Tehran: Videos shared on social media platforms showed that protestors took to the streets in several cities across Iran, on Thursday night, in one of the most widespread anti-government demonstrations in weeks.
Thursday’s protests, coincided with the 40th day since the Iranian authorities executed two men, Mohammad Mehdi Karami and Seyed Mohammad Hosseini, after they were accused of killing a member of the Basij paramilitary force in the country, during protests over the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, in police custody.
Videos released by the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) show protests in the capital, Tehran, as well as in the cities of Karaj, Isfahan, Arak, and Izeh.
Videos showed people chanting “woman, life, freedom” and “death to Khamenei” – a reference to the revolutionary leader.
A video confirmed by BBC Persian, a crowd in Karaj chanted the names of Mohammad Mehdi Karmi and Seyed Mohammad Hosseini.
Meanwhile, the opposition activist group 1500 Images shared a video from Mashhad in which a group of men and women shout: “My martyred brother, we will avenge your blood.”
In another video, women from Isfahan came to the street again in protest and took off their headscarves.
In response to the widespread anti-government protests, American activist of Iranian origin, Masih Alinejad wrote in a tweet, “Despite the threat of death, Iranian people came to the streets again and shocked the regime once again. Iranian people will overthrow this regime.”
Protests swept across the country in September following the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who was detained by morality police for allegedly not wearing her hijab properly.
So far, at least 529 protesters have been killed and almost 20,000 detained, according to the Human Rights Activists’ News Agency (HRANA). Four protesters have been hanged since December, while 107 others have reportedly been sentenced to death or charged with capital offences.
