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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)
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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.

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South Korean Opposition Submits Motion to Impeach Country's Acting President

South Korea's acting President Han Duck-soo speaks at the government complex in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (Choi Jae-koo/Yonhap via AP)
South Korea's acting President Han Duck-soo speaks at the government complex in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (Choi Jae-koo/Yonhap via AP)
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South Korean Opposition Submits Motion to Impeach Country's Acting President

South Korea's acting President Han Duck-soo speaks at the government complex in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (Choi Jae-koo/Yonhap via AP)
South Korea's acting President Han Duck-soo speaks at the government complex in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (Choi Jae-koo/Yonhap via AP)

South Korea’s main opposition party submitted a motion on Thursday to impeach the country’s acting leader over his reluctance to fill three Constitutional Court vacancies ahead of the court’s review of rebellion charges against impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol stemming from his short-lived martial law decree on Dec. 3.
The court appointments have stalled amid an intensifying dispute between the liberal opposition and Yoon’s conservative party, and the potential impeachment of Prime Minister Han Duck-soo may deepen the political paralysis that has halted high-level diplomacy and rattled financial markets, The Associated Press reported.
The opposition-controlled National Assembly also passed motions calling for the appointment of three Constitutional Court justices as the court prepares to start deliberations on whether to dismiss or reinstate Yoon. The vote came shortly after Han reiterated in a televised statement that he wouldn’t appoint the justices without bipartisan consent.
National Assembly Speaker Woo Won Shik urged Han to swiftly appoint the justices, saying that his calls for bipartisan consent essentially amounted to a refusal and “infringes on the National Assembly’s right to select Constitutional Court justices.”
Yoon’s People Power Party, whose members mostly boycotted the National Assembly vote, argued that Han shouldn’t exercise presidential authority to appoint the proposed justices while Yoon has yet to be formally removed from office.
The main opposition Democratic Party has accused the conservatives of undermining the court process to save Yoon’s presidency, and its motion to impeach Han could go to a floor vote as early as Friday. The Democrats’ floor leader, Park Chan-dae, said Han’s comments showed “he lacks both the qualifications to serve as the acting leader and the will to uphold the Constitution.”
Yoon’s presidential powers were suspended after the National Assembly voted to impeach him on Dec. 14 over an attempted power grab that lasted only hours but has triggered weeks of political turmoil that has shaken one of Asia’s most robust democracies.
To formally end Yoon’s presidency, at least six justices on the nine-member Constitutional Court must vote in favor. Three seats remain vacant following retirements and a full bench could make conviction more likely.
The court, which is to hold a pretrial hearing in Yoon’s case on Friday, has said it believes the acting president can exercise the right to appoint justices.
Three of the court’s nine justices are directly appointed by the president. Three are nominated by the head of the Supreme Court and three by the National Assembly, and they are then formally appointed by the president in what is widely considered a procedural matter.
The three seats that are currently open are to be nominated by lawmakers. South Korea’s Constitution states that the National Assembly “selects” three spots on the court rather than recommends, suggesting that the presidential appointments for these spots are a formality rather than a substantive authority, according to some legal experts.
“The consistent spirit reflected in our Constitution and laws is that an acting president should focus on maintaining stability in governance to help the country overcome crisis while refraining from exercising significant powers exclusive to the president, including appointments to constitutional institutions,” Han said. “I will withhold the appointment of Constitutional Court justices until the ruling and opposition parties submit an agreed-upon proposal.”
Han has also clashed with the Democrats over his vetoes of bills calling for independent investigations of Yoon and corruption allegations involving his wife, Kim Keon Hee.
If Han is impeached, Choi Sang-mok, the country’s deputy prime minister and finance minister, is next in line.
The impeachment vote against Han could face legal ambiguities. Most South Korean officials can be impeached with a simple majority of the National Assembly, but impeaching presidents requires two-thirds. The rival parties differ on which standard should apply to an acting president. The Democratic Party controls 170 of the National Assembly’s 300 seats, so it would need support from members of other parties including Yoon’s own to get a two-thirds majority.
While focusing on defending himself in the Constitutional Court, Yoon has dodged several requests by law enforcement authorities to appear for questioning over rebellion charges and also blocked searches of his office.
Authorities have already arrested Yoon’s defense minister, police chief and several other military commanders involved in the attempt to implement martial law, which harkened back to the days of authoritarian leaders the country hasn’t seen since the 1980s.
In a news conference in Seoul, Yoo Seung Soo, lawyer for former Defense Minister Kim Yong Hyun, repeated Yoon’s claim that his martial law decree was to “sound alarm against ... political abuse” by an opposition that has bogged down his agenda, and did not amount to a rebellion.