Dozens of protesters have been killed or wounded after Iranian security forces opened fire following Friday prayers in the country's south-east, activists said.
The demonstrators were part of an anti-government movement raging since September, which was sparked by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini — a 22-year-old Iranian woman of Kurdish origin — and has now snowballed into wider issues around women's freedoms.
Campaigners had called for nationwide demonstrations this week in solidarity with Kurdistan, which along with Sistan-Baluchistan, where Friday's shooting took place, has borne the brunt of Iran's deadly protest crackdown.
“Kurdistan, Kurdistan, we will support you,” protesters were heard chanting on Friday in a video from the Sistan-Baluchistan capital Zahedan, one of the few Sunni-majority cities in predominantly Shiite Iran.
“Kurds and Baluchs are brothers, thirsting for the leader's blood,” they sang in other unverified footage posted on social media, in reference to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Activists said later that security forces had opened fire on protesters in the city.
“Dozens have been killed or injured,” the London-based Baloch Activists Campaign (BAC) said on its Telegram channel. AFP was unable to confirm the toll.
BAC shared a video showing a group carrying a man who appeared to be wounded out of what it said was Zahedan's Makki mosque, Iran's largest Sunni house of worship.
Demonstrators also took to the streets of the Sistan-Baluchistan cities of Iranshahr, Khash and Saravan, said BAC and the 1500tasvir social media monitor.
Oslo-based group Iran Human Rights (IHR) said the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had used military equipment, including heavy machineguns, to suppress the people.
The Kurdish-populated provinces of western and north-western Iran have been hubs of protest since the death of Ms Amini after her arrest in Tehran for an alleged breach of the country's strict dress code for women.
On Tuesday, IHR said Iranian security forces had killed at least 416, including 51 children and 27 women, since the protests began.
Its toll included at least 126 killed in Sistan-Baluchistan and 48 in Kurdistan province. More than 90 were killed during a mass shooting in Zahedan on September 30.
Friday's protests came a day after the United Nations Human Rights Council voted to create a high-level investigation into Iran's bloody crackdown.
Iran condemned the move, saying it was “useless and represents a violation of the country's national sovereignty”.
Agencies contributed to this report
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Dir: Rajkumar Gupta
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New UK refugee system
- A new “core protection” for refugees moving from permanent to a more basic, temporary protection
- Shortened leave to remain - refugees will receive 30 months instead of five years
- A longer path to settlement with no indefinite settled status until a refugee has spent 20 years in Britain
- To encourage refugees to integrate the government will encourage them to out of the core protection route wherever possible.
- Under core protection there will be no automatic right to family reunion
- Refugees will have a reduced right to public funds
Zayed Sustainability Prize
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Engine: 3.5-litre twin-turbo V6
Power: 380hp at 5,800rpm
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BULKWHIZ PROFILE
Date started: February 2017
Founders: Amira Rashad (CEO), Yusuf Saber (CTO), Mahmoud Sayedahmed (adviser), Reda Bouraoui (adviser)
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: E-commerce
Size: 50 employees
Funding: approximately $6m
Investors: Beco Capital, Enabling Future and Wain in the UAE; China's MSA Capital; 500 Startups; Faith Capital and Savour Ventures in Kuwait
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Publisher: Konami
Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC
Rating: 4.5/5
The specs
Engine: 2-litre 4-cylinder and 3.6-litre 6-cylinder
Power: 220 and 280 horsepower
Torque: 350 and 360Nm
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Price: from Dh136,521 VAT and Dh166,464 VAT
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Power: 420kW
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Transmission: 8-speed automatic
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- Option 1: 70% in year 1, 50% in year 2, 30% in year 3
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- Option 3: 30% across five years
