Iran protests enter 4th month despite executions

Anti-government protests in Iran entered their fourth month on Friday despite widespread repression, mass arrests and the trials and executions of protesters.

Sparked by anger over the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini, a young Iranian Kurd arrested for allegedly violating the dress code for women, on September 16, the demonstrations spread across the country.

On Friday, protesters in Zahedan, the capital of Sistan and Baluchestan province, chanted “Death to the dictator”, a reference to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, according to a verified video shared by Oslo-based Iran Human Rights.

Other images from Zahedan showed crowds of men, some raising posters with anti-government slogans, and a group of black-clad women marching down what appeared to be a nearby street, also chanting slogans.

US-based rights group HRANA said hundreds rallied after Friday prayers in Zahedan, where there have been weekly protests since the security forces killed more than 90 people on September 30 in what has come to be known as Bloody Friday.

The trigger for that violence was protests over the alleged rape in custody of a 15-year-old girl by a provincial police commander. But analysts said Baluchs were inspired by the protests that flared over Amini's death, which were initially driven by women's rights but have expanded to include other grievances.

Sistan and Baluchestan, on Iran's south-eastern border with Afghanistan and Pakistan, had been the site of often deadly violence before nationwide protests began.

The province's Baluch minority, who adhere to Sunni Islam rather than the Shiite branch predominant in Iran, have long complained of discrimination.

The largely peaceful demonstrations sparked by Amini's death have been met with force from the Iranian security forces that has killed at least 458 protesters, according to a toll issued on December 7 by the Norway-based IHR.

Iran's highest security body, the Supreme National Security Council, said on December 3 that more than 200 people had been killed in the unrest, including security personnel.

The UN says Iran's security forces arrested at least 14,000 people. Iran's judiciary said it has handed down 11 death sentences in connection with the protests.