At Least 50 Killed in Continuing Protests in Iran

At least 50 people have been killed, and dozens of journalists and activists detained in continuing protests over the death in custody of a woman who was detained by the country’s morality police for not wearing her hijab properly. Protests, said to be the worst in more than a decade, are said to be taking place in at least 80 Iranian cities.

At the same time Internet access, especially apps widely used for communication such as Whatsapp and Instagram, as well as Skype, continued to be disrupted or completely blocked, in what appears to be an attempt to prevent Iranian from communicating with each other and with the outside world.

Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi reportedly said on Saturday that Iran must “deal decisively with those who oppose the country’s security and tranquility,” and said that the current unrest is a “riot” and not a protest. Women have publicly burned their hijabs and cut off handfuls of their hair during the protests.

Mahsa Amini, 22, was detained by the country’s morality police for not wearing her hijab properly. She died on Sept. 16 in a Tehran hospital days after she was detained while visiting with her family. Iran’s security forces said in a statement that she had a heart attack in the detention center on the day of her arrest, where she was being trained in the proper rules of wearing a hijab. She remained in a coma for several days before dying. Her family says she was healthy and did not have a heart condition.