Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Sep. 03 The Islamic Revolutionary Prosecutor in the western province of West Azerbaijan said 48 Kurds have been indicted for taking part in recent anti-government demonstrations and clashes, state-run dailies reported on Saturday. Iran Focus
Tehran, Iran, Sep. 03 The Islamic Revolutionary Prosecutor in the western province of West Azerbaijan said 48 Kurds have been indicted for taking part in recent anti-government demonstrations and clashes, state-run dailies reported on Saturday.
The prosecutor, Muslim cleric Hojjatoleslam Akbar Feiz, said that of 50 Kurdish demonstrators that have been arrested in the province during the clashes 48 had been indicted.
Feiz said that in all 190 Kurds had been arrested for taking part in the violence in West Azerbaijan, but opposition groups claim that the figure is considerably higher.
West Azerbaijan has a sizeable Kurdish population and, together with neighbouring Kurdistan Province, has been the site of daily protests and unrest against the ruling theocracy.
Feiz also said that 120 agents of the State Security Forces have been killed in clashes in the province since March 2005, and 62 others have been injured.
The prosecutor said all judges in the province had been armed with handguns to defend themselves.
The head of the Tehran Criminal Court on Sunday announced that all judges in the country would be allowed to carry arms and shoot at will anyone whom they feel threatened by.
Unrest in Kurdish towns erupted in July, after paramilitary policemen shot and tortured to death a young Kurd.
