Funerals for young Iranians, including a small boy, whose families say were killed in a state crackdown, sparked a fresh wave of anti-government protests across the country. Iran’s leadership is facing its biggest challenge in two months of protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini. The authorities have responded with a crackdown that a human rights group says has left 342 people dead, six protesters already sentenced to death and thousands more arrested. The turbulence comes with intense attention on the response of Iran’s team at the football World Cup in Qatar, which is due to play its first match against England on Monday.

Scores flocked to the south-western city of Izeh for the funeral of Kian Pirfalak, aged nine. His mother told the funeral ceremony that Kian was shot on Wednesday by the security forces, although Iranian officials have insisted he was killed in a “terrorist” attack. “Hear it from me myself on how the shooting happened, so they can’t say it was by terrorists, because they’re lying,” his mother told the funeral, according to a video posted by the 1500 tasvir monitor. “Maybe they thought we wanted to shoot or something and they peppered the car with bullets.

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-INP