Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its militia’s violent crackdown against protestors has been intense in many cities. It has recently escalated in the country’s Kurdish areas, known as Rojhilat in Kurdish.
Iranian security forces have killed at least 18 Kurdish protesters and wounded dozens more during Wednesday and Thursday’s protests in the Kurdish cities, Roj News reported.
More than 30 cities across Iran witnessed mass demonstrations on Wednesday night. According to France-based Kurdistan Human Rights, during Wednesday’s protests in Kurdish-majority regions, at least six young Kurdish men named Zanyar Muradi, Essa Bilgery, Fuad Muhamedi, Burhan Karami, Salar Mujawir and child Danial Pabandi were killed due to direct fire by the Iranian security forces.
Dramatic footage released on the Kurdistan Human Rights Twitter account showed the moment a bullet hit Borhan Karamai and killed him instantly during the protest in the town of Kamyaran.
The widespread protest continued on 17 November across Iran, including the cities of Sanandaj (Sine), Zarghan, Bukan (Bokan), Saqqez (Seqiz), Zahedan, Shiraz, Divandere, Kermanshah (Kirmashan), Dehgolan, Ilam, Mahabad (Mehabad) and Ravanasar.
The Iranian forces intensified their violent crackdown against protestors in the Kurdish-majority cities, killing 12 on Thursday night, according to Roj News.
A nine-year-old boy named Kian Pirfalak was one of the civilians killed on Thursday by Iranian forces, activists and journalist Pouria Zeraati published on his Twitter account.
At least 342 people, including 43 children, have been killed by security forces since the protests erupted on 16 September in response to the death of 22-year-old Kurdish woman Jîna Mahsa Amini, according to Iran Human Rights. Five protesters were sentenced to death this week for participating in the protests.