At least 92 people have been killed in Iran in the crackdown on protests that broke out two weeks ago following the death of Mahsa Amini, who was arrested by morality police, the NGO Iran Human Rights (IHR) said on Sunday.
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In addition, at least 41 people were killed by security forces in clashes that erupted last week in Zahedan, a town in Sistan-Balochistan province (southeast), the Norway-based NGO added.
“The killings of protesters in Iran, particularly in Zahedan, constitute a crime against humanity,” said IHR Director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam.
“The international community has a duty to investigate and prevent further crimes by the Islamic Republic of Iran,” he said.
During the “Bloody Friday of Zahedan”, the security forces “suppressed with blood” a demonstration that broke out after prayers in the city, the NGO said.
The protest was sparked by allegations that a police chief in the port city of Chabahar, also in Sistan-Balochistan province, raped a 15-year-old girl from the Sunni Baloch minority, IHR said.
The identities of those killed have been confirmed by the regional NGO Baluch Activists Campaign (BAC), the IHR added, adding that at least 133 people have been killed in total during protests in Iran over the past two months.
The protest erupted on September 16, three days after 22-year-old Mahsa Amini was arrested for violating the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code, which requires women to wear a veil.
Reports on social media reported dozens of deaths in Zahedan on Friday, while pictures show overcrowded hospitals and bloodied corpses.
Located on the border with Pakistan, Sistan-Balochistan is one of Iran’s poorest regions and home to the Baloch minority, who predominantly adhere to Sunni Islam and not to Iran’s prevailing Shi’ism.
In recent months, activists have complained about the disproportionate number of Baluch prisoners being executed, while executions in the Islamic Republic have increased.
Iran, for its part, says five members of the Revolutionary Guards, the regime’s ideological army, were killed in Zahedan in what state media described as a “terrorist incident”.