Iran sets up special courts for Mahsa Amin protesters after thousands of arrests, rejects Western criticism
- Government describes all the demonstrators as mercenaries in the pay of foreign agents, and observers believe lengthy sentences will be imposed
- Protesters have taken to the streets across the country over the past nine days following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amin in police custody
Iran on Monday rejected criticism from the European Union for its response to violent street protests over the death of a 22-year-old Kurdish woman detained for infringing the country’s strict dress code.
“This is intervention in the internal affairs of Iran and support for the rioters,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said.
The case of the detained woman, Mahsa Amini, was under investigation, but the EU and other Western countries were ignoring this fact and offering support to troublemakers who were jeopardising Iran’s security, he said.
Protesters have taken to the streets in cities across the country over the past nine days following Amini’s death. The authorities have imposed a wide-ranging internet blackout to prevent the protesters from communicating with each other.
She was detained by the country’s morality police and declared dead under unexplained circumstances on September 16.
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Security vehicles torched in Iran amid growing protests over woman's death in ‘morality police’ cust
Special courts are to be set up to try the demonstrators, the head of Tehran justice department, Ali Alghasi Mehr, said on Monday, according to a report by the Tasnim news agency.