Iran's Chief Justice Warns Protesters Provocateurs Will Not Get Relief from Punishment

JAKARTA - The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court warned on Sunday that those who were the provocateurs behind the recent wave of anti-government protests would not receive any leniency.

What started earlier this month as demonstrations against high living costs has evolved into a wider protest movement that is the toughest challenge to Iran's clerical leadership in years.

Protests subsided after a government crackdown, carried out under an internet blackout that left the country largely cut off from the outside world.

"The people rightly demand that the defendant and the main instigators of the riots and acts of terrorism and violence be tried as quickly as possible and punished if found guilty," said the head of the Iranian Supreme Court Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei, as quoted by Mizan, launching Al Arabiya from AFP (26/1).

He further said, "the highest scrutiny must be applied in the investigation," but stressed that "justice includes judging and punishing without any leniency for criminals who take up arms and kill people, or commit arson, destruction and massacres."

Previously, the Iranian government had set the number of deaths from the protests at 3,117 people, including 2,427 people whom they called "martyrs", a term used to distinguish members of the security forces and innocent civilians, from those described by the authorities as "rioters" instigated by the US and Israel.

On the other hand, human rights groups say the majority of the dead are protesters, noting thousands of people have died, while the Norwegian-based Iranian Human Rights NGO estimates the death toll could be more than 25,000.

Meanwhile, the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said more than 26,000 people had been arrested in connection with the demonstrations.

Although human rights groups have accused authorities of repeatedly using live ammunition against demonstrators, Iran's special police commander Colonel Mehdi Sharif Kazemi said authorities were only using non-lethal measures such as water cannons to quell the unrest.

"The use of weapons (by the police) during this operation has sparked some criticism, but in fact, the police did not use firearms at all," he quoted his statement as being carried by the Mehr news agency on Sunday.

"We use non-lethal means to ensure the safety of the population and avoid killings," he added.

US President Donald Trump has threatened military intervention if Iran starts executing protest suspects, but has recently softened his rhetoric after claiming Tehran had suspended planned executions.

Last Thursday, he said on his way home from the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, Washington was still sending a "large armada" to Iran "just in case."