On Saturday, a senior figure in the Iranian Interior Ministry observed that Muhsa Amini’s death after being detained by the Ethics Police in September had “reached her last days” and that protests had been taking place nationwide in her honour.
The protests are now in their sixth week after been ignited by the death of Muhsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian, on September 16, just three days after she was detained by the Ethics Police for disobeying tight clothing codes in Iran.
On the sidelines of the protests, dozens of demonstrators spent, while the authorities stopped hundreds, stressing that they were “rioters”.
Majeed Mir Ahmadi, the deputy interior minister, stated on Saturday that “there are various gatherings in specific campuses, and they are declining everyday, and disturbances have reached their final days.”
“The regions are in good shape and do not experience riots that cause disturbances,” he continued.
But the official emphasised that “the situation in Zahedan is different,” referring to the region’s administrative centre in Sistan and Baluchistan (southeast).
On September 30, this city was the scene of violent incidents that left scores dead. Local authorities claimed that the tension was brought on by rumours that a girl was sexually assaulted by a police officer and confirmed that the security forces fired on people who gathered close to a mosque in the city while officials later reported clashes after an armed attack on security forces centres.
According to video footage, hundreds of people marched through Zahedan on Friday while chanting “anti-authorities.”
Mirhami said that one of the causes of the demonstration was “provocation” in Mawlawi Abdel Hamid’s Friday sermon, who serves as the Sunni imam in Sistan, Balochistan.
He said: “Yesterday’s sermon by Mawlawi Abdel Hamid was provocative . . . unless the sermon included provocative notes, to see calm in Zahedan,” according to what was reported by Tasnim.
Mawlawi Abdel Hamid blamed “all officials and those who govern the country’s affairs” for what occurred in Zahedan on Friday.
In Sistan Balochistan, which lies in southeast Iran and borders Pakistan and Afghanistan, armed groups and Iranian security forces frequently engage in clashes.
Iran charges a cleric with inciting the protests in Zahedan.
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