Demonstrators hold flags during a rally in solidarity with Iranian protests following the death of Mahsa Amini, in Berlin, Germany, 22 October 2022. Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian woman, was arrested in Tehran on 13 September by the police unit responsible for enforcing Iran's strict dress code for women. She fell into a coma while in police custody and was declared dead on 16 September. EPA-EFE/CLEMENS BILAN State media reported late Wednesday that gunmen on motorbikes killed five people in Izeh, a town in the oil-rich, predominantly Arab province of Khuzestan. It’s the second deadly gun attack reported by Iranian state media in three weeks.
The attack follows two days of strikes and a surge in unrest and violence as protesters marked the three-year anniversary of the deadly November 2019 fuel protests.
Since Tuesday’s violence at least 11 others have been killed, including five protesters who were shot dead by security forces in Kurdish cities, according to Norway-based Hengaw Organization for Human Rights. State media also reported that six members of the security forces had been killed.
Earlier on Wednesday Iran’s judiciary said it had handed death sentences to three more people arrested in the protests, raising to five the number of detainees now facing execution.
At least 342 people have been killed by security forces and 15,000 arrested for taking part in the nationwide protests that were triggered by the 16 September death in police custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman arrested for allegedly flouting Islamic dress codes.
The United Nations and rights groups have urged Iran to halt indictments involving the death penalty and to release all peaceful protesters.
Under Pressure
Iran’s Islamist rulers and security apparatus are under increasing pressure domestically and diplomatically as they face the biggest popular uprising since the 1979 revolution. Broad international condemnation of their violent response to the protests and their support for Russia’s war on Ukraine has prompted a raft of new sanctions from the US, Canada, the European Union and the UK.
Underscoring Iran’s increasingly isolated position, the US said on Wednesday that Tehran was likely behind an attack on a commercial tanker in the Gulf of Oman.
Read more: US Confident Iran Likely Conducted Attack on Commercial Tanker
Iranian officials announced another spate of arrests on Wednesday, claiming many of those detained had links to the Islamic State or French intelligence services.
State-run Islamic Republic News Agency reported that 110 protesters were arrested in Fars province on Tuesday and two people in southeastern Sistan-Baluchestan province were detained on suspicion of being “armed terrorists.” The number of people arrested on accusations of separatism in the northwestern city of Urmia reached 100, IRNA said.