Iran Shut Off Internet In Fear Of Foreign Influence On Protests – Lawmaker

Hacktivist group Edalat-e Ali (Ali's Justice) hacked the Iranian state TV's live news broadcast, displaying a photo of Ali Khamenei with the verse "The Blood of Our Youths Is on Your Hands" along with photos of Mahsa Amini and three teenage girls killed in the current uprising across the country. 

The photo bore a message to the Iranian people, calling on them to join the protests and be part of the uprising that was ignited by the murder of 22-year-old Amini in the custody of hijab police.

Earlier in the year, the group hacked the television website and broadcasted a video with a strong opposition message after it disrupted a few TV and radio channels a week earlier. The video started with footage of people in Tehran’s Azadi stadium shouting “death to dictator” referring to Supreme Leader Ali Kamenei, then it cut into a close up of a masked man similar to the protagonist of the movie V for Vendetta, who said “Khamenei is scared, the regime’s foundation is rattling”.

Since the beginning of the protests in mid-September, several hacking groups have been helping the Iranians with targeting state websites and online services. They have released numerous documents and have disrupted hundreds of surveillance cameras. 

In an interview with Iran International, he denied the forensic report about the cause of his daughter's death and said that he has repeatedly requested to publish the video of his daughter's arrest, but the authorities have not done it yet. 

He added that "I saw with my own eyes that blood had come from Mahsa's ears and back of her neck."

He had earlier said that he held the police responsible for her death.

About three weeks after Mahsa death, the Iranian Legal Medicine Organization announced on Friday that her death was "not caused by blow to the head and limbs" but by multiple organ failure caused by cerebral hypoxia. It did not say whether she had suffered any injuries. The report did say she fell while in custody due to "underlying diseases".

Amini’sdeath while in the custody of Iran's morality police has ignited three weeks of nationwide protests. Young women and men have simply rebelled against enforcement of restrictive Islamic rules on their lifestyles and demand an end to religious government.

Iran International obtained Amini’s brain CT scan from hospital sources in September that shows bone fracture in the skull, hemorrhage and brain edema, Iran International has learned.

"Security forces are shooting at the protesters in Sanandaj and Saqqez," said the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, a Kurdish rights group. The widely followed 1500Tavsir Twitter account also reported shootings at protesters in the two western Kurdish cities.

Hengaw also published a video of a driver who was shot dead by security forces just because he was showing his protest with a long honk. 

High school students in Sanandaj have joined the demonstrations, chanting, "Women, Life Liberty" while there was also a general strike in the city with all shops closed. 

Oslo-based organization Iran Human Rights said on Saturday that at least 185 people have been killed in the uprising ignited by the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini. The NGO added that about 20 of the killed were minors. 

The protests first erupted in Mahsa Amini’s hometown Saqqez and capital Tehran and soon spread to all over the country and garnered support from Iranian expatriate communities around the world as well as foreign governments and officials. 

The Persian hashtag to express support for the protests has been retweeted over 270 million times and is still being used. 

Raisi visited the university on Saturday while anti-government protest rallies were being held on several campuses across the country. 

Al-Zahra University students, who were not allowed in the hall where Raisi was delivering a speech, gathered outside the venue and chanted slogans against Raisi and the clerical regime such as "Raisi, get lost." 

Iranian activists and university professors called for nationwide rallies on Saturday, October 8, as street protests have become sporadic in recent days. In a statement Thursday, professors at the prestigious Sharif University of Technology in Tehran also urged all students and professors to rally in universities across the country in protest to the plainclothes security forces’ brutal attack on their university’s students October 2.

By noon, videos on social media show police using tear gas near Sharif University, and gunshots are also heard around the university. 

Students, mostly girls, in secondary schools, which only opened a few days ago for the new academic year, rebelled this week in many areas, refusing to attend classes, protesting inside their schools and chanting slogans on their way home. Students often burn the headscarves they are forced to wear, in protest to hijab laws and the killing of Mahsa Amini who was arrested in September for her "improper hijab”.

Iranian authorities have clamped down on the protesters with such heavy methods that even some of their own supporters find it hard to digest.

In a tweet, Sullivan also called for justice over the death of Mahsa Amini, killed in the custody of Iran's "Morality" Police. The young woman’s death sparked the current nationwide protests.

Earlier in the day, US Envoy for Iran Rob Malley told NPR that "What the US wants is a government in Iran that respects people's fundamental rights. It's not a policy of regime change. It's a policy of backing people who're protesting peacefully, because they want to be able not to wear a headscarf yet face an oppressive system."

The United States on Thursday imposed sanctions on seven Iranian officials over the shutdown of internet access and the crackdown on peaceful protesters.

The US Treasury Department in a statement said it imposed sanctions on Iran's minister of interior, Ahmad Vahidi; Communications Minister Eisa Zarepour; and Vahid Mohammad Naser Majid, the head of the Iranian Cyber Police, among others.

The European Union and its member states are also putting significant pressure on Iran, by foreign ministers telling Tehran to stop its mistreatment of citizens. However, Iran’s foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian has dismissed such calls, insisting that women are protected in his country and others should not intervene.