Hardline parliamentarians insist only response to recent unrest is for violent protesters to be executed

The Iranian leadership is resisting growing demands from clerics and some reformist politicians to stage a new referendum on Iran’s constitution as hardline parliamentarians meanwhile insist the only response to the recent unrest sweeping the country is for violent protesters to be executed.

The power struggle among the country’s rulers appears to leave the government sending out mixed messages on how to respond to the protests, but in practice the security forces have gone ahead with a severe crackdown and arrested nearly 10,000 people, including 60 journalists.

Forces reportedly told parents of Ghazaleh Chalabi, who died after being shot, they would withhold her body ‘if they made a noise’

The parents of an Iranian woman who died six days after being shot while filming protests in her home town have been subjected to a sustained harassment campaign by security forces, a relative and a friend of the family have told the Guardian.

Ghazaleh Chalabi, 33, was shot in the head in Amol on 21 September. A commemoration to mark the 40th day since her death – the end of the traditional mourning period in Islam – will be held on Thursday.