Tehran Ceremony For Protest Crackdown Victim Violently Dispersed

Iranian security forces have violently dispersed a gathering held at a Tehran cemetery to mark the 40th day since the death of a victim of the brutal state crackdown on nationwide protests.

Hamidreza Rouhi, 19, was shot and killed by security forces on November 17 in Shahr-e ziba, a neighborhood in the western part of the capital.

"Despite the heavy presence of repression agents at Behesht Zahra [cemetery] from the early hours of the morning, a large number of participants managed to gather for this ceremony," a participant told IranWire.

The security forces “started attacking people" when the crowd chanted slogans against the clerical regime such as "death to [Supreme leader Ali] Khamenei."

Iranians have flooded streets across the country demanding more freedoms and women’s rights since the September death of a 22-year-old woman, Mahsa Amini, after she was arrested by morality police for allegedly wearing a hijab "improperly."

The Islamic Republic has responded to the protest movement, the biggest threat to the clerical regime since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, with brutal force that human rights groups say has left nearly 500 people dead.

More than 18,000 people have reportedly been arrested, and at least 100 are currently at risk of execution or facing death penalty charges, according to one human rights group, in addition to two young men hanged earlier this month.