“Who shoots at their own people? The Iranian government is doing that and that is why we will continue to position ourselves very clearly there,” he said on Thursday on the margins of the EU summit in Brussels. “What the Iranian government is doing is unacceptable, unjustifiable.”
According to human rights activists, at least 18,000 participants in the systemic demonstrations that have been going on for almost three months have been arrested and more than 475 demonstrators are said to have died in the protests. In November, protesters were sentenced to death for the first time. The second protester was executed on Monday, causing horror and outrage at home and abroad. At least 23 other protesters face the death penalty, according to media reports.
The reason for the current protests in the country was the death of the Iranian Kurd Jina Mahsa Amini. She died in police custody on September 16 after being arrested by vice squad for violating Islamic dress code. Since her death, tens of thousands have demonstrated across the country against the government’s repressive course and Islamic rule system.
(SDA)