Iranian Prez: Will pursue crackdown on protesters

DUBAI, December 9

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi vowed on Friday to press on with a security crackdown on protesters a day after the execution of a man over recent anti-government unrest that drew a chorus of Western condemnation.

Nationwide protests that erupted after the death in police custody of 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman Mahsa Amini on September 16 pose one of the biggest challenges to theocratic rule in Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. "The identification, trial and punishment of the perpetrators of the martyrdom (killing) of security forces will be pursued with determination," Raisi said. — Reuters