Iran to try more than 1,000 protesters publicly

Iranian authorities said on Monday that they put dissidents on trial in the country’s capital of Tehran. Authorities have announced charges against hundreds of people in other Iranian provinces. Some of those individuals have been accused of “corruption on Earth” and “war against God,” offenses that carry the death penalty in Iran. This marks the first major legal action since protests broke out six weeks ago. Over that time, at least 270 people have been killed and 14,000 arrested, according to the group Human Rights Activists in Iran.

What caused the protests? Rioters took to the streets after the Sept. 16 death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman who died in the custody of Iranian morality police. Iranian officials have repeated claims that foreign enemies have fomented the unrest.

Dig deeper: Read Mindy Belz’s report from the WORLD archives about sudden street protests in Iran in 2018.