The Iranian secret service reports arrests in Kurdish areas The Iranian secret service reports arrests in Kurdish areas

According to a report, Iranian intelligence has reported several arrests in Kurdish areas. Several people were arrested in the early morning hours for taking photos and videos of shops, Tasnim news agency reported on Saturday. Tasnim is considered the mouthpiece of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). “These people (…) tried to create insecurity and were arrested by the security and intelligence services of Kurdistan Province.”

On Friday, residents of the Kurdish regions announced that they wanted to express their dissatisfaction by closing shops to mark the first anniversary of the death of protest icon Jina Mahsa Amini. There were initially no calls for street protests due to fears of renewed violent action by security forces. Meanwhile, a state of emergency applied in the Kurdish areas. Amini’s hometown of Saghes went into lockdown before the anniversary of her death. The power apparatus also took precautions in other cities against possible new protests.

This Saturday marks the first anniversary of Amini’s death, which in the fall of 2022 sparked Iran’s worst uprisings in decades. Islamic moral watchdogs arrested the then 22-year-old for wrongly wearing a headscarf. What exactly happened next remains unclear to this day: the young woman eventually fell into a coma and died in a hospital. (sda/dpa)