PARIS: Funerals for young Iranians, among them a young boy, who relatives claim were slain in a state crackdown spurred a new round of anti-government demonstrations on Friday around the nation.The killing of Mahsa Amini ignited two months of protests, and now Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s administration in Iran is facing its greatest threat yet.A human rights organisation claims that in response to the authorities’ crackdown, 342 people have died, many more have been detained, and six protestors have already received death sentences.The Iranian football team, which will play its opening game against England on Monday at the World Cup in Qatar, will be being watched for how it handles the turmoil.
Pictures from Iran’s ISNA news agency show a sizable crowd attending Kian Pirfalak’s funeral in the south-western city of Izeh. Kian was nine years old. Although Iranian officials have maintained that Kian was killed in a “terrorist” strike, Kian’s mother stated during the memorial service that he was shot on Wednesday by security personnel.According to a video broadcast by the 1500tasvir monitor, his mother spoke at the burial and said, “Hear it from me personally on how the shooting happened, so they can’t say it was by terrorists, because they’re lying.”
“Perhaps they thought we were about to shoot or something since they shot at the car repeatedly… Forces in plainclothes shot my child. So that’s it.In response to the government’s account of events, the demonstrators shouted, “Basij, Sepah — you are our ISIS!”in a clip published by the Norwegian group Iran Human Rights (IHR). The Basij is a paramilitary group that supports the government, while Sepah is another term for the Revolutionary Guards. The militant Islamic State (IS) organisation is referred to as ISIS.
