The Iranian authorities restricted access to the global internet this Thursday without allowing connections or services from outside the country, in an apparent attempt to control the protests that have shaken Iran for 12 days.
The NetBlocks platform, which monitors internet traffic and censorship, noted in
Thus, from early in the afternoon it was no longer possible to connect to pages outside of Iran, and the VPNs (virtual private network) that are commonly used to access applications blocked in the country, such as WhatsApp or Telegram, did not work.
12 days of protests: why there are mobilizations in Iran
The internet blockade came on the twelfth day of protests that started due to the bad economic situation that Iran is going through, but that have gradually acquired a political tone and have already spread to 111 cities in the country. In the northern area of Tehran, the capital of Iran and where protests broke out on December 28, shops and cafes were closed on Thursday afternoon, and there were hardly any pedestrians on the streets, in contrast to the large presence of motorized and riot police.
With the streets empty, the protests around 8:00 p.m. local time (16:30 GMT) moved to the windows of houses, from where slogans such as “Death to Khamenei”, “Death to the Islamic Republic” or “This is the last battle, Pahlavi will return” were shouted.
Protests broke out on December 28 in Tehran, initially driven by merchants and economic sectors affected by the deteriorating economic situation, the collapse of the rial and high inflation.
Iran is going through a deep economic crisis, with a annual inflation higher than 42% and a point-to-point inflation that in December exceeded 52% compared to the same month of the previous year, marked by the severe sanctions of the United States and the UN against the country for its nuclear program. Since the 28th, the Iranian Government has been announcing modest economic aid that has not managed to stop the protests, nor have the authorities’ threats towards protesters.
At least 45 protesters, including eight children, have been killed and hundreds more injured in the first twelve days of protests, the Oslo-based NGO Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO) reported this Thursday.
The complaint of humanitarian organizations: “There is a deadly pattern”
Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have denounced this Thursday a “deadly pattern” of the security forces in Iran and have asked the Supreme National Security Council to order agents to stop the “illegal use” of force to break up the demonstrations that have been taking place for days in the main cities of the Central Asian country against the deterioration of the economy.
“People in Iran who dare to express their anger at decades of repression and demand fundamental change are once again facing a deadly pattern of security forces illegally shooting, chasing, detaining and beating protesters in scenes reminiscent of the Women, Life, Freedom uprising of 2022,” lamented Amnesty International’s deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa, Diana Eltahawy, alluding to the protests that shook the country after the death in custody of the young Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini.
Eltahawy has asked Iran’s highest security body to “immediately order the security forces to put an end to the illegal use of force and firearms” in demonstrations that have resulted in at least 28 deaths, including minors, although other NGOs and Human Rights organizations have recorded a higher death toll.
The deputy director of HRW for the region, Michael Page, has also expressed himself in these terms, also denouncing “the systematic impunity of members of the security forces who commit serious violations”, which “indicates that the use of such weapons to repress protests continues to be entrenched as state policy.”
Both organizations have targeted both the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Iranian Police, whose officers have “illegally used rifles, shotguns loaded with metal pellets, water cannons, tear gas and beatings to disperse, intimidate and punish mostly peaceful protesters.”
Coercion of detainees to confess crimes
In addition, they have denounced that the authorities are coercing detainees to confess crimes such as “causing riots”, for which they have requested the “immediate and unconditional” release of all those detained “solely for peacefully participating in demonstrations or expressing support for them” and have recalled that all those in custody “must be protected against torture and other ill-treatment.”
The public complaint comes after having interviewed 26 people, including protesters, eyewitnesses, human rights defenders and journalists, as well as a health professional. Likewise, they have indicated in a joint statement, they have reviewed “official statements and analyzed dozens of verified videos, published on the Internet or shared with organizations.”
The fall in the purchasing power of millions of Iranian citizens – with historic falls in the value of the national currency, the rial – is at the origin of the protests, which also occur in the midst of the increase in sanctions from the United States, which, together with Israel, has once again targeted its nuclear program, including bombings such as those last June, which killed about a thousand people.
