Protests condemning the death of Mahsa Amini extend to 15 cities
Biden stands in solidarity with "courageous Iranian women"
Biden expressed his solidarity with the Iranian people and protesters before the United Nations.
AFP
Demonstrations spread in several Iranian cities.
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Raisi criticized before the United Nations the policy of double standards.
AFP
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United States President Joe Biden affirmed, on Wednesday, the American people's solidarity with Iranian women, at a time when eight people were reported killed in Iran since protests erupted condemning the death of Mahsa Amini, after she was detained by the "moral police."
In his address to the United Nations General Assembly, shortly after Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi's speech, Biden saluted the demonstrators and affirmed his support for reviving the nuclear deal with Tehran.
"We stand with the brave people of Iran and brave Iranian women, who are demonstrating today in defense of their most basic rights," he said from the United Nations podium.
Public anger has exploded in the street since the authorities announced, on Friday, the death of the 22-year-old woman, from the Kurdistan region in northwestern Iran, who was arrested on September 13 in Tehran on the pretext of wearing “indecent clothes.”
Activists say that Mahsa, whose Kurdish name is Zina, was hit in the head during her detention, which is denied by the Iranian authorities, who announced the opening of an investigation into the incident.
Videos circulated extensively on social media showed that among the protesters, women took off their headscarves and threw them into fires lit on the road, while others cut their hair short in a symbolic move.
Chants were heard among the demonstrators in Tehran, "No to the veil, no to the turban, yes to freedom and equality."
Demonstrations took place in several cities, especially in northern Iran, on Wednesday night, for the fifth consecutive night, and activists reported clashes in cities, including Urmia and Sardasht.
In southern Iran, videos believed to be dated Wednesday showed protesters setting fire to a giant picture of General Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the Revolutionary Guards who was killed in a US strike in Iraq in 2020.
Official Iranian media reported that the protests spread to 15 cities, noting that the police used tear gas, and dispersed crowds that gathered about 1,000 people.
very worried
London-based rights group Article 19 said it was "deeply concerned by reports of the unlawful use of force by Iranian police and security forces", including the use of live ammunition.
The "IRNA" news agency reported that the demonstrators blocked traffic in some areas, set fire to waste containers and police vehicles, threw stones at security forces and chanted anti-regime slogans.
The protests included Tehran and other cities, including Mashhad in the northeast of the country, Tabriz in the northwest, Isfahan in the center, and Shiraz in the south, according to IRNA.
The demonstrators also chanted "Death to the dictator" and "Women, life, freedom", according to videos circulating on social networking sites despite the restrictions imposed on the Internet, according to the network monitoring observatory NetBlocks.
Double standards
From the podium of the United Nations, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi referred to the deaths of indigenous women in Canada, the practices of Israel in the occupied Palestinian territories, and the “brutality” of ISIS towards women from religious minorities.
"As long as we have this double standard, and where attention is focused only on one side and not on the whole, we will not have real justice and equity," he said.
He also criticized Western conditions for reviving the 2015 nuclear agreement, stressing that his country "does not seek to manufacture or possess nuclear weapons, and these weapons have no place in our faith."
"Iranian leaders should be aware that people are not satisfied with the direction they have taken," British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly told AFP in New York. "They can abandon their ambition to acquire nuclear weapons.
They can stop suppressing voices in their own country.
They can stop their destabilizing activities.”
"At the end of the day, Iranian leaders must review themselves," he said.
They should wonder why so many disgruntled Iranians are here, and whether another path is possible.
A path with a stronger economy and more active participation with the international community.”
French President Emmanuel Macron said he had asked Raisi, in a meeting with him Tuesday on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, to show "respect for women's rights."
important shake
The protests in Iran are the most serious since the November 2019 unrest over high fuel prices.
David Rigolet-Rose, a researcher at the IRIS Center, who specializes in Iranian affairs, believes that the demonstrations "constitute an important stir" in Iran, adding that "it is difficult to predict how they will end, but there is complete isolation between the authorities stuck in (...) the revolution. Islam and a more secular society.
The demonstrations began Friday in the Iranian province of Kurdistan, the birthplace of Amini, where Governor Ismail Zari Kosha announced, on Tuesday, the killing of three people in “suspicious circumstances” and as part of an “enemy plot.”
On Wednesday, Kurdistan Police Chief Ali Azadi announced the death of a fourth person, according to the Iranian "Tasnim" news agency.
Two demonstrators were killed "during the riots" in Kermanshah province, according to the provincial prosecutor, Shahram Karami, blaming "anti-revolutionary elements" for this.
On Wednesday, the Norwegian Kurdish Human Rights Organization "Henkau" reported the killing of 16 and 23-year-old protesters, at night in West Azerbaijan province, northwest of Iran.
450 people were wounded and 500 were arrested, according to the organization.
It was not possible to verify the figures from independent sources.
In turn, Amnesty International said that the total number of people killed in the protests reached eight, including six men, a woman and a child.
The international human rights organization condemned the "brutal repression" and "the illegal use of bullets, steel balls, tear gas, water cannons and sticks to disperse the demonstrators."
On Wednesday evening, many Internet users in Iran faced difficulties communicating through social networks.
IRNA reported that the demonstrators blocked traffic in some areas, set fire to waste containers and police vehicles, and chanted anti-regime slogans.
Raisi criticizes Western conditions for reviving the 2015 nuclear agreement, stressing that his country does not seek to build or possess nuclear weapons, and these weapons have no place in its ideology.
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