Ashura – Iran Protests

Nine people are now dead from protests today in Iran:

The Shia mourning ceremony of Ashura became the setting for all-out confrontation between Iran‘s torn political factions when the government unleashed a furious crackdown on pro-opposition protesters that included orders to open fire.

In the most violent clashes since the aftermath of last June’s disputed presidential election, security forces fired on demonstrators who had gathered in their thousands in some of Tehran’s main thoroughfares. Riot police and plainclothed agents attacked people with batons and iron rods, aiming for the head to exact maximum damage, said witnesses.

Ali Mousavi Khamane, a nephew of the reformist opposition leader, Mir Hossein Mousavi, was killed after being shot through the heart in the city’s Enghelab Square. The 35-year-old’s death could provide the opposition with a fresh rallying point by turning him into a martyr in its struggle against the regime.

Earlier, an elderly man had been killed after being shot through the forehead at Valiasr crossroads.

The crackdown was triggered by the opposition Green Movement’s decision to use Ashura – which commemorates the death of Imam Hossein, the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson, at Karbala in 680 – as a day of protest. The movement has been forced to limit its demonstrations to state-sanctioned occasions in recent months in the face of a fierce government crackdown.

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