Iran probes police brutality video amid rising anger

Iranian authorities have ordered a probe into a viral video that allegedly shows police officers beating a protester in Tehran, Iranian media reported on Wednesday. 

Officials did not specify the video in question, but a two-minute recording widely circulated on social media has increased outrage over police brutality. 

"The police do not approve of harsh and unconventional treatment, the offending police officers will certainly be dealt with according to the law," Iran's police said in a statement, according to state news agency IRNA.

Iran has been rocked by protests in recent weeks over the death of Jina Mahsa Amini. The 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman died in police custody after she was arrested by Iran's notorious morality police. 

Protesters have since taken to the streets across the country to demand political change in a major challenge to the regime that has ruled Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. 

'Shocking' video

The footage, supposedly shot on a mobile phone in a southern Tehran district, seems to show a group of around a dozen policemen kicking and beating a man with their batons in an alley. 

According to the video, a police officer ran over the man with a motorbike and another shot him at close range. 

"This shocking video sent from Tehran today is another horrific reminder that the cruelty of Iran's security forces knows no bounds," human rights watchdog Amnesty International wrote on Twitter. 

Amnesty called on the UN Human Rights council to "urgently investigate these crimes." 

Several other videos on social media have allegedly shown police beating protesters. 

Rights groups have slammed police brutality in Iran. According to the Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR), 176 people have been killed and thousands arrested in the crackdown on protests. 

"Instead of accepting people's legal demands, the Islamic Republic [of Iran] is clamping down with repressive measures and show trials," said IHR director, Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam.

Under pressure, Iranian leaders have consistently claimed that Western countries were fueling the unrest and avoided responding to the people's demands of political change.

fb/es (AFP, dpa, Reuters)