Rahimeh Yousefzadeh

The rise in the prices of essential goods and the escalation of the economic crisis harming the livelihoods of millions of Iranians sparked the December 2018's protests, which quickly spread to more than 100 cities across the country. In less than a few days, these demonstrations became the most widespread popular protests since the 1979 revolution in Iran. The protesters’ main and key slogans directly opposed the Islamic Republic and blamed the government’s policies for the economic hardship. Security forces used excessive and unlawful lethal force in confronting large-scale protests; dozens of people were killed, thousands of protesters were arrested, and some were sentenced to prison and execution. Some of the detainees died suspiciously while in custody. <symbol-timeline></symbol-timeline>