Protests have spread rapidly across the country since the death of Mahsa Amini
Authorities arrested a number of former and current footballers of one of Tehran’s top clubs for attending what was described as a “mixed” party on New Year’s Eve, Iranian local media reported.
Iran’s semi-official Tasnim News Agency did not disclose the names of the players or their numbers, but said some of them were in an abnormal state due to alcohol consumption.
The agency said, “Last night (Saturday) a number of current and former players were arrested at one of Tehran’s top football clubs during a co-ed party in Damavand.”
“Some of the players were in an abnormal state due to alcohol consumption,” the agency added.
Iranian law only allows non-Muslims to drink alcohol for religious reasons. The Iranian judiciary also considers parties where unmarried men and women mingle illegal and condemns them as an example of social perversion and corruption.
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Iranian law allows non-Muslims to drink alcohol for religious reasons
Human rights activists condemn such raids by Iranian authorities as a violation of privacy.
support the protests
The Islamic Republic has been rocked by angry protests after the death in custody of 22-year-old Iranian-Kurdish girl Mahsa Amini on September 16 after she was arrested for violating Iran’s strict women’s dress code.
Iranian officials say hundreds of people have been killed in the protests and accompanying violence, including members of the security forces, and thousands have been arrested.
Iranian authorities have acknowledged the deaths of more than 300 people in the protests, but said this number includes a number of security forces and people loyal to the government.
According to the Iranian Organization for Human Rights, at least 448 people have been killed by the security forces as of November 29, including 29 women and 60 children.
A BBC team was able to verify the identities of more than 75 of the dead through great effort and the use of modern forensic techniques.
The team’s research findings confirmed that many of the dead were women and that a large number of the dead were from marginalized ethnic minorities, and it was found that among the dead were children as young as seven years old.
The team also found that some people were killed because of their presence in the wider cycle of violence and unrest that surrounded the protests, rather than because of their direct participation in the demonstrations.
A number of current and former footballers, as well as other athletes and prominent figures, have been detained or questioned by authorities after expressing support for the protests.
State media reported on Sunday that a member of Iran’s security forces was killed during protests in the city of Semirom, more than 100 days after nationwide unrest sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini.
A Basij member was killed
“Armed criminals killed a Basij member in Semirom town,” the official Irna news agency said, referring to paramilitary forces linked to the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The “IRNA” news agency reported that the protesters gathered late Saturday evening in the city, which is located about 470 km south of the capital Tehran and is located in the central province of Isfahan.
The agency added that they gathered in front of the regional administration building and other sites in the city of “Semirom”.
“Security forces have been deployed to impose order in the city and, in some cases, there have been clashes with numerous rioters,” the agency’s report said.
Tehran frequently portrays protesters as troublemakers and accuses hostile foreign powers and opposition groups of fueling the unrest.
image copyright Mohsen Shekari
A human rights activist said Mohsen Shekari’s trial was a “farce without any legal process”.
Last month, Iran executed two men, both aged 23, accused of carrying out attacks on security forces in connection with the protests.
The authorities carried out the first death sentence against Mohsen Shakari on 8 December. He was convicted of “enmity against God” after it emerged that he attacked a member of the “Basij” with a machete in the capital, Tehran.
As for the second death sentence, it was carried out against Majid Reza Rahnward on December 12, after a court convicted him of “enmity towards God” for stabbing to death two members of the Basij forces.
The judiciary also said nine other people were sentenced to death. Human rights activists said this week that dozens of protesters also face charges that could carry the death penalty.
Human rights groups have warned that protesters are being sentenced to death after show trials and forced confessions without due process.
