TEHRAN – Iran has arrested eight people accused of links to the CIA andgathering information to send abroad during deadly street violence thaterupted after a fuel price hike triggered demonstrations.
A near-total internet blackout was imposed by the Islamic republic onNovember 16, the day after it made the shock announcement that petrolprices were immediately going up by as much as 200 percent.
Reports of deaths and arrests emerged as security forces were deployed torein in demonstrations which turned violent in some areas, with dozens ofbanks, petrol pumps and police stations torched.
Officials in Iran have confirmed five people were killed and so farannounced about 500 arrests, including of some 180 “ringleaders”.
The latest to have been detained in Iran were eight people “linked to theCIA during recent riots”, state news agency IRNA said late Wednesday.
“Some elements who tried to collect information about the recent riots andsend them out of the country… were identified and arrested,” it quoted thedirector-general of the intelligence ministry’s counter-espionagedepartment as saying.
Six of them were alleged to have been “attending the riots and carrying outorders,” IRNA reported, without naming the official.
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Two others accused of trying to collect information and transfer it abroadwere arrested before they could leave the country, the news agency said.
They had all been “trained in different countries on how to collectinformation… as citizen-journalists,” it added.
Iran’s arch-foe, the United States, said on Tuesday it had receivedthousands of messages from the Islamic republic about the protests,including photos and videos, after issuing an appeal for people to defy theinternet restrictions.
“We’ve received to date nearly 20,000 messages, videos, pictures, notes ofthe regime’s abuses through Telegram messaging services,” Secretary ofState Mike Pompeo said, referring to the encrypted app. – APP / AFP
