Protests have gripped Iran since the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in September. She was arrested by the country’s morality police just three days before she died.
The country’s morality police – tasked with enforcing codes around dress and behaviour – had arrested the 22-year-old for not wearing her hijab correctly and sporting skinny jeans.
Her family says she was beaten while in custody, and that her head was struck several times. The government and police have denied the accusations, claiming her death was due to an “underlying disease”.
Demonstrators have rejected this official line, and protests erupted across the country.
Iranians of all ages, ethnicities and genders have joined in the demonstrations. But it is mainly young people who have taken to the streets.
Internet services are disrupted in the country, making it harder for protesters to record and post footage of demonstrations.
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, strongly backed his country’s security forces in his first public comments on the protest movement.
Ayatollah Khamenei has accused the United States and Israel of orchestrating “riots” – an accusation dismissed by critics as fabricated.
As a reaction, protesters around the country answered a call for more mass demonstrations.
Social media reports said children were arrested inside school premises by security forces arriving in vans without licence plates.
Authorities shut all schools and higher education institutions in the Kurdistan province.
So far, Iranian authorities have executed two young protesters.
Authorities said they were convicted of “moharebeh” — or waging “war against God,” a charge that carries the death penalty under Iran’s Shariah or Islamic law.
The judiciary is accusing dozens of other protesters of the same offence.
More than 50 high-profile French women have filmed themselves cutting their hair in support of Iranian women and girls who have been killed in protests.
Swedish lawmaker Abir Al-Sahlani cut her hair at the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
She demanded the “unconditional and immediate stop of all the violence against the women and men of Iran”, before cutting off her hair while standing at the lectern.
Around the world, countless others did the same in solidarity.
Iranian pop singer Shervin Hajipour wrote the song “Baraye,” meaning because of, about the movement.
It has since become the unofficial anthem of the Iran protests. And Hajipour was arrested shortly after posting it online.
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