Iran’s Guards warn cleric over ‘agitating’ in restive southeast By Reuters

DUBAI (Reuters) – Iran’s Revolutionary Guards accused a Sunni cleric of agitating towards the Islamic Republic and warned it might price him dearly after he mentioned officers together with the supreme chief have been accountable for dozens killed within the metropolis of Zahedan final month.

Amnesty Worldwide has mentioned safety forces killed no less than 66 folks in a crackdown after Friday prayers in Zahedan, within the southeast, on Sept. 30, among the deadliest unrest throughout 5 weeks of protests ignited by Mahsa Amini’s dying.

Molavi Abdolhamid, Zahedan’s main Sunni cleric, mentioned throughout his Friday sermon that officers together with Supreme Chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, head of the Shi’ite-dominated state, have been “accountable earlier than God” for the Sept. 30 killings.

A brief assertion on Sepah Information, the Revolutionary Guards official information web site, mentioned: “Mr. Abdolhamid, encouraging and agitating youths towards the sacred Islamic Republic of Iran might price you dearly! That is the final warning!”

The protests ignited by the dying of Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd who died after being detained by morality police for “inappropriate apparel”, have posed one of many boldest challenges to the Islamic Republic for the reason that 1979 revolution.

Although the protests don’t seem near toppling the federal government, unrest has swept the entire nation together with areas residence to ethnic minorities with long-standing grievances towards the state.

Zahedan is the provincial capital of the Sistan-Baluchistan province of southeastern Iran on the border with Pakistan and Afghanistan, residence to the Baluch ethnic minority.

State media mentioned on the time of the Sept. 30 violence that “unidentified armed people” opened fireplace on a police station, prompting safety forces to return fireplace.

The Revolutionary Guards mentioned 5 members of its forces and the volunteer Basij militia have been killed in the course of the Sept. 30 violence. Authorities blamed a Baluchi militant group. Neither that group nor some other faction claimed a job.

MORE PROTESTS

After protests erupted in Zahedan once more on Friday, deputy inside minister for safety, Majid Mir Ahmadi, mentioned calm had returned, official information company IRNA reported on Saturday.

He mentioned 150 “thugs attacked public property and even these retailers belonging to Sunnis”.

On Friday, police arrested no less than 57 folks, described as “rioters”, after protesters threw rocks and attacked banks within the metropolis, provincial police chief Ahmad Taheri was quoted as saying by the official information company IRNA on Friday.

State tv mentioned as much as 300 protesters marched within the metropolis after Friday prayers. It confirmed banks and retailers with smashed home windows.

Abdolhamid, the Sunni cleric, described the Sept. 30 killing as a bloodbath, saying bullets had been fired at heads and chests. “Scores have been killed right here. I haven’t got the precise quantity. Some have reported 90, some say much less, some say extra,” he mentioned within the sermon posted on his web site.

Rights teams say the federal government has lengthy discriminated towards ethnic minorities together with the Kurds, in whose area unrest has additionally been notably intense since Amini’s dying.

The state denies accusations of discrimination.

Iran has blamed unrest on an array enemies together with armed dissidents. The Revolutionary Guards have attacked bases of armed Iranian Kurdish teams in neighbouring Iraq.

Protesters have sought stress nationwide unity with chants expressing solidarity between varied ethnic teams.

Rights teams Hengaw reported that shopkeepers had gone on strike on Saturday within the provincial capital of Iran’s Kurdistan province, Sanandaj, and Saqez – Amini’s hometown, along with Bukan, one other northwestern metropolis.

The activist information company HRANA reported on Friday that 244 protesters had been killed within the countrywide unrest, together with 32 minors. State TV has reported the deaths of no less than 26 members of the safety forces in the course of the unrest.