Protests continued sporadically in Iran today, Sunday, amidst a wide-ranging crackdown by security forces on the first anniversary of the death of young Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini, which sparked the worst political unrest in four decades. The Kurdistan Human Rights Network reported that police briefly detained Amjad Amini, Mahsa's father, and warned him against commemorating his daughter's death, while the family was unable to visit her grave as they had planned.
A video posted on social media today showed protesters in the city of Hamadan in western Iran standing in line and chanting "death to the Islamic Republic," while another video showed protesters fleeing after security forces allegedly fired gunshots. Reuters has not yet been able to verify the authenticity of the two videos. Following the posting of these videos, the semi-official news agency Tasnim published a video showing that the streets of Hamadan were quiet.
Human rights groups, including the news agency Hrana, reported that authorities arrested several individuals in the Kurdish cities of Saqqez and Sanandaj. State media reported the arrest of dozens of "terrorists," including one person allegedly planning a suicide attack.
At the same time, authorities reported that unidentified gunmen in southern Iran opened fire on the Basij volunteer militia, which has played a prominent role in the crackdown, resulting in one death and three injuries. It remains unclear whether this incident is related to the current unrest.
Meanwhile, Iran's Minister of Intelligence warned that Tehran might take unspecified actions against foreign media that the government accuses of inciting violent unrest in the country. Iran International, a London-based television channel critical of the Iranian government, announced in February that it would relocate its live broadcasting studios to the United States after facing threats in Britain. The semi-official news agency Fars quoted Minister Ismail Qatabi as saying, "Iran International is a terrorist network, and we will act wherever and whenever we discover any terrorist activity."
