Iranian actor Taraneh Alidoosti arrested after criticism of death penalty

Detention of one of Iran’s most famous performers sign state wants to crack down on celebrities who challenge regime

Taraneh Alidoosti, one of Iran’s most famous actors, has been detained by security forces in Tehran days after she criticised the state’s use of the death penalty against protesters.

She had previously posted a picture of herself on her Instagram page in which she was not wearing the hijab and holding a piece of paper reading “women, life, freedom” – the slogan that has come to encapsulate the fight against the current Iranian regime.

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Iran ousted from UN body tasked with empowering women

Twenty-nine of 54 members vote to expel country over regime’s bloody crackdown on protests calling for gender equality

Iran has been ousted from a UN body tasked with empowering women after​​​ world powers voted​ in favour of a motion submitted by the US, which said the Islamic Republic’s membership was an “ugly stain” on the group’s credibility.

Activists and rights groups have said Tehran’s role in the 45-member commission on the status of women was a farce, considering the regime’s forces have beaten and killed women peacefully calling for gender equality.

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Iran sentences 400 people to jail terms of up to 10 years over protests

Figures from Tehran province indicate extent of clampdown on protests sparked by killing of Mahsa Amini

Courts in and around the Iranian capital have jailed 400 people on charges related to recent protests, for terms of up to 10 years.

Ali Alghasi-Mehr, the judiciary chief for Tehran province, said judges had handed down the rulings to “rioters” – a term officials use for all demonstrators who defy Iran’s hardline theocratic rule.

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Mother fears for Chinese Covid protester held for nine days

Yang Zijing, 25, apparently detained in Guangzhou after taking part in rallies against harsh restrictions

A young protester has been held in police detention in southern China for nine days after taking part in rallies against Covid restrictions, her mother has said, expressing fear and anguish over her daughter’s safety.

China last week effectively ended its harsh zero-Covid policy, after years of economic damage and simmering public discontent that erupted in nationwide protests on a scale unseen in decades.

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Hong Kong pressures Google to remove protest anthem from searches

Authorities want Glory to Hong Kong axed from top results and replaced with China’s national anthem

Google has refused to change its search results to display China’s national anthem, rather than a protest song, when users search for Hong Kong’s national anthem, the city’s security chief has said, expressing “great regret” at the decision.

Google’s parent company, Alphabet Inc, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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Peru president paves way for early elections after two killed in latest protests

Dina Boluarte says she will submit bill to move elections forward by two years as thousands take to streets after ousting of predecessor Pedro Castillo

Peru’s new president, Dina Boluarte, has announced plans to move forward with general elections amid deadly protests over the ousting of her predecessor Pedro Castillo after he attempted to dissolve congress.

In a televised address early on Monday, Boluarte said she would submit a bill to bring general elections forward two years, to April 2024. But her proposal is unlikely to placate surging protests as Castillo supporters call for Peru’s widely loathed congress to be closed and early elections.

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British Museum hints at ‘complete reimagination’ and a net zero carbon future

Chair of the museum, George Osborne, says it no longer wants to be a ‘destination for climate protest’

The future for the British Museum could be very different indeed. That was the message from the organisation’s chair George Osborne in his annual speech to Trustees last month, in which he announced a “complete reimagination” of the museum, under a billion-pound masterplan that will be revealed next year.

Among the hints of potential loans of its exhibits, leading to further speculation over the Parthenon marbles, was one explicit promise on energy. “Our goal is to be a net zero carbon museum,” said Osborne, “no longer a destination for climate protest but instead an example of climate solution”.

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At least a dozen climate activists face jail time under NSW laws used to lock up Violet Coco

Exclusive: A string of protesters linked to Blockade Australia have been charged under the legislation

More than a dozen climate activists are facing possible jail time over protests in Sydney’s CBD this year after being charged under the same controversial laws that led to Deanna ‘Violet’ Coco being handed a 15-month prison sentence.

Court documents seen by the Guardian show a string of activists linked to climate group Blockade Australia have been charged under the laws, which introduced a two-year jail sentence for protests that block major roads, bridges or tunnels in New South Wales.

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Two Bangladeshi opposition leaders arrested in government crackdown

Seven killed and thousands arrested as Hasina regime continues repressive campaign against opponents

Two top leaders of Bangladesh’s main opposition party have been arrested amid a violent crackdown on government opponents during which at least seven people have been shot dead and thousands arrested.

Over recent weeks, Sheikh Hasina’s government has launched a repressive campaign against the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist party (BNP), which has been holding rallies calling for her resignation.

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Iran carries out first known execution over anti-government protests

Uncle of Mohsen Shekari, who was convicted of ‘waging war against God’, says family have not been told location of body

Iran has conducted the first known execution in relation to the anti-government protests that have rocked the country, hanging a man who was found guilty by a revolutionary court of “waging war against God”.

Mohsen Shekari was accused of blocking a street and wounding a member of the pro-regime Basij militia on 25 September, during the early phase of the protests triggered by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini.

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Iranian forces shooting at faces and genitals of female protesters, medics say

Exclusive: Men and women coming in with shotgun wounds to different parts of bodies, doctors say

Iranian security forces are targeting women at anti-regime protests with shotgun fire to their faces, breasts and genitals, according to interviews with medics across the country.

Doctors and nurses – treating demonstrators in secret to avoid arrest – said they first observed the practice after noticing that women often arrived with different wounds to men, who more commonly had shotgun pellets in their legs, buttocks and backs.

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Romany leaders appeal for calm after second day of protest violence in Greece

Outrage continues over police shooting of teenage boy, with clashes erupting in major urban centres

Romany leaders in Greece have appealed for calm following a second day of violent protests triggered by the police shooting of a teenage boy, who is in intensive care.

Outrage over the incident, which took place in Thessaloniki when the 16-year-old reportedly sped out of a petrol station without paying a €20 fuel bill, has resulted in thousands spilling on to the streets and clashes erupting in major urban centres.

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Violent protests in Greece after Romany boy shot by police

About 1,500 people take part in protest march in Thessaloniki with teenager in critical condition

Violent protests have broken out in Greece’s second-largest city over the police shooting of a Romany teenager after he allegedly filled his vehicle at a fuel station and drove off without paying.

The 16-year-old boy was being treated at a Thessaloniki hospital where he was in critical condition. The officer who allegedly shot him in the head was arrested and suspended from duty, police in the northern city said.

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Documents reveal ‘scramble’ to rubber-stamp NSW bill targeting climate protests

Emails show how NSW premier Dominic Perrottet’s advisers, along with several other ministers, sought to fast-track bill after media furore

The bill that led to climate activist Deanna ‘Violet’ Coco being jailed for 15 months had not even made it through the New South Wales parliament in April when the offices of multiple ministers were pushing to have it rubber-stamped by the state’s governor.

Documents obtained by the Guardian reveal how the governor, Margaret Beazley, agreed to return to her office about 11pm after a function in April to sign off on the laws after a senior public servant complained he was “copping it from absolutely every direction”.

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Just Stop Oil activists occupy beds in Harrods in protest against fuel poverty

Protesters take to luxury beds and sofas in London store to call for action on ‘sky-rocketing’ energy bills

Just Stop Oil activists tucked themselves into a Harrods display bed as part of a national day of action on fuel poverty in the UK on Saturday.

Footage of the “warm up” demonstrations also showed security guards confronting protesters lying on sofas inside the shop in Knightsbridge, London.

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Women in conservative region of Iran join Mahsa Amini protests

Dozens of women turn out on streets of provincial capital, where men have been protesting for months

Black-clad women in Iran’s Sistan-Baluchistan province have joined nationwide protests on Friday sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini, in what a rights group called a rare move in the staunchly conservative region.

Videos online showed dozens of women on the streets of the provincial capital, Zahedan, holding banners that declared “Woman, life, freedom” – one of the main slogans of the protest movement that erupted in mid-September.

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Winnie the Pooh joins Chinese Covid lockdown protests

Disney merchandise shows frowning bear looking at blank sheet of paper – a symbol of opposition to censorship

Years after he became character non grata in China, Winnie the Pooh is exacting quiet revenge against the country’s government in the form of Disney souvenirs.

In what appears to be a case of incidental resistance, Disney stores in Japan are selling a line of merchandise featuring a frowning Pooh looking at a blank sheet of white paper – a symbol of ongoing protests in China against censorship and Covid-19 restrictions.

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Iranian man, 27, shot dead for celebrating team’s World Cup exit

Mehran Samak was killed by security forces after honking car horn in celebration of Iran’s defeat to US, human rights groups say

An Iranian man was shot dead by security forces after Iran’s national team lost to the US and exited the World Cup, as anti-government demonstrations took place inside and outside the stadium in Qatar and across Iran.

Mehran Samak, 27, was shot dead after honking his car horn in Bandar Anzali, a city on the Caspian Sea coast, north-west of Tehran, according to human rights activists.

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Anti-regime Iranians celebrate World Cup exit to US in solidarity with protests

Footage shows fireworks and cheering across Iran and at Qatar stadium after team representing Islamic Republic lost 1-0

Some Iranians have celebrated their team’s loss to the US and subsequent exit from the World Cup, as demonstrations against the government’s treatment of protesters took place inside and outside the stadium in Qatar and across Iran.

The contest between the Iranian and American sides, whose countries severed diplomatic ties more than 40 years ago, took place under increased security to prevent a flare-up over the anti-government protests that have taken place across Iran since the death in custody of the 22-year-old Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini on 16 September.

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Covid restrictions lifted in Guangzhou and Chongqing after China protests

Announcements ordered the removal of ‘control orders’ and to designate areas as low risk

Authorities have abruptly lifted Covid restrictions in the Chinese cities of Guangzhou and Chongqing, where protesters scuffled with police on Tuesday night, as police searched for demonstrators in other cities and the country’s top security body called for a crackdown on “hostile forces”.

After days of extraordinary protests in the country that also prompted international demonstrations in solidarity, the US and Canada urged China not to harm or intimidate protesters opposing Covid-19 lockdowns.

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