عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
World

Overnight Protests Rock Tehran, Other Iranian Cities, Videos Show

Iranians chat in a street in downtown Tehran, Iran, 15 February 2023. (EPA)
Iranians chat in a street in downtown Tehran, Iran, 15 February 2023. (EPA)
TT
TT

Overnight Protests Rock Tehran, Other Iranian Cities, Videos Show

Iranians chat in a street in downtown Tehran, Iran, 15 February 2023. (EPA)
Iranians chat in a street in downtown Tehran, Iran, 15 February 2023. (EPA)

Protests rocked Iran again overnight Thursday after seeming to have dwindled in recent weeks, with marchers calling for the overthrow of the Islamic Republic, online video posts purportedly showed on Friday.

The marches in numerous cities including Tehran that began on Thursday evening and went on into the night marked 40 days since the execution of two protesters last month.

Mohammad Mehdi Karami and Mohammad Hosseini were hanged on Jan. 8. Two others were executed in December.

The protests that have swept across Iran began last September after the death in custody of 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman Mahsa Amini for flouting the hijab policy, which requires women to entirely cover their hair and bodies.

Videos on Friday showed demonstrations in several neighborhoods in Tehran as well as in the cities of Karaj, Isfahan, Qazvin, Rasht, Arak, Mashhad, Sanandaj, Qorveh, and Izeh in Khuzestan province.

Reuters was able to confirm three of the videos on the protests in Zahedan and one of those in Tehran.

An online video purportedly from the city of Mashhad in the northeast showed protesters chanting: "My martyred brother, we shall avenge your blood."

Other videos showed large protests on Friday in Zahedan, capital of southeastern Sistan-Baluchistan province, home to Iran's Baluchi minority.

Meanwhile, the judiciary said a court had dismissed and jailed a police commander accused of raping a girl. The incident fueled anger ahead of protests on Sept. 30 which faced a crackdown in Zahedan in which at least 66 people were killed, according to Amnesty International.

The long wave of unrest has posed one of the strongest challenges to the republic since the 1979 revolution. Openly defying the hijab rules, women have waved and burned their scarves or cut their hair.

While the unrest appeared to have tapered off in recent weeks, probably because of the executions or the crackdown, acts of civil disobedience have continued.

Nightly anti-government chants reverberate across Tehran and other cities. Youths spray graffiti at night denouncing the republic or burn pro-government billboards or signs on main highways. Unveiled women appear in the streets, malls, shops and restaurants despite warnings from officials.

Many of the women among the dozens of recently released prisoners have posed unveiled in front of cameras.

Authorities have not backed down on the compulsory hijab policy, a pillar of the republic.

In recent weeks Iranian media have reported closures of several businesses, restaurants and cafes for failure to observe the hijab rules.

Last week, Iranian officials called on trade unions for stricter enforcement of hijab regulations in Tehran’s stores and businesses.

"Improperly" veiled female students were warned last month they would be barred from entering Tehran University, while local media reported that about 50 students were prevented from entering Urmia University in the northwest for flouting the hijab rules.

Rights activists say more than 500 protesters have been killed since September, including 71 minors. Nearly 20,000 have been detained. At least four people have been hanged, according to the judiciary.

Karami, a 22-year-old karate champion, and Hosseini were convicted of killing a member of the Basij paramilitary force militia.

Amnesty International said the court that convicted Karami relied on forced confessions. Hosseini's lawyer said his client had been tortured.

Two others were executed on Dec. 8 and 12 respectively.

Five women activists released on Thursday said they owed their freedom to the solidarity of "the freedom-loving people and youths of Iran", according to social media posts.

"The day of freedom is near," they said in a statement.

Most Viewed

 
 
World

North Korea Sent More Conventional Weapons to Russia, South Korea Says

A TV screen shows a file image of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, right, and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Pyongyang, during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (AP)
A TV screen shows a file image of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, right, and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Pyongyang, during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (AP)
TT
TT

North Korea Sent More Conventional Weapons to Russia, South Korea Says

A TV screen shows a file image of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, right, and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Pyongyang, during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (AP)
A TV screen shows a file image of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, right, and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Pyongyang, during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (AP)

North Korea recently supplied additional artillery systems to Russia to support its war efforts against Ukraine, while some of the thousands of North Korean troops deployed in Russia have begun engaging in combat, South Korea’s spy agency told lawmakers Wednesday.

The South Korean assessment came after Russia warned Monday that US President Joe Biden’s decision to let Ukraine strike targets inside Russia with US-supplied longer-range missiles adds “fuel to the fire” of the war. US officials said Biden’s decision was triggered almost entirely by North Korea’s entry into the war.

In a closed-door briefing at parliament, the National Intelligence Service said that North Korea exported 170mm self-propelled guns and 240mm multiple rocket launch systems to Russia, according to lawmaker Lee Seong Kweun, who attended the meeting.

Lee told reporters that the NIS assessed those weapons are a type of artillery the Russian military doesn’t operate so North Korea likely dispatched personnel to teach the Russians how to use them and handle their maintenance.

Last week, Russian Telegram channels and other social media posts published photos apparently showing North Korean’s “Koksan” 170mm self-propelled guns being moved by rail inside Russia. The Financial Times, citing Ukrainian intelligence assessments, reported Sunday that North Korea in recent weeks sent some 50 domestically produced 170mm self-propelled howitzers and 20 240mm multiple launch rocket systems to Russia.

The artillery systems are the latest conventional weapons that North Korea is believed to have provided to Russia as the two countries are sharply expanding their military cooperation in the face of separate confrontations with the US and its allies. Last month, the NIS said that North Korea had sent more than 13,000 containers of artillery, missiles and other conventional arms to Russia since August 2023 to replenish its dwindling weapons stockpiles.

During its Wednesday briefing, the NIS said that an estimated 11,000 North Korean soldiers in late October were moved to Russia’s Kursk region, where Ukrainian troops seized parts of its territory this year, following their training in Russia's northeast, Lee said. He cited the NIS as saying the North Korean soldiers were assigned to Russia’s marine and airborne forces units and some of them have already begun fighting alongside the Russians on the frontlines.

The US, Ukraine and others have similar estimates on the size of North Korea's troop deployment. They say the North Korean soldiers arrived in Russia in October and that some of them have since engaged in combat in the Kursk region. Observers say North Korea's participation in the almost 3-year war threatens to escalate the conflict.

Park Sunwon, another lawmaker who was present at the NIS meeting, made similar comments on the briefing. He said the spy agency couldn’t provide an assessment on possible North Korean casualties.

Moscow said Tuesday that Ukraine fired six US-made ATACMS missiles at Russia’s Bryansk region, in what would be Kyiv’s first use of the weapon inside Russia. Ukraine’s General Staff did not confirm whether the weapon was used, but said the armed forces struck an ammunition warehouse in the Bryansk region, which neighbors Kursk and was likely supplying Russian forces fighting there.

Since the first year of the war, Ukrainian leaders have lobbied Western allies to allow them to use advanced weapons to strike key targets inside Russia.