https://arab.news/j5tz4
- Over 200 dead from countrywide protests, says Norway-based rights group
LONDON: Video footage captured in Iran appears to show security forces using a gun-mounted truck to fire on protesters, the BBC reported.
The BBC Persian service has verified the clip, which shows the vehicle moving toward fleeing protesters as a gunner fires from the rear of the vehicle.
The video was captured in Baneh, Kurdistan Province.
The province has faced vicious repression by authorities since countrywide protests broke out in the wake of the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini last month.
Human rights organizations have warned that the death toll stands at more than 100, with the Norway-based Iran Human Rights group estimating that the real figure is more than 200.
Women and minors have appeared at the forefront of protests and demonstrations, which center around discontent with repression and religious morality rules, including the country’s compulsory hijab law.
Schoolgirls around the country have supported the protest movement by removing their hijabs and chanting anti-regime slogans.
And internet-savvy young people in Iran are leading the front online, uploading clips on TikTok and Instagram of violence and ill-treatment at the hands of security services.
Amnesty International warned that Tehran’s “unrelenting brutal crackdown” had included an “all-out attack on child protesters,” resulting in the deaths of at least 23 minors.
On Oct. 5, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps deputy commander Ali Fadavi told state media that the average age of protest detainees was 15.
He added: “Some of the teenagers and young adults arrested used similar key phrases in their confessions, such as likening street riots to video games.”