PARIS - Rights groups voiced alarm over the extent of an Iranian crackdown on a Kurdish-populated city that has become a flashpoint for nationwide protests that have now lasted over three weeks.
Iran's clerical authorities have been shaken since mid-September of protests that erupted after the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year old Iranian of Kurdish origin, who had been arrested by the notorious morality police.
Despite the use of brutal force by the authorities that activists say has left dozens dead, and led to hundreds of arrests, there is so far no sign of the protest movement coming to an end.
Protests have been especially intense in the city of Sanandaj in the western province of Kurdistan, Amini's home region, where rights groups fear heavy casualties and accuse authorities of resorting to shelling of neighbourhoods.
The Norway-based Hengaw rights group said an Iranian warplane had arrived at the city's airport overnight and buses carrying special forces were on their way to the city from elsewhere in Iran.
It said residents were having problems sending video evidence of events due to internet restrictions, but said a seven-year-old had been killed on Sunday night. AFP could not immediately verify the claims.
Hengaw said at least seven people had been confirmed killed by the security forces in Sanandaj and other Kurdish-populated cities since Saturday.
Amnesty International said it was "alarmed by the crackdown on protests in Sanandaj amid reports of security forces using firearms and firing teargas indiscriminately, including into people's homes".
UNICEF executive director Catherine Russel said: "We are extremely concerned by continuing reports of children and adolescents being killed, injured and detained."
Among the dozens of prominent figures arrested in the crackdown is the daughter of late former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Faezeh Hashemi. The judiciary said Tuesday she has been charged with "disruption of public order and propaganda against the Islamic republic."