Iran's Revolutionary Guard Fires on Demonstrators in Kurdish Region, 4 Killed

The harsh treatment of Iranian Revolutionary Guard forces at anti-government protests continues in Kurdish areas. The human rights front reported at least 4 deaths during the government's deployment of troops in the western city of Mahabad on Sunday, November 20, 2022.

The nationwide protests spurred by the death of Iran's Kurdish woman, Mahsa Amini, are the most intensified in the region where most of Iran's 10 million Kurds live. Amini, 22, died in the custody of personality police last September. He was detained on charges of violating the provisions of wearing clothes for Iranian women.

The video uploaded on social media, which could not be verified by Reuters, shows a convoy of military vehicles with troops carrying complete weapons in Mahabad. The sound of heavy weapons is heard in a number of other videos.

Norway's human rights front, Hengaw, said military helicopters were carrying members of Iran's widely feared Revolutionary Guard to shut down protests in the Sunni Kurdish city of Mahabad.

In a confession aired by state media, Iran's Revolutionary Guard made it clear it was strengthening their forces in the Kurdish northwestern area to confront a line of terrorist separatists in the region.

"The security of the people is our red line and dealing with terrorists expressly is our mandate," the confession read.

Iran's government, which blamed Amini's death for pre-existing clinical circumstances, explained the chaos was spurred on by foreign opponents and charged separatists with carrying violent weapons.

The most important Sunni cleric Molavi Abdolhamid, a powerful dissident voice in the Shiite-controlled Islamic Republic, called on security forces not to fire on some in Mahabad.

"Disturbing information exists from the Kurdish regions, particularly from Mahabad. Emphasis and harsh treatment will result in further disappointment," Abdolhamid tweeted on Twitter.

Hengaw said at least four demonstrators died in the Kurdish region. The activist account 1500Tasvir, widely followed, said a 16-year-old student and a schoolteacher died in the Kurdish city of Javanrud. The details of the event could not be independently verified.

Iranian state media reported calm had been restored in the region. But some activists and Hengaw tweeted on Twitter that resistance was continuing in a number of Kurdish cities.

"In the (Kurdish city of) Marivan, repressive forces are already firing on some people," Hengaw said.

The protest has turned into a furious Iranian resistance, becoming one of the bravest hurdles for the country's clerics since the 1979 Islamic Revolution that brought them to power.

Ehsan Hajsafi, a footballer who plays at AEK club Athens (Greece), on Sunday became the first member of the Iranian national team to speak from the 2022 World Cup in Doha to support domestic protests. Other players remained silent and some activists said the protests at the team.

The protests have reached their 3rd month despite harsh state treatment and the death penalty being issued to a minimum of six demonstrators.

The HRANA information office said 410 demonstrators had died in the chaos as of last Saturday, accounting for 58 children. About 54 members of the security forces died. More than 17,251 people have been secured. The ruling faction has not given a prediction of the number of people who died.

Two Iranian artists, who uploaded photos of themselves on Instagram without headscarves as a form of togetherness at a popular protest, were secured last Sunday for spurring protests.

Videos uploaded on social media showed Iranians in a number of other cities continuing to protest, from Tehran to the northwestern city of Tabriz, saying the overthrow of the Islamic Republic and chanting "Die the Supreme Leader Ayatullah Ali Khamenei".

Iranian Protesters Set Fire to Ayatullah Khomeini's House

Some demonstrators in Iran set fire to the old house of the country's former top leader and founder of the government, Ayatullah Khomeini, on Thursday, November 17, 2022. The action was captured in a video spread on social media.

In a video uploaded by a line of 1500tasvir activists on Twitter, several demonstrators took to the streets in at least 23 cities across Iran on Thursday.

In the town of Khomein, Khomeini's birthplace, demonstrators set fire to the house that was turned into the Islamic Republic's founding museum.

Another video from Khomein shows demonstrators shouting slogans against some iranian clerical leaders.

"This year is the year of blood, (The highest leader Ayatullah Ali Khamenei) will be overthrown," shouted demonstrators in the capital Tehran, seen in a video uploaded by 1500tasvir, as taken by Al Arabiya, Friday, November 18, 2022.

Iran's semi-official information office, Fars, gave reports of five members of the security forces dying during Thursday's protests.

Protesters have said the government's shift in protest has been one of the boldest hurdles to the government since it was built in 1979.

More than 300 people have already been killed by security forces and several thousand are already in custody, according to the human rights line.

Iran blames the chaos on foreign capabilities, namely the United States and Israel.

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