Iranians keep up the heat on leaders with protests, strikes

Iranians enraged over the death of a young woman in police custody braved bullets and tear gas on Saturday, a human rights group said, pressing ahead with protests against clerical rulers facing a relentless popular uprising.
An Iranian coroner’s report denied that Mahsa Amini had died due to blows to the head and limbs while in police custody and linked her death to pre-existing medical conditions, state media said on Friday.
The death of 22-year-old Amini, an Iranian Kurd, has ignited nationwide demonstrations, marking the biggest challenge to Iran’s clerical leaders in years.
Women have removed their veils in defiance of the clerical establishment while furious crowds called for the downfall of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
After a call for mass demonstrations on Saturday, security forces shot at protesters and used tear gas in the Kurdish cities of Sanandaj and Saqqez, according to the Iranian human rights group Hengaw.
Widespread strikes are taking place in the cities of Saqqez, Diwandareh, Mahabad and Sanandaj, said Hengaw.