Support for protests in Iran is still rising among international celebrities, with Justin Bieber joining the crowd as hijab victim Mahsa Amini’s hashtag has reached 100 million.
The Canadian popstar used his platform of about 260 million followers on Instagram to raise awareness about the current uprising in Iran with a story of Iranian protesters holding a photo of Mahsa Amini, whose tragic death in the custody of hijab police triggered worldwide rallies against the Islamic Republic.
The Persian hashtag that has been trending in support of Mahsa, also known as Zhina or Jina, has been retweeted more than 100 million times, and still counting.
This is by far the highest number of retweets in the history of Twitter, about 25 times more than the trendiest hashtags on the social media platform so far. This has been achieved thanks to numerous celebrities and political figures as well as human rights activists and organizations.
Iranian celebrities, both from inside the country and abroad as well as athletes from many national teams have expressed support for the uprising despite repeated threats and warning by authorities about banning them from their professions.
Several foreign singers and artists have also dedicated pieces to the 22-year-old Mahsa, including pop singer Chris de Burgh and community-driven rock star Yungblud.
Legendary co-founder of Pink Floyd Roger Waters has posted a few times since last week, expressing anger over Mahsa’s death.
Anti-Islamic Republic protests continued Sunday night in Iran and abroad, after state-sponsored rallies in a few cities failed to garner significant support.
Iran Human Rights (IHR) said Saturday at least 54 protesters had been killed, but no clear figure is available. In many cases, handing over the bodies of victims to their families was made contingent on agreeing to secret burials, IHR reported.
For the first time Monday several professors at the prestigious Sharif University of Technology in Tehran went on strike, demanding the release of all detained students.
“I will not hold any classes before detained students of Sharif University are freed to the last person,” Dr. Ali Sharifi Zareji, a professor of bioinformatics and artificial intelligence tweeted Monday.
The Iranian academic year started September 23, but authorities have cancelled all classes at several major universities including Tehran University, where some students have nevertheless staged big protest rallies. Authorities have offered online classes although the government has shut off or slowed down internet access since the protests began eight days ago. They have also arrested dozens of students.
Students at several universities have released statements calling for a strike and demanded the release of all student activists and returning to in-person classes. Students have also urged their professors to join the strike.
The Coordination Council of Iranian Teachers’ Trade Associations Sunday announced a strike for Monday and Wednesday (Tuesday is a public holiday) in support of the protesters. This is the first major call for a strike, although people on social media have been urging workers at key government economic sectors not to show up for work.
In many cities such as Shiraz and Qazvin as well as Alborz province, authorities closed schools Monday “due to air pollution” but in other areas classes convened as usual.
In the past few days, protesters have resorted to writing graffiti on walls and many of those who do not take to the streets to protest show their support by shouting slogans from rooftops and their windows after nightfall or honking their car horns. This stretches available security forces, who have to ignore some protest manifestations.
Meanwhile, thousands of Iranians and their supporters took to the streets Sunday in other countries in Europe and elsewhere including London, Paris, Milan, and Hamburg, to protest the regime. They were also gathering and rallies in the United States.
In London and Paris protests turned violent when crowds who chanted “Death to the Islamic Republic” and “Death to Khamenei” tried to storm the Iranian embassy buildings.
In London protesters also gathered outside the Islamic Centre of England in north-west London and chanted slogans peacefully. A video on social media showed a protester who made it to the roof of the Islamic Centre, also known as Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s office in Britain, waving an Iranian the pre-1979 flag.
London police said Monday several officers had sustained injuries including broken bones and five are in hospital following a clash with protesters outside the Iranian embassy and 12 people were arrested. “Officers on duty reported that while the majority of those who were in the embassy on Sunday acted peacefully, a significant group who arrived actively sought to confront officers and protesters,” London News Online wrote.
In Paris hundreds of protesters who wanted to enter the embassy clashed with French anti-riot police which used tear gas to stop them.
Dissident blogger and freedom activist Hossein Ronaghi, who was arrested over his support for protests, told his family he was beaten in prison and his leg is broken.
Masoud Kazemi, a dissident journalist and a close friend of Ronaghi who resides in Turkey, said on Sunday that Ronaghi made a phone call to his mother from prison and told her that the prison guards had broken his leg.
Last week, security agents raided Ronaghi's house to arrest him after his interviews and posts in support of the ongoing protests, but he managed to escape and evade arrest without a warrant. However, on Saturday, he presented himself to prosecutors with his two lawyers and all three were arrested.
He was arrested several times in the past decade and has staged hunger strikes in prison. Ronaghi was first arrested, along with his brother Hassan, in the aftermath of the disputed presidential elections in 2009 for helping journalists and political activists to circumvent internet censorship. He was also charged with insulting Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in his blog posts.
Ronaghi was one of the first this year to focus his activities against a bill by hardliner lawmakers to introduce highly restrictive internet policies
In an interview with Germany's Bild published on January 28, Ronaghi spoke about losing his kidney while in Evin Prison. "I'm still suffering from the effects of the torture, but the good thing is that I'm still alive and can continue," he said.
As Tehran provides military drones to Moscow, an Iranian energy expert says Moscow has never invested a penny in Iran’s energy sector, despite contracts and deals.
Iran’s oil and gas industries that have remained its main financial providers, have been deprived of Western investments and technology since the 1980s due to Tehran’s anti-Western foreign policy. As a result, the government has been constantly advertising the great benefits of cooperation with Russia and China and hinting at tens of billions of dollars in possible trade and investments.
Morteza Behruzifar, an energy expert in Tehran told the ILNA news website recently that a recent memorandum of understanding with Russia for building LNG terminals in Iran and for swapping natural gas will not lead anywhere. Russia has never invested in Iran’s energy sector perhaps because it perceives Iran as a potential competitor, especially in exports to Europe.
In July, Iran’s national oil company announced it had reached a $40-billion agreement with Russia’s Gazprom to develop joint energy projects, including pumping Russian gas to Iran for a potential swap deal. Ostensibly, Iran will deliver the gas to Russian customers, but this is unrealistic because none of Iran’s neighbors currently buys Russian gas, except for Turkey that has its own direct pipeline.
A gas swap would have made sense if Iran had liquified natural gas (LNG) technology and terminals to export gas to markets such as Europe. The other theoretic possibility would be for Russia to help build this technology, but Moscow itself must rely on Western companies to build an LNG export infrastructure.
“Until now Russia has not been able to build even the smallest LNG plant for itself,” Behruzifar said, adding that there are just a handful of Western firs that are capable of infrastructure for LNG export. “We should not have any expectation that Russia can help us” in this field he maintained.
He also explained that the only technology Russia and Iran have available is to build underwater pipelines in shallow seas, such as a segment of the Persian Gulf between Iran and the United Arab Emirates, but Abu Dhabi would hardly agree to that given outstanding security and regional issues with Tehran.
India is another possible market for Russian gas through Iran, but the problem is that a pipeline must pass through Pakistan, an option New Delhi does not like because it will establish a leverage for Islamabad.
The other possible rout for exports would be a pipeline to Oman, but that requires deep-water technology that both countries do not have. In fact, Nord Stream 2 was built by European companies, which will not deal with Iran and Russia, both under stringent sanctions.
“Even before the war with Ukraine [Russia] had not invested a penny in Iran,” abiding by all United States’ sanctions, Behruzifar said.
Russia has always been Iran’s competitor in the energy sector, never its partner, the analyst said. It would never allow Iran to become a natural gas exporter to Europe, he added.
However, the clerical government in Iran having failed to normalize relations with Washington has doubled down on its policy of partnering with Russia. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in a meeting with Vladimir Putin in Tehran in July praised his “initiative” of invading Ukraine, describing it as a necessary reaction to the West and NATO.
Iran International has learned that Dr. Fereydoun Nouhi, a cardiologist trusted by the Supreme Leader, is trying to create fake medical records that Mahsa Amini had a history of heart problems.
According to the information, Nouhi has asked at least three fellow cardiologists to certify that Mahsa Amini -- the young woman whose death in custody of hijab enforcement police has inspired an uprising across Iran -- had heart problems before her arrest.
Nouhi, who served as the director of the Iranian Cardiology Association, is the head of the Rajaie Cardiovascular, Medical and Research Center.
Since the death of the 22-year-old woman, Iranian authorities have been trying to convince the public that she died of a heart attack despite evidence that she was beaten to death following several blows to her head.
The skull CT scan of Amini shows bone fracture, hemorrhage and brain edema, Iran International revealed last week. The medical documents and dozens of exclusive images sent to Iran International by a hacktivist group vividly show a skull fracture on the right side of her head caused by a severe trauma to the skull, which corroborate earlier accounts by her family and doctors.
Iranian police released CCTV footage, which shows Amini collapsing in the police station, in an effort to reject the evidence. The authorities also brought a neurosurgeon, Dr. Massoud Shirvani, on state TV on September 20 who claimed Mahsa had a brain tumor removed at the age of eight.
“Mahsa Amini was treated with drugs after the surgery under the supervision of an endocrinologist,” the physician said.
Rallies staged by the government in Iran on Sunday to show that it still garners support apparently were a failure, with small crowds gathering in some cities.
Early reports show anti-government protests resuming Sunday evening, as demonstrators come out after work, and also use the darkness to their advantage.
A video from the Kurdish city of Sanandaj reported clashes in early evening with security forces and gunshots are heard as smoke rises in some areas.
Protests were also reported from Zahedan, in southeastern Iran, one of the poorer regions with a majority Sunni population, but so far no videos have been published.
At least in one district of Tehran, Narmak, protests were taking place, and students in Tehran university were marching and chanting against the government.
The Coordination Council of Iranian Teachers’ Trade Associations announced a strike for Monday and Wednesday (Tuesday is a public holiday) in support of the protesters. This is the first major call for a strike, although people on social media have been urging workers at key government economic sectors not to show up for work.
Iran Human Rights (IHR) said Saturday at least 54 protesters had been killed by then. In many cases, handing over the bodies of the victims to their families was made contingent on agreeing to secret burials, IHR reported.
Hacktivists sympathizing with protesters have also been at work targeting the websites of the government and its affiliates including the website of the ministry of foreign affairs and MCI, Iran's largest mobile network operator, which is an affiliate of the telecommunications company, and zeroed out all phone bills, in retaliation for shutting down their internet services.
We providee updates below in our live coverage on Sunday. Iran International cannot verify the exact time and location of all videos.
Our coverage for Sunday ended at 01:10, early on Monday.
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Protesters in Esfahan (Isfahan) taking over a key intersection in the city center Sunday evening.
Eyewitnesses say that crowds are dispersed in more locations in different cities, perhaps to reduce chance of an attack by security forces.
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Fierce protests in Qazvin Sunday night, with gunshot heard while it appears the protesters have set a police vehicle on fire.
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The European Union (EU) considered on Sunday “unjustifiable and unacceptable” the “widespread and disproportionate use of force” against protesters in Iran, after nine days of protests over the death of a young woman who was detained by the morality police , and that left 41 dead.
In a statement on behalf of the EU, the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, also condemned “the decision of the Iranian authorities to drastically restrict access to the internet and to block instant messaging platforms”, something that, according to him , “constitutes a flagrant violation of freedom of expression”.
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Protests in the northern Tajrish district of Tehran, Sunday evening.
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Protesters in Fardis, a district of the city of Karaj, 20 miles west of Tehran are chanting "Death to Khamenei" Sunday evening.
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A video showing a small crowd of regime supporters at one of their gatherings on Sunday.
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A short video of protests in Shiraz, capital of Fars Province in the south, on Sunday evening.
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Sunday evening protest in the Ekbatan district of Tehran. People chant, "Don't be scared, don't be scared, We are all together here."
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Protest Sunday evening in Sattar Khan district of the capital Tehran. The area has been a hotbed of protests in the past few days.
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Early evening in Sanandaj, western Iran and gunshots are heard against protesters. The pre-dominantly Kurdish city was one of the earliest to satge protests after the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody that trggered the unrest in Iran.