Iran protests: The arrest of Faezeh Hachemi, live fire on protesters
As protests continue in various Iranian cities since the murder of a young woman Mahsa Amini at the hands of police, international reactions towards the Iranian regime’s repression of demonstrators have mounted amidst warnings and Western demands for new sanctions against the Tehran regime.
The capital Tehran witnessed demonstrations on the evening of Tuesday, September 27th. Demonstrators chanted “Death to the Dictator” in the Heft Basin neighborhood, while demonstrators in the streets of Sanandaj, western Iran, blocked roads and burned government signs.
Residents in Chabahar also went out to protest the police chief’s rape of a 15-year-old girl and the killing of a security engineer, as police fired live ammunition at the protesters.
As protests continued across Iran, a violent security crackdown continued, with footage shared by activists from the city of Al-Khafajiyah showing Iranian security forces firing live bullets at protesters in the Abu Dhar neighborhood to prevent them from rallying in solidarity with public protests.
Abu Dhar has witnessed violent confrontations in recent years between security forces and protesters against the Iranian regime.
Faezeh Hachemi arrested and government banks burnt
Faezeh Hachemi, a political activist and daughter of former Iranian President Akbar Hachemi Rafsanjani, has been arrested in Tehran, according to information received by Iran International.
Hachemi Rafsanjani had criticized the Iranian regime in an unprecedented manner and called for its overthrow during lectures given at the Club House application, which led some hardliners in the regime to arrest her.
Meanwhile, in the southeastern Iranian city of Chabahar, protesters set fire to two government banks to protest the rape of a 15-year-old girl by a police chief and the death of a security engineer.
Iranian security forces fired live bullets and used tear gas to disperse the protesters.
Clashes with security forces and burning pictures of Khamenei
“According to reports, protests in the city of Khafajiyeh/Susangerd, in Iran’s southwestern Khuzestan Province, are expanding into new neighborhoods of the city.” Video footage also showed clashes between security forces and protesters, after which one of the protesters was wounded.
A video obtained by Iran International shows a group of Iranian security agents collectively assaulting a woman in Shiraz, southern Iran, with batons and batons.
A video sent to Iran International from Shiraz shows a protester setting fire to a banner with a picture of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in front of the intelligence department building in Fars province, central Iran.
Student protests continue
Student protests also continued as students at Jamran University in Ahvaz, in south-western Iran, held a march Tuesday inside the campus in support of protests across the country, chanting, “We are not rioters, we are protesting.”
After protests and strikes by university students across Iran, a number of university professors joined the protesters.
A number of university professors submitted their resignations in support of the popular protests and in rejection of the crackdown against the protesters. Others announced a suspension of teaching in support of the student strike at the state level. University students in Tehran and other Iranian cities repeated, time and again, in their protest rallies, the slogan “The streets are stained with blood and our teachers are silent”.
Escalation against the Kurds
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has stepped up retaliatory attacks on Kurdish areas in conjunction with widespread protests in Iran.
On Tuesday, September 27, the Revolutionary Guards carried out attacks on the positions of the Kurdish “Pjak Forces” in the Shuman region, on the border between Iraq and Iran.
Commander of the Ashura Corps, which is part of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, Asghar Abasqolizadeh, described the protests in Iran as “engineered from abroad.” He said, “The source of all the misfortunes is the disobedience of Wali al-Faqih.”
International Warnings and Threat of New Sanctions
In response, Amnesty International issued a statement calling for immediate international action to ensure accountability for the death of young Iranian woman Mahsa Amini in detention, saying the investigation must be independent, impartial and effective and that suspects must be brought to justice in fair judicial proceedings.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) spokesperson also expressed concern about the crackdown on protests in Iran, and the restrictions placed by the Tehran regime on internet service and social media.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock called for new sanctions against Tehran
“In the EU Chamber, we must now talk very quickly about the following consequences, which include, for me, sanctions against [Islamic Republic] officials,” Barbok told the German News Agency (DPA) in Berlin on Tuesday, September 27.
The remarks came as Germany recalled the Iranian regime’s ambassador in Berlin on Monday in protest against the crackdown on protesters in Iran.
For his part, US State Department spokesman Ned Price warned that Washington will investigate all those involved in the killing and repression of protesters in Iran, stressing that more sanctions are waiting for the Iranian regime.
In an interview with the Rudaw news channel, Ned Price said there was no doubt about the evidence of Amini’s death after her arrest by the guidance patrol.
Democratic Senator Dick Durbin tweeted that the Iranian regime, like Russia and Cuba, is using criminal groups to suppress domestic protests.
In an interview with the Rudaw news channel, Ned Price said there was no doubt about the evidence of Amini’s death after her arrest by the guidance patrol.
Democratic Senator Dick Durbin tweeted that the Iranian regime, like Russia and Cuba, is using criminal groups to suppress domestic protests.
US Democratic Senator Ben Carden strongly condemned the killing of Iranian security adviser Mahsa Amini. “We stand by the brave Iranian women who oppose the Iranian regime. Tehran must end the systematic torture of women and allow freedom of expression,” he said.
“At a time when Iranian protestors are being repressed by Iranian security, the Biden administration continues to work to revive the flawed nuclear deal, which will help Iran get billions of dollars,” said House Representative Brian Astill.
