A senior commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards has urged the country’s judiciary to mete out harsh sentences to what he described as “mercenaries” involved in protests against a fuel price hike last week, the judiciary’s Mizan news site reported, APA reports quoting Reuters.
“We caught all the mercenaries who openly confessed they were doing mercenary work for America and, God willing, the judicial system of the country will give them maximum punishments,” Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi, a deputy Guards commander, was quoted as saying.
Iran’s clerical rulers have blamed “thugs” linked to exiles and foreign foes - the United States, Israel and Saudi Arabia - for stirring up unrest which has led to some of the worst violence in the country in a decade.
Fadavi said several people were killed during the protests after being shot at with a handgun from a close distance behind themselves, which he said indicated the shooters were among the crowds.
Rights group Amnesty International said in a release earlier this week that security forces shot into crowds of protesters from rooftops and, in one case, from a helicopter.
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