Demonstrations in Iran: Rohani calls for the release of "innocents"

Anyone innocent and unarmed arrested during protests against rising gas prices must be released, proclaimed Iranian President Hassan Rohani, Wednesday, December 4. The Islamic Republic has been marked for two weeks by deadly violence unprecedented since 1979, according to NGOs.

"Of all these people who have been arrested, there are of course innocent people and they should be released," Hassan Rohani said in a speech broadcast on public television. "Some ... have committed crimes, not crimes. [For example] someone has set a tire on fire, we should not keep him in jail for that," he said. said.

"What they did was not good, but [...] we should not be strict with these people," he added. On the other hand, "the case of the criminals must be treated by strictly applying the law". This includes "those who took part in these incidents in an organized manner," said the Iranian president.

Hassan Rohani announced that the "confessions" of the latter would be broadcast on television, and that the public could then discover what they "had been preparing for more than two years", until "their masters abroad "give them the signal to act. The authorities said they had calmed down after a few days of demonstrations and violence, which they described as "riots" supported and encouraged by Iran's "enemies", such as the United States, Israel or the United States. Saudi Arabia.

No official report

The protest movement, triggered on November 15 after the announcement of a 300% increase in gas prices, has since spread to over a hundred cities and villages and has gradually spread turned into anti-government protests.

In total, according to the Iranian Minister of the Interior, 200,000 people took part in the demonstrations, during which some 7,000 people were arrested according to a deputy, a number denied by the judicial authority.

The Iranian authorities have not provided any official report at this stage, but according to the NGO Amnesty International, at least 208 demonstrators have died, the worst record since the 1979 revolution.

With AFP and Reuters