TEHRAN – Judiciary spokesman Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje'i said on Sunday that still 400 of the protesters who were arrested during the recent unrest across the country are in custody.

The protest rallies which first started in Mashhad on December 28 spread to some other cities in the country. They died down after a week. The protests in certain cities turned violent as vandals joined the protesters. 

The protests were mainly motivated by economic problems, corruption, and economic disparity.  

Eje’i said 50 of the remaining detainees are from Tehran and the rest from other cities, IRNA reported.

He also said 25 ordinary people and security forces were killed during the protests, stressing that no one was killed by security forces.

The Judiciary official blamed the United States and the Zionist regime for the violent protests.

During the riots U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted frequently encouraging the protesters. 

“They (wrongly) thought that they could misuse the people’s (economic) grievances,” he explained.

The spokesman also confirmed that two individuals who were in custody committed suicide. One of them was a drug addict, he said.

Abbas Jafari-Dolatabadi, the Tehran prosecutor general, also announced on Sunday that 440 individuals who were arrested in Tehran have been released, with 300 of them having been released during the last few days.

He emphasized that protestors should be differentiated from the rioters who committed crimes. 

Jafari-Dolatabadi said there were many factors behind the unrest, including economic grievances and social problems. 

He also said the role of the United States and the opposition in inciting the riots should not be ignored.

Majid Sarsangi, the vice-president of Tehran University, also said on Sunday that that 36 students from Tehran University have been released but 6 are still under arrest. “We hope they will also be released very soon,” Sarsangi told ISNA.

In pursuit of the conditions of the detainees, members of the Parliament’s Judicial and Legal Committee have filed a request to visit the detention centers, the committee’s vice chairman told ILNA on Sunday.

Mohammad Kazemi said the lawmakers have not received any response as of then. 

MH/PA