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Iran’s intelligence ministry said it had arrested nine foreigners as a result of the anti-hijab protests that swept the country recently.
Those arrested included citizens of Germany, Poland, Italy, France, the Netherlands and Sweden, the ministry said in a statement issued by state-run news agency IRNA.
Mahsa Amini’s death in custody sparked outrage at Iran’s ruling cleric.
Her family said they were told she was beaten to death in custody. Police said the 22-year-old woman died of a heart attack and denied abusing her, and Iranian officials said her death was under investigation.
Iran claims the daily protests that have engulfed the country over the past two weeks were instigated by foreigners.
Protesters have denied the claims, describing their actions as spontaneous uprisings against the country’s strict dress code, including the mandatory hijab for women in public.
A statement from the intelligence ministry came after Amnesty International said leaked government documents showed Iran had ordered its security forces to “severely crack down” on anti-government demonstrations.
The rights group said security forces have killed at least 52 people, including firing live ammunition into crowds and beating protesters with batons, since protests began nearly two weeks ago over the death of a woman detained by ethics police.
It said security forces also beat and groped female protesters who took off their headscarves to protest the treatment of women in Iran’s theocracy.
The Islamic Republic of Iran News Agency reported that violence broke out again in the city of Zahedan, near the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. It said the gunman opened fire at the police station and threw Molotov cocktails at officers, sparking a fight with police.
It said police and passersby were injured, but did not say whether the violence was linked to anti-government protests. The area has seen previous attacks on security forces claimed by armed and separatist groups.
Video circulating on social media showed gunfire and a police car on fire. Others showed the crowd chanting against the government. Video from elsewhere in Iran showed protests in Ahwaz in the southwest and Ardabil in the northwest.
Amnesty International said it obtained a leaked copy of an official document that said the armed forces commander-in-chief on September 21 ordered commanders “to crack down on rioters and counter-revolutionaries”.
Human rights groups said at least 34 people were killed in the escalation of lethal force later in the night.
It said another leaked document showed that two days later, the Mazandaran commander ordered the security forces to “relentlessly confront and even cause any disturbance, even death, by rioters and counter-revolutionaries,” referring to those who opposed Iran in 1979. The Islamic Revolution brought clerics to power.
“Iranian authorities willfully harm or kill those who have taken to the streets to express their outrage at decades of repression and injustice,” said Agnes Callamard, Amnesty International’s secretary general.
“Amid Iran’s long-running systemic impunity, dozens of men, women, and children have been unlawfully killed in the latest bout of bloodshed.”
Amnesty International did not say how it obtained the documents.
Iranian state television reported that at least 41 protesters and police have been killed since the demonstrations began on September 17. At least 14 people were killed and more than 1,500 demonstrators were arrested, according to an Associated Press tally of official statements by authorities.
At least 28 journalists have been arrested, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday.
Iranian authorities have severely restricted internet access and prevented protesters from using Instagram and WhatsApp to organize and share information.
That makes it difficult to gauge the extent of the protests, especially outside the capital, Tehran. Iranian media reports on demonstrations only occasionally.
Iranians have long used virtual private networks and proxies to bypass government internet restrictions. Iranian amateur singer Shervin Hajipour recently posted a song on Instagram based on tweets about Ms. Amini, which garnered more than 40 million views in less than 48 hours before it was taken down.
The NGO Iranian Human Rights said Hajipur had reportedly been arrested.
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