Iran protesters call for strike, top legal cleric says morality police shut down - Reuters

DUBAI, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Protesters successful Iran called connected Sunday for a three-day onslaught this week, stepping up unit connected authorities aft the nationalist authoritative said the morality constabulary whose detention of a young pistillate triggered months of protests had been unopen down.

There was nary confirmation of the closure from the Interior Ministry which is successful complaint of the morality police, and Iranian authorities media said Public Prosecutor Mohammad Jafar Montazeri was not liable for overseeing the force.

Top Iranian officials person repeatedly said Tehran would not alteration the Islamic Republic's mandatory hijab policy, which requires women to formal modestly and deterioration headscarves, contempt 11 weeks of protests against strict Islamic regulations.

Hundreds of radical person been killed successful the unrest which erupted successful September aft the decease successful custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian pistillate who was detained by the morality constabulary for flouting the hijab rules.

Protesters seeking to support their situation to Iran's clerical rulers person called for a three-day economical onslaught and a rally to Tehran's Azadi (Freedom) Square connected Wednesday, according to idiosyncratic posts shared connected Twitter by accounts unverified by Reuters.

President Ebrahim Raisi is owed to code students successful Tehran connected the aforesaid time to people Student Day successful Iran.

Similar calls for onslaught enactment and wide mobilisation person successful past weeks resulted successful an escalation successful the unrest which has swept the state - immoderate of the biggest anti-government protests since Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution.

The activistic HRANA quality bureau said 470 protesters had been killed arsenic of Saturday, including 64 minors. It said 18,210 demonstrators were arrested and 61 members of the information forces were killed.

Iran's Interior Ministry authorities information assembly said connected Saturday the decease toll was 200, according to the judiciary's quality bureau Mizan.

Residents posting connected societal media and newspapers specified arsenic Shargh regular accidental determination person been less sightings of the morality constabulary connected the streets successful caller weeks arsenic authorities seemingly effort to debar provoking much protests.

On Saturday, Montazeri was cited by the semi-official Iranian Labour News Agency arsenic saying that the morality constabulary had been disbanded.

"The aforesaid authorization which has established this constabulary has unopen it down," helium was quoted arsenic saying. He said the morality constabulary was not nether the judiciary's authority, which "continues to show behavioural actions astatine the assemblage level."

Al Alam authorities tv said overseas media were depicting his comments arsenic "a retreat connected the portion of the Islamic Republic from its stance connected hijab and spiritual morality arsenic a effect of the protests", but that each that could beryllium understood from his comments was that the morality constabulary were not straight related to the judiciary.

EXECUTIONS

State media said 4 men convicted of cooperating with Israel's spy bureau Mossad were executed connected Sunday.

They had been arrested successful June - earlier the existent unrest sweeping the state - pursuing practice betwixt the Ministry of Intelligence and the Revolutionary Guards, Tasnim quality bureau reported.

The Islamic Republic has agelong accused arch-enemy Israel of carrying retired covert operations connected its soil. Tehran has precocious accused Israeli and Western quality services of plotting a civilian warfare successful Iran.

The premier minister's bureau successful Israel, which oversees Mossad, declined to comment.

Iranian authorities media reported connected Wednesday that the country's Supreme Court had upheld the death sentence handed retired to the 4 men "for the transgression of cooperating with the quality services of the Zionist authorities and for kidnapping".

Three different radical were handed situation sentences of betwixt 5 and 10 years aft being convicted of crimes that included acting against nationalist security, aiding successful kidnapping and possessing amerciable weapons, the Mehr quality bureau said.

Reporting by Dubai Newsroom Editing by Dominic Evans, Raissa Kasolowsky, William Maclean and Susan Fenton

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