Fresh reports reaching the desk of Africa Today News, New York has revealed that more than 620 people which also include some dozens of minors have all been arrested in Chad, after the anti-regime protests had all left at least 50 dead.
The arrest figure which has also been stipulated as being far higher than those which have been previously stated officially and it has also been suggested by local and international rights groups after the mass demonstrations.
N’Djamena prosecutor Moussa Wade Djibrine, told reporters “621 people had been arrested and sent” to Koro Toro high security prison in the desert some 600 kilometres (360 miles) from the capital.
He had also revealed that those detained were behind “serious acts and targeted attacks on the Republic’s institutions”.
Around 401 people have appeared in court and the other 220 before an instructing magistrate, he added and a total of 83 of those held appeared before children’s judges.
Wade Djibrine gave no further details and refused to answer questions.
In another report, the United States has announced that it has concluded plans to ease export restrictions to improve Iranians’ access to the internet, which the Tehran government has severely gone against amid a crackdown on protesters.
In the aftermath of a woman’s death in the custody of the country’s morality police, Iran cut off internet services to much of the population in what the United States said was a bid ‘to prevent the world from watching its violent crackdown on peaceful protesters.’
‘In the face of these steps, we are going to help make sure the Iranian people are not kept isolated and in the dark,’ US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.
This is a concrete step to provide meaningful support to Iranians demanding that their basic rights be respected.’
Iran has been rocked by a week of bloody protests over the death last week of Mahsa Amini, who was arrested for “improperly” wearing the Islamic headscarf.