More than 300 dead in Amini unrest: Iran Guards general
TEHRAN: More than 300 people have been killed in Iran since protests erupted over the death in morality police custody of Mahsa Amini on September 16, a Revolutionary Guards general said on Tuesday.
“Everyone in the country has been affected by the death of this lady. I don’t have the latest figures, but I think we have had perhaps more than 300 martyrs and people killed in this country, including children, since this incident,” Brigadier General Amirali Hajizadeh, head of the Guards’ aerospace division, said in a video published by the Mehr news agency.
The toll includes dozens of police, troops and militia killed in clashes with demonstrators or murdered.
The latest official toll is much closer to the figure of at least 416 “killed in the suppression of protests in Iran” published by Oslo-based group Iran Human Rights.
The group says its toll includes those killed in violence related to the Amini protests and in distinct unrest in the southeastern province of SistanBaluchistan.
Iran frees hundreds after World Cup win
Iran has released more than 700 prisoners after the national team’s World Cup football victory over Wales, the judiciary’s Mizan Online website said on
Monday.
It announced that “709 detainees were freed from different prisons in the country” following the 2-0 victory on Friday.
Among those are “some arrested during the recent events,” Mizan Online said, making indirect reference to demonstrations which have shaken Iran for more than two months.
Other Iranian media separately reported that prominent Iranian actor Hengameh Ghaziani had been released on bail.
Two of the most prominent figures detained over the demonstrations - former international footballer Voria Ghafouri and dissident Hossein Ronaghi - were also let out on bail.