Amnesty: Iran Ordered Forces to ‘Severely Confront’ Protests

Protestors hold banners with the portrait of Iranian Mahsa Amini as they take part in a rally outside the Iranian consulate in Istanbul on September 29, 2022, as they protest following the death of Mahsa Amini after her arrest by the country's morality police in Tehran. (AFP)
Protestors hold banners with the portrait of Iranian Mahsa Amini as they take part in a rally outside the Iranian consulate in Istanbul on September 29, 2022, as they protest following the death of Mahsa Amini after her arrest by the country's morality police in Tehran. (AFP)
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Amnesty: Iran Ordered Forces to ‘Severely Confront’ Protests

Protestors hold banners with the portrait of Iranian Mahsa Amini as they take part in a rally outside the Iranian consulate in Istanbul on September 29, 2022, as they protest following the death of Mahsa Amini after her arrest by the country's morality police in Tehran. (AFP)
Protestors hold banners with the portrait of Iranian Mahsa Amini as they take part in a rally outside the Iranian consulate in Istanbul on September 29, 2022, as they protest following the death of Mahsa Amini after her arrest by the country's morality police in Tehran. (AFP)

Leaked government documents show that Iran ordered its security forces to "severely confront" antigovernment demonstrations that broke out earlier this month, Amnesty International said Friday.

The London-based rights group said security forces have killed at least 52 people since protests over the death of a woman detained by the morality police began nearly two weeks ago, including by firing live ammunition into crowds and beating protesters with batons.

It says security forces have also beaten and groped female protesters who remove their headscarves to protest the treatment of women by Iran's theocracy.

The state-run IRNA news agency meanwhile reported renewed violence in the city of Zahedan, near the borders with Pakistan and Afghanistan. It said gunmen opened fire and hurled firebombs at a police station, setting off a battle with police.

It said police and passersby were wounded, without elaborating, and did not say whether the violence was related to the anti-government protests. The region has seen previous attacks on security forces claimed by militant and separatist groups.

Videos circulating on social media showed gunfire and a police vehicle on fire. Others showed crowds chanting against the government. Video from elsewhere in Iran showed protests in Ahvaz, in the southwest, and Ardabil in the northwest.

The death in custody of Mahsa Amini, who was detained for allegedly wearing the mandatory headscarf too loosely, has triggered an outpouring of anger at Iran's ruling clerics.

Her family says they were told she was beaten to death in custody. Police say the 22-year-old Amini died of a heart attack and deny mistreating her, and Iranian officials say her death is under investigation.

Iran's leaders accuse hostile foreign entities of seizing on her death to foment unrest against the country and portray the protesters as rioters, saying a number of security forces have been killed.

Amnesty said it obtained a leaked copy of an official document saying that the General Headquarters of the Armed Forces ordered commanders on Sept. 21 to "severely confront troublemakers and anti-revolutionaries." The rights group says the use of lethal force escalated later that evening, with at least 34 people killed that night alone.

It said another leaked document shows that, two days later, the commander in Mazandran province ordered security forces to "confront mercilessly, going as far as causing deaths, any unrest by rioters and anti-Revolutionaries," referring to those opposed to Iran's 1979 revolution, which brought the clerics to power.

"The Iranian authorities knowingly decided to harm or kill people who took to the streets to express their anger at decades of repression and injustice," said Agnes Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General.

"Amid an epidemic of systemic impunity that has long prevailed in Iran, dozens of men, women and children have been unlawfully killed in the latest round of bloodshed."

Amnesty did not say how it acquired the documents. There was no immediate comment from Iranian authorities.

Iranian state TV has reported that at least 41 protesters and police have been killed since the demonstrations began Sept. 17. An Associated Press count of official statements by authorities tallied at least 14 dead, with more than 1,500 demonstrators arrested.

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday that at least 28 reporters have been arrested.

Iranian authorities have severely restricted internet access and blocked access to Instagram and WhatsApp, popular social media applications that are also used by the protesters to organize and share information.

That makes it difficult to gauge the extent of the protests, particularly outside the capital, Tehran. Iranian media have only sporadically covered the demonstrations.

Iranians have long used virtual private networks and proxies to get around the government's internet restrictions. Shervin Hajipour, an amateur singer in Iran, recently posted a song on Instagram based on tweets about Amini that received more than 40 million views in less than 48 hours before it was taken down.

Non-governmental Iran Human rights Organization said that Hajipour has reportedly been arrested.



Death Toll from US Winter Storms Grows to 14

HYDEN, KENTUCKY - FEBRUARY 17: A flooded road that leads to a neighborhood is seen on February 17, 2025 in Hyden, Kentucky. (Photo by Jon Cherry / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)
HYDEN, KENTUCKY - FEBRUARY 17: A flooded road that leads to a neighborhood is seen on February 17, 2025 in Hyden, Kentucky. (Photo by Jon Cherry / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)
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Death Toll from US Winter Storms Grows to 14

HYDEN, KENTUCKY - FEBRUARY 17: A flooded road that leads to a neighborhood is seen on February 17, 2025 in Hyden, Kentucky. (Photo by Jon Cherry / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)
HYDEN, KENTUCKY - FEBRUARY 17: A flooded road that leads to a neighborhood is seen on February 17, 2025 in Hyden, Kentucky. (Photo by Jon Cherry / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)

The death toll from powerful winter storms in the central and eastern United States has risen to at least 14, officials said Monday, after floods, gale-force winds and bitterly cold temperatures swept the region.

The National Weather Service (NWS) warned on Monday of a winter storm system carrying arctic air that would cause "record cold," with wind chill expected to hit as low as -60 degrees Fahrenheit (-51 degrees Celsius) in Montana and North Dakota.

"I've got more tough news. The death toll in Kentucky has now risen to 12," said Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear in a social media post on Monday, raising the toll from eight a day earlier.

West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey said on Monday his state had also seen at least one death from the weather, AFP reported.

"We have one confirmed fatality at this time," he told a press briefing, warning that further flooding was expected. "There are still several people who are missing."

In addition, one person died in the southern city of Atlanta, Georgia. The victim was killed when an "extremely large" tree fell on his house early Sunday, fire official Scott Powell told local media.

Most of the dead in Kentucky, Beshear said in an earlier news conference, drowned when trapped in their vehicles by fast-rising floodwaters. The victims included a mother and her child.

The governor urged people to stay off roads across the state, where local and federal authorities have declared a state of emergency.

Beshear said more than 1,000 people had been rescued by first responders within 24 hours.

In its Monday advisory, the NWS warned that the cold weather system would impact a vast area, sending temperatures tumbling in the central plains, the eastern seaboard and as far south as the Gulf coast.

"A bitter cold arctic airmass is expected to continue impacting the north-central US while also spreading further south and east over the next few days," the advisory said.

Power to thousands of homes had been restored by Monday, but more than 50,000 customers remained without electricity in the states of West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Maryland, according to monitoring website poweroutage.us.