Paris: Hundreds of people took to the streets in Iran's tense southeast on Friday, according to videos shared by human rights organisations, marking a fourth month of demonstrations that began with the death of Mahsa Amini.

Since the death in custody on September 16 of Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd who was detained for allegedly breaking the country's strict dress code for women, the Islamic republic has experienced waves of protests.

Protesters chanting "death to the dictator" targeted Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in the Sistan-Baluchistan provincial capital Zahedan, according to a video posted by Oslo-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) and confirmed by AFP.

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Other images from Zahedan showed a crowd of men holding anti-regime posters and marching down a street chanting similar words.

Prior to the widespread protests, Sistan-Baluchistan, along Iran's southern border with Afghanistan and Pakistan, had been the scene of violent clashes that often ended in death.

Baluchi Muslims, who follow Sunni Islam rather than the dominant Shia branch in Iran, have long complained of discrimination in the province.

In Zahedan, which has seen weekly protests since security forces killed more than 90 people on September 30, known as "Bloody Friday", hundreds gathered after Friday prayers, US-based rights groups According to HRANA.

The alleged rape of a 15-year-old girl by a police commander in the province's port city of Chabahar served as a catalyst for that violence.

Analysts claim that the protests that erupted in response to Amini's death, which were initially motivated by women's rights but later broadened to include other grievances, served as an impetus for the Balochis.

Last week in Khash, Sistan-Baluchistan, a cleric was abducted from his mosque and killed.
The killers of cleric Abdulwahed Rigi were caught according to Zahedan's chief prosecutor, who also accused them of trying to incite conflict between Sunnis and Shiites.

According to a toll released on 7 December by the Norway-based IHR, Amini's death saw largely peaceful protests met with a crackdown by Iranian security forces, resulting in the deaths of at least 458 protesters.

On 3 December, Iran's top security body, the Supreme National Security Council, reported that more than 200 people, including security personnel, had been killed in the unrest.
According to the United Nations, Iran's security forces have detained at least 14,000 people.

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According to Iran's judiciary, 11 people have been executed in connection with the protests.

Iran hanged Majidreza Rahnward on Monday and Mohsen Shekhri on 8 December. They were both 23 years old.
As has become customary in the Islamic Republic in recent years, Rahnavar was executed rather than imprisoned.

Amnesty International, a London-based rights organisation, claimed on Friday that at least 26 people are at risk of execution as a result of protests in Iran, which is already the world's second most common user of capital punishment. after china.

The protests drew international condemnation, sanctions and Iran's removal from the United Nations body promoting women's rights.

There have also been demonstrations of solidarity around the world, and on Friday, a group of Iranians in Germany who had been camping outside their consulate in Frankfurt entered the final day of their hunger strike.

The EU banned Ahmed Khatami over what he called "repression against protesters", and the ultra-Orthodox cleric retaliated by criticizing the EU.
Khatami was punished for allegedly inciting violence against protesters and demanding the death penalty.

The cleric claimed the European Union had a "black" human rights record during a Friday sermon in Tehran, according to state news agency IRNA.
According to Khatami, the European Union "tops the list of human rights violators."

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On Thursday, the EU's actions were described by the Iranian Foreign Ministry as "unacceptable and baseless".