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Iran's supreme leader has praised paramilitary volunteers tasked with quashing dissent as eye doctors warn a rising number of demonstrators have been blinded by security forces during anti-government protests.
Key points:
- Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has praised the Basij for their "sacrifice"
- Eye doctors say a rising number of people are presenting with severe eye injuries
- Protesters in London have shaved their heads in support of Iranian women's rights
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei addressed members of the Basij — the volunteer paramilitary wing of the Revolutionary Guard — and reiterated claims protesters demonstrating countrywide were "tools" of the US and its "mercenaries".
"[The] Basij should not forget that the main clash is with global hegemony," the Ayatollah said.
His address — marking Basij week in Iran — echoed previous statements lambasting the protests as a foreign plot to destabilise Iran.
The Ayatollah said the forces "sacrificed themselves in order to save people from a bunch of rioters and mercenaries".
"They sacrificed themselves in order to confront oppression."
The Basij have taken a leading role in clamping down on demonstrations that began on September 17, ignited by the death of Mahsa Amini in the custody of Iran's morality police.
Her death has sparked months of protests in one of the greatest challenges to Iran's theocracy since the years after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Protests continued on Saturday at some universities in the capital, Tehran, and in other cities, according to social media.
Because of a severe, country-wide crackdown by Iranian security forces, demonstrations have become more scattered.
The activist news agency HRANA said that, as of Friday, 448 protesters had been killed, including 63 children. It said 57 members of the security forces have also been killed, and an estimated 18,170 people arrested.
Authorities have not provided a death toll for protesters, but a senior official said 50 police had been killed in the unrest.
Rising concerns for eye injuries
In a letter, 140 eye care specialists raised concerns about a rising number of patients with severe eye injuries resulting from being shot with metal pellets and rubber bullets, according to Iranian news site Sobhema.
"Unfortunately, in many cases, the hit caused the loss of sight in one or both eyes," the letter, addressed to the head of the country's ophthalmologists association, said.
The doctors requested the head of Iran's Ophthalmology Association pass on their concerns to the relevant authorities.
It was the second letter from eye doctors expressing concerns, a previous letter was signed by more than 200 ophthalmologists.
Last week, videos circulated on social media of law student Ghazal Ranjkesh in the southern city of Banda Abbas who lost an eye after being shot with a metal pellet on her way home from work.
Londoners shave heads
Meanwhile, in London, several dozens of activists on Saturday, local time, shaved their heads or cut off their hair in Piccadilly Circus in support of women's rights in Iran.
One protester, artist Victoria Guggenheim, shaved her head completely to the chants of "Woman, Life, Liberty" of the assembled crowd, swelled by Saturday evening shoppers and tourists.
The activists also performed a version translated into Farsi of "A rapist is in your path", a Chilean song that has become one of the anthems of the feminist movement.
Amini, a 22-year-old woman, died while in the custody of Iran’s morality police, igniting a wave of protests.
Her father has blamed the police for her death, but an Iranian coroner’s report said she died from multiple organ failure, not violence.
AP/Reuters