Reuters -Nov 9th 2022

DUBAI, Nov 9 (Reuters) – Iran’s Army Ground Forces Commander said on Wednesday that “rioters” would have no place in the Islamic Republic if the country’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ordered a tougher crackdown on nationwide protests, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported.

” … should he decide to deal with them, rioters will no longer have a place in the country,” Brigadier General Kiumars Heydari said.

Anti-government demonstrations erupted in September after the death of a Kurdish woman, Mahsa Amini, who had been detained by morality police for allegedly flouting the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code imposed on women.

The protests quickly turned into a popular revolt, with people ranging from students to doctors to lawyers to workers to athletes taking part.

Heydari was speaking 40 days after bloodshed in the mostly Sunni town of Zahedan, which has become a flashpoint in the protests.

Amnesty International said security forces killed at least 66 people there on Sept. 30. Authorities in Zahedan sacked the police chief and the head of a police station near where the killings took place.

Iran has executed two Baluch militants convicted of “terrorism” charges dating back to about 2016, the semi-official news agency ILNA reported on Wednesday, in a move that may raise tensions further in volatile Sistan-Baluchistan province, where Zahedan is located.

The Baluch minority, estimated to number up to 2 million people, has faced discrimination and repression for decades, according to human rights groups.

Some of the worst unrest has been in areas home to minority ethnic groups with long-standing grievances against the state, including Sistan-Baluchistan and Kurdish regions.

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https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/irans-army-issues-warning-rioters-security-forces-struggle-suppress-unrest-2022-11-09/