At least 326 killed in Iran's crackdown on protests

Iranian security forces have killed at least 326 people since nationwide protests erupted two months ago, the Norway-based Iran Human Rights NGO (IHRNGO) group has claimed.

That figure includes 43 children and 25 women, the group said in an update to its death toll on Saturday – saying that its published number represented an “absolute minimum.”

Antigovernment demonstrations continued in Iran on Saturday, with gatherings, sit-ins, and student protests in various cities. 

In the capital Tehran students of Tehran, Sharif, Science and Culture, and Beheshti universities staged protests to show anger at the apprehension of their colleagues by security forces. Reports say that more than 200 university student shave been detained since September.

In Kharazmi University of Karaj, west of Tehran, students chanted slogans such as, “People, why are you sitting still? You are our savior” and "They have killed students and replaced them with Mullahs.”

Iran is facing one of its biggest and most unprecedented shows of dissent following the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman detained by the morality police allegedly for not wearing her hijab properly.

Public anger over her death has combined with a range of grievances against the Islamic Republic’s oppressive regime to fuel the demonstrations, which continue despite law makers urging the country’s judiciary to “show no leniency” to protesters.

Despite the threat of arrests and harsher punishments for those involved, Iranian celebrities and athletes have stepped forward to support the anti-government protests in recent weeks.