grave at the end of the traditional mourning period.
Mourners chanted at the Aichi cemetery outside Saqez, before many were seen heading to the governor’s office in the city centre, where Iranian media outlets said some were poised to attack an army base.
“Security forces have shot tear gas and opened fire on people in Zindan square, Saqez city,” the Hengaw rights group said, without specifying whether there were any dead or wounded.
After nightfall, some blasts were heard as security forces had fired on protesters in Marivan, Kurdistan province, in a video which had been published by Hengaw, a Norway-based organisation.
“Death to the dictator,” chanted protesters in the nearby city of Bukan where bonfires burned in the streets, the rights group said.
Protesters also surrounded a base of the Basij militia in Sanandaj, a flashpoint city in Kurdistan province, starting fires and driving security forces back, it added and there were similar scenes in Ilam city, near Iran’s western border with Iraq.