New protests erupted in Iran on Sunday at universities and in the largely Kurdish northwest, keeping a seven-week anti-regime movement alive despite a fierce crackdown. The protests, triggered in mid-September by the death of Mahsa Amini, have evolved into the biggest challenge for the clerical leadership since the 1979 revolution.
Norway-based rights group Hengaw reported that security forces opened fire on a protest in Marivan, Kurdistan province, wounding 35 people. The latest protest was sparked by the death of Kurdish student Nasrin Ghadri, who died after being beaten over the head by police, according to Hengaw. Iranian authorities have not commented on the cause of her death.
Universities have emerged as major protest hotbeds. Iran Human Rights (IHR) said students at Sharif University in Tehran staged sit-ins on Sunday in support of arrested colleagues. At the university in Babol, students removed gender segregation barriers in their cafeteria.
IHR reported that at least 186 people have been killed in the crackdown on the Mahsa Amini protests, with another 118 deaths in separate protests in Sistan-Baluchistan province. Amnesty International said up to 10 people were feared dead in Friday's violence in Khash, accusing security forces of firing at demonstrators from rooftops.
IHR director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam stated: “Iranians continue taking to the streets and are more determined than ever to bring fundamental changes. The response from the Islamic Republic is more violence.”
The protests have also raised concerns about the wellbeing of detained activists, including Wall Street Journal contributor Hossein Ronaghi, whose family says is on hunger strike in Evin prison.
