CNN
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Iran’s Supreme Leader has praised the nation’s Basij paramilitary drive for its function within the lethal crackdown on anti-regime protesters.
Meeting with Basij personnel in Tehran Saturday, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei described the favored protest motion as “rioters” and “thugs” backed by international forces and praised “innocent” Basij fighters for safeguarding the nation.
The Basij is a wing of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard deployed to the streets as protests have swelled since September.
The protest motion was initially sparked by the demise of 22-year-old girl Mahsa Amini within the custody of Iran’s morality police.
Amnesty International says the Basij have been ordered to “mercilessly confront” protesters.
“When facing the enemy on the field of battle the Basij has always shown itself to be courageous, not afraid of the enemy,” the Supreme Leader mentioned Saturday.
“You saw in the most recent events, our innocent and oppressed Basijis became the targets of oppression so that they wouldn’t allow the nation to become the targets of rioters and thugs and those on the [enemy] payroll, whether wittingly or unwittingly. They gave of themselves to free others,” Khamenei mentioned.
Khamenei’s phrases come a day after United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Chief Volker Turk warned Iran is in a “full-fledged human rights crisis” as a result of clampdown on anti-regime dissidents.
Turk known as for “independent, impartial and transparent investigative processes” into violations of human rights in Iran throughout a particular session of the UN Human Rights Council on Thursday.
He informed the 47-member states council in Geneva that safety forces have reportedly responded to protests by utilizing deadly drive towards unarmed demonstrators and bystanders who posed “no threat.”
More than 14,000 individuals, together with youngsters, have been arrested in reference to the protests, in line with Turk. He mentioned that at the very least 21 of them at present face the demise penalty and 6 have already acquired demise sentences.
Among these arrested are two well-known Iranian actors, Hengameh Ghaziani and Katayoun Riahi, who had been taken into custody on separate events for publicly backing the nationwide protests, in line with the semi-official Tasnim News Agency.
The Islamic Republic has been gripped by a wave of anti-government protests sparked by the demise of Amini allegedly for not sporting her hijab correctly.
Authorities have since unleashed a lethal crackdown on demonstrators, with experiences of compelled detentions and bodily abuse getting used to focus on the nation’s Kurdish minority group. In a latest CNN investigation, covert testimony revealed sexual violence towards protesters, together with boys, in Iran’s detention facilities because the begin of the unrest.
The unprecedented nationwide rebellion has taken maintain of greater than 150 cities and 140 universities in all 31 provinces of Iran, in line with Turk.
The violent response of Iran’s safety forces towards protesters has shaken diplomatic ties between Tehran and Western leaders.
The White House on Wednesday imposed its newest spherical of sanctions on three officers in Iran’s Kurdish area, after US Secretary Antony Blinken mentioned he was “greatly concerned that Iranian authorities are reportedly escalating violence against protesters.”
During an interview with Indian broadcaster NDTV on Thursday, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani mentioned international powers had been intervening in Iranian inside affairs and creating “fallacious narratives.”