Protests persist in Iran despite threats from government officials
Protests continued throughout Iran even as the country’s prosecutor general threatened that those participating in the demonstrations will be considered an “enemy of God” — which is a death penalty charge.
A video verified by The Associated Press shows footage of thousands of protestors in northern Tehran’s Saadat Abad area.
“Death to Khamenei!” a man chanted in one of the video. State media in Iran, meanwhile, showed videos of pro-government proests.
These protests have been happening for the last two weeks amid rising inflation — and now, people are demanding an end to clerical rule.
Iranian officials imposed an internet shutdown Thursday — a move condemned by organizations such as Amnesty International, which said Tehran is trying to “hide the true extent of the grave human rights violations and crimes under international law.”
“This blanket internet shutdown not only hides human rights violations but amounts to a serious human rights violation in itself,” Amnesty International wrote.
The U.S.-based Human Rights Activist News Agency wrote that the number of people killed in the last 13 days is at least 65. Iran Human Rights, (IHRNGO), which is based in Norway, said the dead include children, and that hundreds more have been injured.
“Right now, we are very concerned that after the internet shutdown the brutality will increase,” Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, director of the IHRNGO, said in an interview with NBC News.
Reza Pahlavi, Iran’s Crown Prince, who has been exiled for decades, urged employees in key sectors of the economy to begin a nationwide strike.
“Also, I ask all of you today and tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday (January 10 and 11), this time, from 6 p.m., to come to the streets with flags, images, and national symbols and claim public spaces as your own,” he wrote on X. “Our goal is no longer merely to come to the streets; the goal is to prepare for seizing the centers of cities and holding them.”
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in remarks Friday said the Islamic Republic will never back off, and claimed protestors are trying to appease U.S. President Donald Trump. He also blamed the Israeli government for recent unrest.
International response
During a meeting with oil executives this week, Trump said “I tell the Iranian leaders — you better not start shooting because we’ll start shooting, too.”
“I’ve made the statement very strongly that if they start killing people like they have in the past, we will get involved,” he said. “We’ll be hitting them very hard where it hurts. And that doesn’t mean boots on the ground, but it means hitting them very, very hard where it hurts.”
Trump reiterated this sentiment on Saturday, posting on Truth Social: “Iran is looking at FREEDOM, perhaps like never before.”
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio also said Friday that America supports “the brave people of Iran.”
The Prime Ministers of France, Britain and Germany issued a joint statement condemning the violence by Iranian security forces and killings of protestors.
“The Iranian authorities have the responsibility to protect their own population and must allow for the freedom of expression and peaceful assembly without fear of reprisal,” they said in the statement. “We urge the Iranian authorities to exercise restraint, to refrain from violence, and to uphold the fundamental rights of Iran’s citizens.”
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
