Tehran:

Iranian authorities have arrested 28 people linked to the Islamic State group for plotting to target Tehran during the anniversary of last year’s protests, the intelligence ministry said on Sunday.

The protests erupted after the death in custody on September 16, 2022, of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd arrested for allegedly flouting the Islamic republic’s strict dress code for women.

“In recent days, during a series of simultaneous operations in Tehran, Alborz and West Azerbaijan provinces, several terrorist bases and team houses were attacked, and 28 members of the said terrorist network were arrested,” the ministry said on its website.

“These elements are affiliated to the professional crime group of Daesh (Islamic State group) and some of them have a history of accompanying takfiris in Syria or being active in Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Kurdistan region of Iraq,” it added.

In Shiite-dominated Iran, the term “takfiri” generally refers to jihadists or proponents of radical Sunni Islam.

The intelligence ministry said two security personnel were wounded during the arrest operations, and a number of bombs, firearms, suicide vests and communications devices were seized.

It said it had neutralised a plot to “carry out 30 simultaneous terrorist explosions in densely populated centres of Tehran to undermine security and incite riots and protests on the anniversary of last year’s riots”.

The months-long demonstrations saw hundreds of people killed, including dozens of security personnel, in what Tehran called “riots” fomented by foreign governments and “hostile media”.

On Thursday, a court sentenced to death a Tajik IS member convicted over a deadly gun attack on a Shiite Muslim shrine in August.

The attack on the Shah Cheragh mausoleum in Shiraz, capital of Fars province in the south, came less than a year after a mass shooting at the same site that was later claimed by the IS group.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Iran’s parliament has approved a bill to impose heavier penalties on women who refuse to wear the mandatory Islamic headscarf in public. File
| Photo Credit: AFP

Iran’s parliament has approved a bill to impose heavier penalties on women who refuse to wear the mandatory Islamic headscarf in public and those who support them.

The move came just days after the anniversary of the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who had been detained by the morality police for violating the country’s dress code. Her death in custody ignited months of protests in which many called for the overthrow of Iran’s theocracy.

The bill also extends punishments to business owners who serve women not wearing the mandatory headscarf, known as hijab, and activists who organise against it. Violators could face up to 10 years in prison if the offence occurs in an organised way.

Explained | Mahsa Amini and the widespread protests in Iran 

The bill, which was approved by 152 lawmakers in Iran’s 290-seat parliament on Wednesday, requires ratification by the Guardian Council, a clerical body that serves as constitutional watchdog. It would take effect for a preliminary period of three years.

The demonstrations sparked by Amini’s death on September 16, 2022, faded early this year following a heavy crackdown on dissent in which more than 500 protesters were killed and over 22,000 detained.

But many women continued to flaunt the rules on wearing hijab, prompting a new campaign to enforce them over the summer. Iran’s clerical rulers view the hijab law as a key pillar of the Islamic Republic and blamed the protests on Western nations, without providing evidence.

The protesters said they were motivated by anger over the dress code as well as what they see as the corruption and poor governance of the country’s ruling clerics.

Also read: Biden announces more Iran sanctions on the anniversary of Mahsa Amini’s death

In a separate incident on Wednesday, a gunman shot a cleric to death in the northern Iranian town of Sejas. Police detained the assailant, and authorities said the motive was a personal dispute, according to the semiofficial Fars and Tasnim news agencies.

Several clerics were attacked at the height of the protests. An armed guard at a bank shot and killed a senior Shiite cleric in April.

Sporadic protests continued in Iran on Sunday amid a widespread crackdown by security forces a year after a young Kurdish woman’s death in custody set off some of the worst political unrest in four decades.

The death on September 16 last year of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman arrested by the morality police for allegedly flouting mandatory dress codes, triggered months of some of the biggest protests against the Islamic Republic’s Shi’ite clerical rule ever seen and drew international condemnation.

On Saturday, Mahsa’s father, Amjad Amini, was arrested briefly and warned against marking the anniversary of his daughter’s death, the Kurdistan Human Rights Network said, and the family was not able to hold a planned vigil at her grave.

A social media video on Sunday showed protesters in the western city of Hamadan, clapping and shouting “Death to Islamic Republic”, while another video showed protesters running away after apparent shooting by security forces. Reuters could not immediately authenticate the videos.

Following the publication of the videos, the semi-official Tasnim agency carried a video appearing to show that the streets of Hamadan were calm.

Rights groups, including the activist HRANA news agency, reported that a number of people were arrested in the Kurdish cities of Saqez and Sanandaj. State media reported detentions of dozens of “terrorists” including an individual allegedly planning a suicide attack.

Meanwhile, authorities said unidentified gunmen in southern Iran on Saturday opened fire on the Basij paramilitary volunteer militia, which has played a prominent role in the crackdown, killing one and wounding three. It was not immediately clear if the incident was linked to the current unrest.

Iran’s intelligence minister warned that Iran may take unspecified action against overseas media which Tehran accuses of fomenting violent unrest in the country.

Iran International, a London-based television station critical of the Iranian government, in February said it was moving its live broadcasting studios to the United States following threats it faced in Britain.

“(Iran) International is a terrorist network, and we will take action wherever and whenever we recognise any terrorist act,” the semi-official news agency Fars quoted the minister, Esmail Khatib, as saying.

Mahsa Amini “Inspires A Movement”

In the demonstrations that followed Mahsa Amini’s death more than 500 people, including 71 minors, were killed, hundreds injured and thousands arrested, rights groups said. Iran carried out seven executions linked to the unrest.

US President Joe Biden in a statement on Friday said Mahsa Amini “inspired a historic movement … that has impacted Iran and influenced people across the globe.” Hundreds of Mahsa Amini’s supporters rallied in front of the White House on Saturday.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry rejected as “double standards and lies” Western expressions of support for women’s rights in Iran.

In a report last month, Amnesty International said Iranian authorities “have been subjecting victims’ families to arbitrary arrest and detention, imposing cruel restrictions on peaceful gatherings at grave sites, and destroying victims’ gravestones”.

Many journalists, lawyers, activists, students, academics, artists, public figures and members of ethnic minorities accused of links with the protest wave, as well as relatives of protesters killed in the unrest, have been arrested, summoned, threatened or fired from jobs in the past few weeks, according to Iranian and Western human rights groups.

Iran blames the unrest on its Western foes and rejects criticism of its legal system, saying it is based on a lack of understanding by rights groups of its Islamic laws.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Tehran, Iran:

Iranian security forces foiled an assassination attempt Saturday on the father of Mahsa Amini, the young woman whose death in custody one year ago sparked nationwide protests, state media reported.

The official IRNA news agency said the attempt on Amjad Amini’s life took place as he was on his way to visit his daughter’s grave at the Aichi cemetery in the western town of Saqez.

Saturday marked the first anniversary of Mahsa Amini’s death.

“Security forces arrested several members of a terrorist group who wanted to assassinate Amjad Amini,” the official IRNA news agency said, citing the deputy governor of Kurdistan province, Mehdi Ramezani.

It did not identify those arrested or the “terrorist group” to which they allegedly belonged, saying only that the attempt on Amjad Amini’s life “was foiled”.

Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd, died in police custody on September 16 last year following her arrest for an alleged breach of the Islamic republic’s strict dress code for women.

Her death triggered months-long demonstrations which saw hundreds killed, including dozens of security personnel, in what Tehran labelled as “riots” fomented by foreign governments and “hostile media”.

Seven men have been executed after being convicted in protest-related cases of murder or other violence against security forces.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Tehran:

Iran’s rulers have intensified a clampdown on dissent one year since the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini sparked protests that spiralled into some of the worst political turmoil since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

How protests erupted in Iran after Mahsa Amini’s death

Protests began soon after the September 16 death of Kurdish Iranian woman Mahsa Amini, 22, who had been arrested by morality police three days earlier for allegedly violating Iran’s mandatory Islamic dress code.

Amini, described as a shy person who minded her own business and stayed clear of politics, was detained as she stepped out of a train station in Tehran.

News of her death circulated on social media. Protests erupted at her funeral in her hometown Saqez and then spread across the country with demonstrators chanting “Woman, life, freedom” in a furious challenge to Iran’s clerical rulers.

While Amini’s family said she had been killed by blows to her head and limbs, the authorities said she had died due to existing medical problems, further fuelling anger over her death.

What protestors demanded

With women and young people often at the forefront, protesters targeted symbols of the Islamic Republic, burning pictures of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and chanting “Death to the Dictator”.

Women, including schoolgirls, took off and burned headscarves, revolting against laws obliging women to cover their hair and wear loose-fitting clothes.

The protests were particularly intense in areas home to ethnic minorities that have long faced discrimination by the state, including Kurds in the northwest and Baluchis in the southeast.

Meanwhile, a growing number of women were disregarding the dress code. After a chess player and a climber competed without wearing headscarves other prominent women defied the authorities by violating the hijab law and voicing support for the protests.

Authorities have imposed travel bans and jail terms on several public figures from athletes to actresses.

How Iran quelled protests

Security forces restricted access to messaging apps and fiercely confronted the leaderless protesters using tear gas, clubs and, in some cases, live ammunition, even as the protests rumbled on into the new year. A paramilitary volunteer militia, the Basij, played a prominent part in the crackdown.

Rights groups said over 500 people – including 71 minors – were killed, hundreds wounded and thousands arrested. Iran carried out seven executions linked to the unrest.

Authorities have not given any official estimated death count, but said dozens of the security forces were killed in the “riots”.

What Changed In Iran after Mahsa Amini’s death in police custody

Buttressed by the Revolutionary Guards, the ruling elite appears to remain deeply entrenched in power despite its initial difficulties in subduing the protests.

Morality police largely vanished from the streets after Amini died in their custody. But as the protests fizzled they returned to streets and surveillance cameras were installed to identify and penalise unveiled women.

Authorities described the veil as “one of the principles of the Islamic Republic” and ordered both private and public sectors to deny services to any women who had discarded it, temporarily closing thousands of non-compliant businesses.

But with many Iranians saying the number of unveiled women continues to grow, the parliament is considering longer prison terms for anyone who flouts the dress code and harsher penalties for celebrities and businesses that violate the rules.

Outside Iran, Western countries imposed new sanctions on security forces and on dozens of Iranian officials over the protests, further straining already difficult ties.

How Iran leaders will shore up their position

Recent actions by security forces suggested Iran’s rulers intended to brook no flicker of dissent as the anniversary of Amini’s death approached.

Activists have accused authorities of a campaign to intimidate and instil fear, arresting, questioning, threatening or firing people connected to protests.

Journalists, lawyers, activists, students, academics, artists, public figures and family members of killed protesters, especially among ethnic minorities, have been targeted in recent weeks.

Iranian officials have blamed the unrest on foreign foes, notably the U.S. and Israel, raising the stakes for anybody facing arrest.

However, in cracking down they risk widening a rift between the clerical leadership and ordinary Iranians increasingly dismayed by an economy hammered by sanctions and mismanagement, a potential source of future unrest.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Mahsa Amini’s death set off protests in dozens of cities across the country of 80 million people, with young women marching in the streets and publicly exposing and cutting off their hair

September 16, 2023 11:08 am | Updated 11:59 am IST – WASHINGTON

The Iranian semi-official ISNA news agency reported that the country’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian dismissed the sanctions as a joke. “The sanctions that the Americans are imposing against Iran these days are more like a joke; Sometimes we see that the names of some people who died a few years ago are mentioned in these lists,” Amirabdollahian said.

Tasnim, reporting on the sanctions, called them “repetitive actions [that] are not considered a new issue for the bodies that protect the country’s security.”

In addition, the State Department imposed visa restrictions on 13 Iranian officials and others for their involvement in killing or detaining peaceful protesters or censoring them via a country-wide internet shutdown in Iran.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. would designate 25 Iranian people, three state-backed media outlets, and an internet research firm in connection with the Iranian regime’s suppression of nationwide protests. Taken in coordination with the U.K., Canada, Australia, and other nations, this is the United States’ 13th round of sanctions designations in response to Iran’s crackdown on protests.

“We will continue to take appropriate action, alongside our international partners, to hold accountable those who suppress Iranians’ exercise of human rights,” Mr. Blinken said.

In Brussels, the European Union announced that it had slapped asset freezes and travel bans on four officials, including a senior member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, to mark the anniversary.

The 27-nation bloc also imposed asset freezes on four prisons and the Tasnim news agency. EU citizens are banned from providing funds or economic resources to the prisons and people listed.

“The European Union expresses its support for the fundamental aspiration of the people of Iran for a future where their universal human rights and fundamental freedoms are respected, protected, and fulfilled,” a statement said.

Iranian authorities said Amini had a heart attack. Her family has disputed that.

The U.S. has already sanctioned over 70 Iranian people and entities “responsible for supporting the regime’s oppression of its people,” Biden said.