\u2022 Judiciary orders no leniency against \u2018rioters\u2019 amid unrest
\n\u2022 Trump vows Tehran will \u2018get hit very hard\u2019 if it kills more citizens
\n\u2022 12 dead as protests expand to 45 cities; intelligence officers seize weapons cache<\/p>\n
PARIS: Iran refused on Monday to offer \u201crioters\u201d leniency while defending citizens\u2019 right to demonstrate, a defiant stance taken after US President Donald Trump warned Tehran would \u201cget hit very hard\u201d if authorities killed more demonstrators amid deadly unrest.<\/p>\n
Judiciary Chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei ordered officials to take a hard line against those causing instability as protests, which erupted over economic stagnation, expanded to include political demands.<\/p>\n
\u201cI instruct the attorney general and prosecutors across the country to act in accordance with the law and with resolve against the rioters and those who support them\u2026 and to show no leniency or indulgence,\u201d Mohseni Ejei said, according to the judiciary\u2019s Mizan news agency.<\/p>\n
He added that Iran \u201clistens to the protesters and their criticism, and distinguishes between them and rioters\u201d.<\/p>\n
Demonstrations have taken place in 23 of Iran\u2019s 31 provinces, affecting at least 45 different cities to varying degrees.<\/p>\n
The unrest has been concentrated in the west and consists mostly of small or medium-sized gatherings, according to an AFP tally based on official statements and media reports.<\/p>\n
At least 12 people, including members of the security forces, have been killed in localised clashes since Dec 30, officials announced.<\/p>\n
Since the protests began on Dec 28 \u2014 sparked when shopkeepers in the capital of Tehran staged a strike over high prices \u2014 officials have struck a conciliatory tone regarding economic demands while vowing to crush destabilisation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u2022 Judiciary orders no leniency against \u2018rioters\u2019 amid unrest \u2022 Trump vows Tehran will \u2018get hit very hard\u2019 if it kills more citizens \u2022 12 dead as protests expand to 45 cities; intelligence officers seize weapons cache PARIS: Iran refused on Monday to offer \u201crioters\u201d leniency while defending citizens\u2019 right to demonstrate, a defiant stance […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14927,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14926","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14926"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14926\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14928,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14926\/revisions\/14928"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}