The slogan “Rise up and join us” was briefly shown on Iranian television. What was meant were the system-critical demonstrations. The wave of protests in Iran is not abating.
Activists hacked a live newscast on Iranian state television and criticized the crackdown on women. “The blood of youth is on your hands” was read on the screens during the news program on Saturday evening at prime time. Crosshairs and flames were superimposed over the face of supreme spiritual leader Ali Khamenei. “Join us and rise up,” read a message in the top-right corner of the screen.
Also shown for seconds were black and white footage of Mahsa Amini, who died after being arrested by the vice squad three weeks ago, and of three women who were killed in the protests and violent crackdown triggered by Amini’s death.
The group Edalat-e Ali (Ali’s Justice) claimed responsibility for the hacker attack. The action received wide coverage in Persian-language media and among human rights groups outside of Iran. In Iran itself, the Tasnim news agency reported that the evening news was “hacked for a few moments by anti-revolutionary agents.”
Footage of the newscaster’s reaction, nervously shifting in his chair, was also quickly circulated online.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has announced sanctions against the perpetrators of repressive measures in Iran. “We will ensure that the EU imposes entry bans on those responsible for this brutal repression and freezes their assets in the EU,” said the Greens politician to “Bild am Sonntag”.
“Anyone who beats women and girls on the street, abducts people who want nothing more than to live freely, arbitrarily arrests them, sentences them to death are on the wrong side of history,” added Baerbock. The calls of the people on the streets in Iran for self-determination are “deafening”.
According to eyewitnesses, the protests continued on Sunday night. Accordingly, the willingness to use violence increased significantly on both sides. The police are said to have not only used tear gas against the demonstrators, but also shot them with paintball ammunition. The demonstrators reportedly threw Molotov cocktails at the officers and set mobile police stations on fire. A young driver was reportedly shot in the head during a demonstration in the western Iranian city of Sanandaj. The police stated that protesters shot him dead, who in turn blamed the police for the death.
The protests against the Islamic system are entering their fourth week. They began after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in mid-September. Amini died on September 16 after being arrested by vice squads in Tehran three days earlier on charges of not wearing her headscarf in accordance with regulations. According to activists, she was beaten in police custody and died of a head injury. The police deny any responsibility for the death of the young woman.
Amini’s death sparked a wave of protests against the oppression of women and then repression in general in Iran. According to the human rights organization IHR, at least 95 people have been killed so far in the violent crackdown by the authorities against the demonstrators in Iran.
