Protests sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody spread across the country. They were met with internet shutdowns and violent repression. The official death toll in the riots is 41, while human rights groups say the actual number is more than 75. Amnesty International reported that at least four children have been killed by state forces since the protests began. It described an “appalling pattern” of “deliberate and illegal firing of live ammunition at protesters.” Heba Morayef, Amnesty’s Middle East and North Africa director, said: “The rising death toll is a disturbing indication of how relentless the authorities’ assault on human life has been under the darkness of the internet shutdown.” Iranian officials said on Monday that more than 1,200 people had been arrested as a crackdown on the protests widened. Protesters took to the streets again on Monday night in Tehran and elsewhere, witnesses told AFP. Video shot from several floors above street level, believed to be in the city of Tabriz, shows people protesting to the sound of tear gas being fired by security forces, in images released by the Oslo-based Iran Human Rights group. The group said at least 76 people were killed in the crackdown. Amini was visiting Tehran when she was arrested by the morality police who took issue with the way she had covered her hair. While police say she died of natural causes, her family says she was tortured and killed. “During the journey to the police station he was tortured and insulted,” Amini’s cousin Erfan Mortezaei told Sky News. “He suffered a concussion from a blow to the head. There is a report from Kasra Hospital [in Tehran] This essentially means that when she arrived at the hospital she was already medically dead.” Despite efforts to stop Iranians from accessing apps like Instagram and WhatsApp, videos of people allegedly killed during the protests have gone viral on social media. The parents of the youths killed during the protests expressed their disappointment at the response of the international community. “The world expects the UN to defend us and the protesters,” said the father of 21-year-old Milan Hagiji, cited by Amnesty International. “I can condemn too [the Iranian authorities]the whole world may condemn them, but to what end is this condemnation?’ The videos showed protests on Sunday night in Tehran and cities such as Yazd, Isfahan and Bushehr. The Norwegian-based Kurdish rights group Hengaw said a protest was held in Amini’s hometown of Saqqez despite a heavy military presence, and there were reports of a 10-year-old girl being taken to hospital after being shot in the northern town of Bukan. . Other reports said students at three universities in Tehran were refusing to attend classes. Agence France-Presse contributed to this report
