GENEVA: Iranian protesters chanted political slogans under the eye of security forces during a memorial on Thursday for a man killed in demonstrations last month, videos on social media showed.
The images, which could not be verified by Reuters, showed one woman shouting "Death to the dictator" as people around her ran in the cemetery in the city of Karaj. Other videos showed a helicopter flying nearby and security forces around the cemetery.
Social media postings said some protesters were arrested at the ceremony for 27-year-old Pouya Bakhtiari but Reuters could not confirm that. Ceremonies also took place in a handful of other cities to honour those killed in recent protests, videos showed.
Demonstrations against a hike in fuel prices turned political last month, sparking the bloodiest crackdown in the 40-year history of the Islamic Republic.
About 1,500 people were killed during less than two weeks of unrest, three Iranian interior ministry officials told Reuters, though international rights groups put the figure much lower and Iran called the report "fake news."
Bakhtiari’s parents were arrested on Monday after refusing to call off the ceremony at the cemetery where he was buried, according to the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI), a New York-based advocacy group. Bakhtiari died of a bullet wound to the head in Karaj on Nov. 16, it said.
In a report on Tuesday, the semi-official Mehr news agency noted that Bakhtiari had been “killed in a suspicious way”.
Iranian authorities had been on high alert for potential protests on Thursday and restricted mobile internet access in several provinces, an Iranian news agency reported on Wednesday.
Police chief Hossein Rahimi said there were no security incidents in Tehran on Thursday, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency.
Iran has blamed "thugs" linked to exiles and foreign foes - the United States, Israel and Saudi Arabia - for stirring up unrest through social media.
Turmoil at memorial for man killed in Iran protests
https://arab.news/w3cwe
Turmoil at memorial for man killed in Iran protests
- The images showed one woman shouting "Death to the dictator"
- Other videos showed a helicopter flying nearby and security forces around the cemetery
US Justice Department official eyes cases against Cuba leaders as Trump floats ‘friendly takeover’
- “Working group” formed to build cases against people connected to the Cuban government
- Trump’s has increasingly displayed aggressive stance against Cuba’s communist leadership
MIAMI: The top Justice Department prosecutor in Miami is considering criminal investigations of Cuban government officials, according to people familiar with the matter. The inquiry comes as President Donald Trump has raised the possibility of a “friendly takeover” of the communist-run island.
Jason Reding Quiñones, the US attorney for the Southern District of Florida, has created a “working group” that includes federal prosecutors and officials from the Drug Enforcement Administration and other agencies to try to build cases against people connected to the Cuban government and its Communist Party, according to one of the people. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the effort.
It was not immediately clear which Cuban officials the office is targeting or what criminal charges prosecutors may be looking to bring.
The Justice Department said in a statement Friday that “federal prosecutors from across the country work every day to pursue justice, which includes efforts to combat transnational crime.”
The effort is taking place against the backdrop of Trump’s increasingly aggressive stance against Cuba’s communist leadership.
Emboldened by the US capture of Cuba’s close ally, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, Trump last month said his administration was in high-level talks with officials in Havana to pursue “a friendly takeover” of the country. He repeated those claims this week, saying his attention would turn back to Cuba once the war with Iran winds down.
“They want to make a deal so bad,” Trump said of Cuba’s leadership.
While Cuba has faded from Washington’s radar as a major national security threat in recent decades, it remains a priority in the US Attorney’s office in Miami, whose political, economic and cultural life is dominated by Cuban-American exiles.
The FBI field office has a dedicated Cuba group that in 2024 was instrumental in the arrest of former US Ambassador Victor Manuel Rocha on charges of serving as a secret agent of Cuba stretching back to the 1970s.
In recent weeks, several Miami Republicans, in addition to Florida Sen. Rick Scott, have called on the Trump administration to reopen its criminal investigation into the 1996 shootdown of four planes operated by anti-communist exiles.
In a letter to Trump on Feb. 13, lawmakers including Reps. Maria Elvira Salazar and Carlos Gimenez highlighted decades-old news reports indicating that former President Raúl Castro — the head of Cuba’s military at the time — gave the order to shoot down the unarmed Cessna aircraft.
“We believe unequivocally that Raúl Castro is responsible for this heinous crime,” lawmakers wrote. “It is time for him to be brought to justice.”
While no indictment against Castro has been announced, Florida’s attorney general said this week that he would open a state-level investigation into the crime.
The Trump administration has also accused Cuba of not cooperating with American counterterrorism efforts, adding it alongside North Korea and Iran to a select few nations the US considers state sponsors of terrorism.
The designation stems from Cuba’s harboring of US fugitives and its refusal to extradite several Colombian rebel leaders while they were engaged in peace talks with the South American nation.
