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The U.N. human rights office voiced deep concern on Tuesday at the Iranian security forces’ use of live ammunition and killing of protesters in Iran and urged authorities to rein in its use of force to disperse protests sparked by a hike in fuel prices.

“We are deeply concerned by reported violations of international norms and standards on the use of force, including the firing of live ammunition, against demonstrators in Iran”, Mr. Colville said. “It would suggest that it is not simply the immediate trigger to the protest, which was a rise in fuel prices, but…much deeper-seated problems persisting in the country.”

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei backed gasoline price increases today, calling the protesters “hooligans.” He openly ordered for a decisive crackdown on the protesters and instructed the security forces to act in line of their “duties.”

Khamenei also blamed opponents of the Iranian regime and foreign enemies for “sabotage,” state television reported.

He described those setting fire to public property during the protests as “bandits” backed by the enemies of Iran, without elaborating.

“Some people are no doubt worried by this decision … but sabotage and arson is done by hooligans not our people. The counter-revolution and Iran’s enemies have always supported sabotage and breaches of security and continue to do so,” he said, according to state TV.
Khamenei said the increase in gasoline prices was based on expert opinion and should be implemented, but he called on officials to prevent hikes in prices of other goods.

Iran’s security forces have shot dead at least eight protesters and wounded over a dozen more as protests erupted across the country over a hike in gasoline prices.

On Friday evening, the state security forces opened fire on a demonstration in Sirjan (south-central Iran), killing at least one protester and wounding many protesters. Ruhollah Nazari Fath abad was shot in the head at the Naft (Oil) Square, outside the city’s oil depot and instantly died, reports indicate.

The governor of the city of Sirjan, 800 kilometers southeast of the capital, Tehran, said on November 16 that the demonstrator was killed under unclear circumstances and that several others were injured.

Officials in the northern city of Kelardasht in Mazandaran Province say 13 young men and women were arrested Thursday in a “mixed-gender night party”, according to the state-run Fars news agency.

Fars known to be affiliated to the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) said six women and seven men were arrested in a night party where alcohol was being served but didn’t provide further details on those arrested.

Drinking alcohol and attending parties of unrelated men and women is illegal in Iran.

The regime does not recognize or respect Iranian’s right to privacy and mobilizes all its forces to crack down on civil liberties.

Hundreds of people have been detained in private mixed gender parties over the past year. 

In late October, the Iranian authorities arrested 15 men and women at a mixed-gender party at the Iranian island of Qeshm.

An Iranian official admitted that the authorities have executed 15,000 people on drug related charges since the mullahs rose to power after the 1979 revolution.

Jalil Mohebbi, the secretary of the staff to Promote Virtue and Prevent Vice announced the data in a session attended by the head of the regime’s Judiciary.

According to the state-run Fars news agency affiliated with the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), the spokesman of the judiciary, Parviz Esmaeili, when asked, dismissed the data saying these statistics are not accurate and cannot be published.

Political prisoner Hassan Sadeghi has been denied visiting his wife who is also a political prisoner.

The visit was cancelled because Hassan Sadeqhi, detained in Rajai Shahr Prison in Karaj did not accept to wear the prison uniform with cuffs on his hands and shackle on his feet for the visit.

Amin Vaziri, the judicial representative in Rajai Shahr Prison, in Karaj, cancelled the visit, which was the first after several months.

Vaziri knows that political prisoners will resist, so he has made it obligatory for prisoners to have hand and feet cuffs and wear a uniform.

A new book “Crime Against Humanity” by the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI, Mujahedin-e Khalq or MEK), unveiled at the European Parliament on Wednesday, lists the names of more than 5,000 people out of 30,000 political prisoners who were executed in Iran during the 1988 massacre.
The book also details the findings of 35 commissions looking into the atrocities and lists the locations of three dozen mass graves in Iran, The Washington Times reported on 24 October, 2019.

The book compiles addresses of many of the secret graves and the names of 35 death commissions involved in this horrendous slaughter, the majority of whose members are now among key officials of the clerical regime. #1988Massacre

Through a vast social campaign, Iraqis have called for the boycott of Iran-made commodities on the Iraqi market.

A hash tag # “let it rot” is circulating on social media through which Iraqis call for a boycott of anything under the ‘made in Iran’ brand.
Iraqi activists have tweeted that the campaign aims at economic sanctioning of Tehran and applying economic pressure in the hope of reining in the latter’s intervention in Iraq.

Kurdish political prisoner Zeinab Jalalian who has been imprisoned for nearly 12 years, continues to be denied specialist medical treatment despite suffering from serious health issues, according to her father Ali Jalalian.

Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) has not allowed a short furlough on medical grounds to Zeinab Jalalian, despite her family’s depositing of a bail bond.

Media have cited Ali Jalalian as saying that she is suffering from intestinal complications and heart problems. Jalalian family deposited one billion tomans for her bail bond despite difficulties but the MOIS is handling the case of Zeinab Jalalian and refuses to accept the bail.

Mr. Jalalian said his daughter has been in jail for 12 years and their inquiries to get her released temporarily for medical treatment have gotten nowhere. Even in recent weeks, when Zeinab Jalalian’s brother passed away, they did not allow her to attend his funeral.