Coinciding with the 40th death toll from popular protests in Iran, reports and images published on social media indicate the arrest of some protesters in Behesht Sakineh, Karaj, and at the 40th anniversary ceremony of Pouya Bakhtiari, one of the victims of these incidents.
A source familiar with the matter told VOA that at least ten people were detained at the cemetery in Karaj. VOA cannot yet independently confirm the number of detainees in Karaj and other cities.
According to videos released on January 25, security officers had a colorful presence at Behesht Sakineh in Karaj, where those killed in the protests in the city were buried; a presence that was accompanied by clashes between officers and people and the arrest of a number of them.
Also, in the footage sent to VOA, the atmosphere on Thursday was completely secure in some of the cities where there were deaths during last month's protests.
There is currently no exact figure on the number of people arrested at the 40th anniversary of the deaths.
The 40th anniversary of the killing of protesters in Iran was celebrated while the Islamic Republic authorities had not allowed the families of the victims to hold the 40th anniversary ceremony, and some of them were arrested, such as members of the family of Pouya Bakhtiari, who had issued a nationwide call for people to attend her 40th anniversary. An 11-year-old child was also among those arrested.
The Islamic Republic arrested the family of the murdered young man a few days ago, and it was after this that US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in a message, strongly condemned the arrest of Pouya Bakhtiari's parents and called for their immediate release.
The security situation in Iran began on Wednesday, on the eve of January 25, with internet disruptions and outages in some Iranian cities.
NetBlocks, an internet watchdog, reported on its Twitter page that it was seeing evidence of "mobile internet disruptions" in parts of Iran since 6:30 a.m. Iranian time on Wednesday, December 4th.
The commemoration ceremony for the dead in Iran comes at a time when the Islamic Republic is still refusing to release the exact number of those killed and arrested in these protests.
This is while the Reuters news agency reported that the death toll in the Iranian protests was 1,500, and quoted three sources close to the leader of the Islamic Republic as saying that Khamenei had ordered government and security officials to do "whatever is necessary" to stop the protests.
Human rights activists called on the permanent members of the Security Council to pass a resolution condemning the repression of the people in Iran as a "crime against humanity."
Source: Voice of America
