Iran’s supreme leader praises paramilitary for ‘rioters’

Hamenei’s remarks follow Volker Turk’s warning that Iran is experiencing a “full-fledged human rights crisis” as a result of the crackdown on anti-regime dissidents.

During a special meeting of the UN Human Rights Council on Thursday, Turk urged for “independent, impartial, and transparent investigative processes” into human rights abuses in Iran.

In Geneva, he informed the 47-member nations council that security personnel had allegedly used fatal force against unarmed protesters and onlookers who posed “no threat” in response to demonstrations.

Turk claims that more than 14,000 individuals, including children, had been detained in relation to the protests. At least 21 of them, he claimed, are currently eligible for the death penalty, and six have already been given death sentences.

According to the semi-official News Agency, two well-known Iranian actors, Hengameh Ghaziani and Katayoun Riahi, who were detained on separate occasions for openly supporting the nationwide rallies, are among those detained.

Amini’s murder, which was purportedly caused by her failing to properly wear her headscarf, has ignited a wave of antigovernmental demonstrations across the Islamic Republic.

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Since then, authorities have launched a brutal crackdown on protesters; there have been claims of forced detentions and physical violence directed towards the nation’s Kurdish minority. In a recent investigation, hidden evidence revealed that since the start of the unrest, sexual abuse had been committed against demonstrators in Iran’s jail facilities, including boys.

According to Turk, the unprecedented nationwide protest has spread to 140 universities and more than 150 cities across Iran’s 31 provinces.

Iranian security forces’ use of violence against protestors has strained relations with Western leaders on a diplomatic level.

In response to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s statement that he was “greatly worried that Iranian authorities are reportedly escalating violence against protesters,” the White House on Wednesday announced its most recent round of penalties on three officials in Iran’s Kurdish region.

Ali Bagheri Kani, the deputy foreign minister of Iran, claimed that foreign governments were meddling in Iranian internal issues and fabricating “fallacious narratives” in an interview with the Indian channel on Thursday.

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