Security forces prevent Ms. Gohar Eshghi from leaving her house on January 1, 2018. Ms. Eshghi was wearing a white shroud and intended to join the protests in Tehran.
Ms. Eshghi’s son, Sattar Beheshti, was a dissident web logger and a worker who was arrested by FATA Police (policing internet users) at home on October 30, 2012. He died four days later on November 3, 2012, due to vicious tortures under interrogation.
Video clips from Tehran and other cities indicate women’s prominent presence in demonstrations and even in confrontations with security forces. In many scenes, women have a leading role and protesters chant after them.
Women are also active in reporting on the protests and recording the scenes.
Despite massive repression, the uprising has spread to over 50 cities across Iran.
At least 1000 demonstrators have been arrested in various cities and at least 12 have been shot dead by the state security forces on Saturday and Sunday, December 30 and 31, in the cities of Doroud (Ilam Province, western Iran), Tuyserkan and Hamedan (Hamedan Province, western Iran), Izeh (Khuzistan Province, southwestern Iran), and Shahinshahr (Isfahan Province, central Iran).