The Iranian government continued to crack down on protestors in Kurdistan as people in Sanandaj took to the roads to protest the death of 22-year-old Mehsa Amini. According to Amnesty International, the security forces used tear gas as well as bullets to stop the protestors from marching on Tuesday.
A woman who was part of the protests told The Guardian that the Iranian military was using excessive force to stop the protests and added that the internet in the province was also disrupted.
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“They have shut down the city and are slaughtering people inside with guns and bombs just because they are chanting for freedom,” she said while explaining the latest crackdowns.
Amini, who hailed from Kurdistan, was detained by Iran’s morality police for flouting hijab laws, and later in the day, she was declared dead with the postmortem report showing signs of physical trauma.
Since the news broke, protests have erupted all around the country with several countries and organisations – the United Kingdom being the latest – imposing sanctions on the morality police.
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Iran has summoned the British ambassador – Simon Shercliff – in response to the latest set of sanctions after they completely dismissed the accusations by calling them “baseless”.
Kurdistan has been a major center of protests with people rallying behind the common cause to express their displeasure with the current regime. However, the authorities have blamed traitorous Iranians abroad” and foreign powers for encouraging protests back home in recent times.
However, no official statement has been released regarding any foreign hand in the protests.
