প্রকাশ: 30/09/2022
Iran
stepped up pressure on celebrities and journalists Thursday over the wave of women-led
protests sparked by outrage over the death of Mahsa Amini, after she was
arrested by the Islamic republic's morality police.
Filmmakers,
athletes, musicians and actors have backed the demonstrations, and many saw it
as a signal when the national football team remained in their black tracksuits
when the anthems were played before a match in Vienna against Senegal.
"We
will take action against the celebrities who have fanned the flames of the
riots," Tehran provincial governor Mohsen Mansouri said, according to the ISNA
news agency.
Iran's
judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei similarly charged that "those
who became famous thanks to support from the system have joined the enemy when
times are difficult".
The
warnings came after almost two weeks of protests across Iran and a deadly crackdown
that human rights group Amnesty International says has been marked by
"ruthless violence by security forces".
Oslo-based
group Iran Human Rights has reported a death toll of at least 83 people,
including children.
Public
anger flared after Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman, died on September 16,
three days after her arrest for allegedly breaching Iran's strict rules for
women on wearing hijab headscarves and modest clothing.
"Woman,
Life, Freedom!" protesters have chanted ever since, in Iran's biggest demonstrations
in almost three years, in which women have defiantly burned heir headscarves
and cut their hair.
President
Ebrahim Raisi warned that, despite "grief and sorrow" over Amini's death,
public security "is the red line of the Islamic republic of Iran and no
one is allowed to break the law and cause chaos".
-
'No to dictatorship' -
Iran
on Thursday slammed "interference" in its internal affairs by France over
a statement in support of the protests, having earlier complained to Britain
and Norway.
Solidarity
protests with Iranian women have been held worldwide, and rallies are planned
in 70 cities Saturday.
One
protest erupted in Afghanistan's capital Kabul, where women rallied outside
Iran's embassy with banners that read: "Iran has risen, now it's our turn!"
and "From Kabul to Iran, say no to dictatorship!"
Forces
of the ruling hardline Islamist Taliban fired their guns into the air to
disperse the crowd, then swiftly snatched the banners and tore them up, an AFP
correspondent reported.
Iran
on Thursday arrested the reporter Elahe Mohammadi, who had covered Amini's
funeral, her lawyer said, the latest of a growing number of journalists to be
detained.
Police
have also arrested journalist Niloufar Hamedi of the reformist Shargh daily,
who went to the hospital where Amini lay in a coma and helped expose the case
to the world.
The
Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday that three additional journalists
-- Farshid Ghorbanpour, Aria Jaffari and Mobin Balouch – had been arrested,
bringing the total behind bars to 28.
Intelligence
officers of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps arrested 50 members of
"an organised network" behind the "riots" in the holy
Shiite city of Qom, the Guards said, according to Fars news agency.
-
Push for EU sanctions -
London-based
Amnesty International criticised Iran's "widespread patterns of unlawful
use of force and ruthless violence by security forces".
It
said this included the use of live ammunition and metal pellets, heavy beatings
and sexual violence against women, all "under the cover of deliberate
ongoing internet and mobile disruptions".
"Dozens
of people, including children, have been killed so far and hundreds injured,"
said the group's secretary general Agnes Callamard.
Fars
news agency has said "around 60" people had been killed.
Iran
has blamed outside forces for the protests and on Wednesday launched cross-border
missile and drone strikes that killed 13 people in Iraq's Kurdistan region,
accusing armed groups based there of fuelling the unrest.
The
US on Thursday said one of its citizens had been killed in the Iranian strikes,
separately announcing the fresh enforcement of sanctions on Tehran's oil sales.
Iran's
economy is already hit by punishing sanctions over its contested nuclear
programme.
On
Thursday, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said she was "doing everything"
she could to push for European Union sanctions against those "beating
women to death and shooting demonstrators in the name of religion".
The
Iranian government has sought to play down the crisis.
Foreign
Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said he told Western diplomats at recent UN
meetings that the protests were "not a big deal" for the stability of
the clerical state.
"There
is not going to be regime change in Iran," he told National Public Radio
in New York on Wednesday. "Don't play to the emotions of the Iranian people."
প্রধান সম্পাদকঃ সৈয়দ বোরহান কবীর
ক্রিয়েটিভ মিডিয়া লিমিটেডের অঙ্গ প্রতিষ্ঠান
বার্তা এবং বাণিজ্যিক কার্যালয়ঃ ২/৩ , ব্লক - ডি , লালমাটিয়া , ঢাকা -১২০৭
নিবন্ধিত ঠিকানাঃ বাড়ি# ৪৩ (লেভেল-৫) , রোড#১৬ নতুন (পুরাতন ২৭) , ধানমন্ডি , ঢাকা- ১২০৯
ফোনঃ +৮৮-০২৯১২৩৬৭৭