Iran’s state broadcaster was apparently hacked on Saturday, disrupting a news bulletin due to protests against the country’s leader.
A mask appeared on the screen, followed by an image of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei surrounded by flames.
This group called itself “Adalat Ali” or Justice of Ali.
It comes after at least three people were shot dead when protesters clashed with security forces in fresh unrest over the death of Mahsa Amini.
Ms. Amini was detained by the Morality Police in Tehran for not covering her hair properly. The 22-year-old Iranian Kurd died in custody on September 16, three days after his arrest.
His death has sparked an unprecedented wave of protests across the country.
Saturday’s TV news bulletin was interrupted at around 18:00 local time with images of Iran’s Supreme Leader with a target on his head, Ms Amini and three other women killed in recent protests. were
One caption read “Join us and rise up”, while another said “The blood of our men is dripping from your claws”.
The interruption lasted only a few seconds before being disconnected.
Such displays of rebellion against Ayatollah Ali Khamenei are historically rare, and he holds almost absolute power within Iran. But since Ms. Amini’s death, there has been some open disagreement.
Also on Saturday, videos emerged on social media showing female students chanting “gut-har” at a university in Tehran during a visit by President Ebrahim Raisi.
Earlier in the day, two people were killed in Sanandaj, including a man shot in his car after he honked his horn in support of protesters. In a video shared online, a woman in Mashhad was shot in the neck and lying unconscious on the ground.
In Sanandaj, a police official said one person had been killed by “counter-revolutionaries”, state news agency IRNA reported.
On Friday, Iran’s Forensic Medicine Organization said Ms Amini died of multiple organ failure caused by cerebral hypoxia – not a blow to the head, as her family and protesters claimed.
Human rights organizations say that more than 150 people have been killed since the protests began in the Islamic Republic on September 17.
Shops in several cities closed in support of the protesters, including a market in Tehran where some set fire to a police kiosk and chased away security forces.
Demonstrations reaching Tehran’s bazaars will raise alarm bells for Iranian leaders who count businessmen among their supporters.
