DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) – Clashes between Iranian security forces and protesters angry over the death of a 22-year-old woman in police custody have killed at least nine people since violence erupted over the weekend, according to a tally Thursday.  from the Associated Press.
The scope of the ongoing unrest in Iran, the worst in years, remains unclear as protesters in more than a dozen cities – venting anger over social repression and growing crises in the country – continue to face security forces and paramilitaries.
To prevent the protests from spreading, Iran’s largest telecommunications provider largely shut down mobile Internet access again on Thursday, Netblocks, a group that monitors Internet access, said, describing the restrictions as the strictest since 2019.
An anchor on Iran’s state television said the death toll from the mass protests could reach 17 on Thursday, but did not say how the number was arrived at.
In a country where radio and television stations are already controlled by the state and journalists regularly face the threat of arrest, the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard urged the judiciary on Thursday to prosecute “anyone spreading fake news and rumours” on social media about the unrest .  Widespread shutdowns of Instagram and WhatsApp, used by protesters, continued on Thursday.
WhatsApp tweeted that it is “working to keep our Iranian friends connected and will do anything within our technical capabilities to keep our service up and running.”
The protests in Iran began as an emotional outburst over the death of Mahsa Amini, a young woman detained by the country’s morality police for allegedly violating its strictly enforced dress code.  Her death has drawn strong condemnation from the United States, the European Union and the United Nations.
The US government has imposed sanctions on the morality police and leaders of other Iranian security services, saying they “systematically use violence to suppress peaceful protesters”.
Iranian police say Amini died of a heart attack and was not abused, but her family has disputed that.  Independent UN-affiliated experts said Thursday that reports suggested he was severely beaten by ethics police, without offering evidence.
In New York, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said the death should be investigated “firmly”.  But he also turned the tables for the country he was visiting for the UN General Assembly.
“What about Americans dying at the hands of American law enforcement?”  Raisi asked about his country’s rival nation.  He called for the “same standards” around the world in dealing with such deaths at the hands of the authorities and lamented what he called “double standards” in the West.
In Amini’s death, he said authorities did what they had to do.  “It absolutely needs to be investigated,” he said.  “I am contacting her family at the earliest opportunity and have assured them that we will continue to investigate this incident vigorously.  …Our highest concern is to ensure the rights of every citizen”.
Niloufar Hamedi, a journalist who took pictures at the hospital after Amini’s death, was arrested in Iran on Thursday, according to the journalist’s lawyer, Mohammadali Kamfirouzi.  She said her home was raided.  There was no official comment.
The protests have evolved over the past five days into an open challenge to the government, with women removing and burning their headscarves in the streets and Iranians calling for the downfall of the Islamic Republic itself.
“Death to the dictator!”  was a common cry at the protests.
They are the most serious protests since 2019, when protests broke out over a government hike in the price of petrol.  Rights groups say hundreds were killed in the ensuing crackdown, the deadliest violence since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
The latest protests are just as widespread but appear to have much wider support among the population, with Iranians of all walks of life expressing outrage over Amini’s death and the government’s treatment of women.
Iran’s state media this week reported protests in at least 13 cities, including the capital, Tehran.  Videos online show security forces firing tear gas and water cannons to disperse hundreds of protesters.  London-based Amnesty International reported that officers shot and beat protesters with batons.
Footage on social media from the northern city of Tabriz shows a young man reportedly shot by security forces bleeding in the street as protesters scream for help.
Another video shows a police officer firing a shotgun at a protester who was tearing down a pro-government billboard in North Khorasan province.  It is unclear if he was injured.
In another video, protesters are seen setting fire to a huge billboard showing Qassem Soleimani – Iran’s top general killed in a US airstrike – in his hometown of Kerman.  Soleimani has an iconic position among government supporters.
At least nine people have been killed in the clashes, according to an AP count based on statements from Iran’s state and semi-official media.  In a statement Thursday, the Guard blamed the unrest on “enemies of Iran.”
In Kurdistan’s Amini province, the provincial police chief said four protesters were shot dead.  In Kermanshah, the prosecutor said two protesters were killed, insisting the bullets were not fired by Iranian security forces.
Three men linked to the Basij, a volunteer force under the Guard, were killed in clashes in the cities of Shiraz, Tabriz and Mashhad, semi-official media reported, bringing the death toll recognized by officials to at least nine on both sides.
In the northern province of Mazandaran, angry mobs destroyed or set fire to more than 40 state properties and injured 76 security officers, Deputy Governor Rouhollah Solgi said.
Iran has faced waves of protests in the recent past, mainly over a long-running economic crisis exacerbated by Western sanctions linked to its nuclear program.  Citizens also blame corruption and government mismanagement.
The Biden administration and European allies have been working to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, in which Iran curbed its nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief, but talks have been deadlocked for months.
From New York, where Raisi took the stage Wednesday at the UN General Assembly, CNN’s chief international anchor Christiane Amanpour said she planned to confront Raisi about the protests in what would be his first interview with based in the USA.
But Amanpour tweeted that Raisi was a no-show.  An aide said the president refused to take part unless she wore a headscarf, given the “situation in Iran”.  The Iranian government has not commented on the incident.
“I could not agree to this unprecedented and unexpected treaty,” the British-Iranian presenter wrote alongside a photo of Raisi’s empty chair.