As mass protests entered their fourth week, hackers defaced the main news program of Iran’s state television on Saturday with a message supporting the anti-regime protests.
A news program aired a speech by Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, then abruptly cut to images of young women and girls killed during the protests.
Among the images is a photo of 22-year-old Mahsa Ami, whose death last month while under the watchful eye of Iran’s notorious morality police sparked an angry uprising against the regime.
At the top of the photos is a picture of Khamenei with a cross in the middle of his forehead. Protesters regularly chanted “Death to the dictator” and called for regime change.
The screen also carried the words “The blood of our youth is on your hands” in Farsi and a message urging Iranians to join the protests. Iran International.
A hacker group called “Edalat-e Ali” claimed responsibility for the destruction. Iran International reports that the group accessed the website of Iran’s state broadcaster earlier this year and posted an opposition message on the page.
#BREAKING The hacker group “Edalat-e Ali” hacked the live news broadcast of the Iranian state television and displayed Khamenei’s picture with the verse “The blood of our youth is in your hands” and his pictures. #MahsaAmini and three other girls were killed #IranProtests. pic.twitter.com/dYM7flUBQt
— Iran International English (@IranIntl_En) October 8, 2022
Other hacker groups have played a role in the protests by attacking government websites, leaking documents and tampering with surveillance cameras.
launched in 2017, Iran International It reaches millions of Iranians in Iran and around the world. It is considered an opposition news outlet to the Iranian regime and has made headlines for its coverage of human rights abuses in Iran, LGBTQ+ rights, and women’s rights.
Nationwide protests followed Amin’s death on September 16, three days after he was arrested in Tehran by the notorious morality police for allegedly violating Iran’s strict dress code for women.
Iran said on Friday that an investigation found that Amini died of a long-term illness rather than “blows” to the head, despite his family saying he was previously healthy.
Hot protests continued on SaturdayDespite more than 90 deaths since its inception, schoolgirls chanted slogans, workers went on strike and clashes broke out across the country.
Ultra-conservative Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi called on female students at Tehran’s Al-Zahra University to unite and take pictures with them to put out the flames, but videos and photos posted on social media showed students waving hijabs in front of the university and denouncing Raisi and the regime.
The head of the regime went to an all-female university. Today he will take his mandatory “beginning of the school year” photo with a few people. But right outside, the brave girl students shouted: “It Raisi..We don’t want a murderous guest..The President is in Uni.” while the students are in prison” #MahsaAmini pic.twitter.com/KbOF9Ff3Fb
— Bahman Kalbasi (@BahmanKalbasi) October 8, 2022
In Amin’s hometown of Saghez in the western province of Kurdistan, schoolgirls chanted “Women, life, freedom” and were seen marching down the street with headscarves dangling in videos recorded by the rights group Hengaw on Saturday.
In another video he shared, a group of girls could be heard chanting the same phrase – a protest slogan – as they entered a school in Sanandaj, the capital of Kurdistan province.
Another footage of student protesters in Saqqez.
October 8, 2022#MahsaAmini#مهسا_امينيpic.twitter.com/QRDf8P2crd
— Hengaw Human Rights Organization (@Hengaw_English) October 8, 2022
In another widely shared video, a man was seen changing the words of a large government billboard from “Police are servants of the people” to “Police are murderers of the people.”
The ISNA news agency reported that there were strong security forces in the capital, especially near the universities. It was reported that “some demonstrators destroyed public property” and “scattered and limited gatherings” were held in Tehran.
Street protests were reportedly held in Isfahan, Karaj, Shiraz and Tabriz, among other cities.
The Oslo-based Iranian Human Rights Group says at least 92 protesters have been killed in the crackdown, raising tensions between Iran and the West, particularly the United States.
