THERAN: The death of Mahsa Amini in Iran's Sistan-Baluchestan province on Friday triggered nationwide protests, which were also joined by women dressed in black.

One of the main slogans of the protest movement that began in mid-September was displayed on banners held by dozens of women as they marched through the streets of the provincial capital Zahedan in videos online.

In videos shared on Twitter, women wearing body-covering chadors chant, "Forward to the revolution, with or without the hijab." Since Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian of Kurdish descent, died in Tehran after being detained for allegedly violating the country's dress code, women-led protests have rocked the country.

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Security forces have killed at least 448 protesters, according to Iran Human Rights, a non-governmental organization with its office in Oslo, with most of the deaths occurring in Sistan-Baluchistan, which shares Iran's southeastern border with Afghanistan and Pakistan. is on Huh.

IHR director Mahmoud Amiri-Moghaddam described the demonstrations by women in Zahedan, where for more than two months men have demonstrated in the streets after Friday prayers, as "this is really rare."

He declared, "The ongoing demonstrations in Iran are the beginning of a revolution of dignity." Women and minorities, who have been treated as second-class citizens for more than 40 years, are empowered by these protests to take to the streets and demand their basic human rights.

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According to Amiri-Moghaddam, Baluchi women were "the most oppressed" in Iran, and their protest was the best organized since the nationwide protests began.

Activists posted videos of several men returning to the streets on Friday, saying "we don't want a government that kills children." In a video released by IHR, security personnel can be seen firing bird shots and using tear gas at male protesters in Taftan, Sistan-Baluchistan.

A well-known Sunni cleric argued that protesters should not be subject to the death penalty. Mlawi Abdulhamid, a prominent Sunni critic in the Shiite-ruled nation, argued that the hardline judiciary was wrong to charge the protesters with "mohrebeh", which is punishable by death and means "waging war against God."

According to Foreign Minister Melanie Jolie, Canada has imposed additional sanctions against Iran because of its denial of rights to women and girls and its crackdown on peaceful demonstrations.

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The most recent sanctions target five entities and four individuals who, according to Ottawa, are involved in Iran's "systematic human rights violations" and other activities that "threaten international peace and security."

Canada, she continued, "will not watch helplessly as the regime's human rights abuses against the Iranian people increase in scope and severity."