Protests in Iran continue: Four dead in prison fire – new details on “Bloody Friday”
Created: 2022-10-17 05:14
By: Bettina Menzel
Despite the violent action taken by the Iranian authorities and security forces, the protests in Iran continue.
A prison in Tehran that also houses opponents of the regime caught fire on Saturday.
Tehran - The wave of protests in Iran continues - it's the fifth week in a row.
Demonstrators accuse the security forces and authorities of violent action.
Little by little, the background to "Bloody Friday" is coming to light, the most brutal suppression of a demonstration since the beginning of the protest wave.
Meanwhile, fires broke out in Ewin prison in the Iranian capital on Saturday night.
Hundreds of people who were arrested during the demonstrations for human and civil rights are apparently also being held there.
Iran: Details revealed about "Bloody Friday" at protests in Zahedan
Security forces across the country appear to be brutally cracking down on demonstrators.
The crushing of the protests in the city of Zahedan in south-eastern Iran has so far claimed the highest number of fatalities.
The September 30 incident became known as "Bloody Friday," but due to internet censorship in the country, the details didn't come to light until around two weeks later.
Human rights organizations such as Amnesty International spoke of 66 to 96 deaths within a few hours, apparently including children.
According to reports, after Friday prayers, a small group of believers left the Great Mosalla mosque and went to the police station across the street to demonstrate.
The protesters are said to have chanted anti-government slogans and sometimes threw stones at the officials.
The security forces then apparently began shooting indiscriminately into the crowd, the
New York Times
reported on Friday.
Protests in Iran: Eyewitnesses to "Bloody Friday" - "It was a massacre"
In its report on "Bloody Friday" in Zahedan, the US newspaper relies on videos and several eyewitness accounts.
Random shots were fired at unarmed people and in the direction of the mosque, and helicopters were also used.
"It was a massacre I'd only seen in movies before," an eyewitness told the
New York Times.
"They started shooting while people were still bowing their heads in prayer." Video verified by the newspaper appears to show snipers firing into the crowd from the roof of the police station.
The demonstrations in Iran were triggered after the death of Mahsa Amini.
The 22-year-old was arrested because of an ill-fitting headscarf and died in custody under circumstances that are still unclear.
The EU countries had recently agreed on sanctions against Iran.
Fires in Ewin prison in Tehran: four people die, 61 injured
Protests continued in many places in Iran this week, including at Shariati University in the capital, Tehran.
There, women without a headscarf shouted, for example, "The mullahs should go away!".
Demonstrations were also reported from Isfahan and Kermanshah.
Several explosions occurred in Ewin prison in Tehran on Saturday, which started a fire.
According to the official Iranian account, it is said to be an internal conflict in the prison.
However, the information could not be independently verified.
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There are numerous political prisoners and people arrested in the course of the current wave of protests in the prison.
In a video released by the human rights organization Iran Human Rights on Saturday evening, shots and shouts of "death to the dictator" could apparently be heard in the background, in addition to flames and a cloud of smoke over the prison.
Four people died from smoke inhalation in the fire in Ewin prison, Iranian authorities said on Sunday.
61 people were injured, many of them seriously.
Protests in Iran: Scientists see historical parallels
"Should political prisoners perish there, it will be an incident on the scale of the 'Cinema Rex' fire at Abadan in August 1978, which hastened the overthrow of the Shah," wrote academic Roham Alvandi of the London School of Economics on Twitter .
The arson attack on a cinema at the time, the background to which is still unclear today, triggered protests against the Shah.
The US has expressed concern about the dramatic situation in prison.
"We are following the reports from Ewin Prison with great urgency," US State Department spokesman Ned Price tweeted on Saturday (local time), adding: "Iran has full responsibility for the safety of our wrongfully detained citizens." who should be released immediately."
(dpa/AFP/bme)
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