Iranian soldiers and police were ordered to 'severely confront' protests that have seen at least 52 killed after unrest broke out over the death of a woman in police custody 

• Iranian soldiers and police were ordered by military chiefs to 'severely confront' anti-regime demonstrations
• At least 52 people have been killed in the mass unrest following the death of Mahsa Amini
• Miss Amini was allegedly tortured in custody by morality police for not wearing her hijab properly
• The demonstrations rapidly escalated into calls for the overthrow of the clerical establishment 

Iranian soldiers and police were ordered by military chiefs to 'severely confront' anti-government demonstrations that have seen at least 52 people killed after mass unrest broke out over the death of a young woman who died after being allegedly tortured in custody for not wearing a hijab properly.

Thousands of Iranians have taken to the streets over the last two weeks in protests over the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who had been detained by the morality police in the capital Tehran for allegedly wearing her mandatory Islamic headscarf too loosely.

The protesters have vented anger over the treatment of women and wider repression in the Islamic Republic. The nationwide demonstrations rapidly escalated into calls for the overthrow of the clerical establishment that has ruled Iran since its 1979 Islamic revolution.

The protests have drawn supporters from various ethnic groups, including Kurdish opposition movements in the northwest that operate along the border with neighboring Iraq. Amini was an Iranian Kurd, and the protests first erupted in Kurdish areas.

Amnesty International on Friday said it had acquired leaked government documents showing that Iran had ordered its security forces to 'severely confront' protesters as the demonstrations gathered strength earlier this month.

The London-based rights group said security forces have killed at least 52 people since protests over the Amini's death began, including by firing live ammunition into crowds and beating protesters with batons.

It says security forces have also beaten and groped female protesters who remove their headscarves to protest the treatment of women by Iran's theocracy.

Amnesty said it obtained a leaked copy of an official document saying that the General Headquarters of the Armed Forces ordered commanders on Sept. 21 to 'severely confront troublemakers and anti-revolutionaries.' The rights group says the use of lethal force escalated later that evening, with at least 34 people killed that night alone.

It said another leaked document shows that, two days later, the commander in Mazandran province ordered security forces to 'confront mercilessly, going as far as causing deaths, any unrest by rioters and anti-Revolutionaries,' referring to those opposed to Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution, which brought the clerics to power.

Amnesty did not say how it acquired the documents. There was no immediate comment from Iranian authorities.

Iran's Intelligence Ministry said the nine foreigners arrested include citizens of Germany, Poland, Italy, France, the Netherlands and Sweden, state news agency IRNA reported. It was not immediately clear if they were Iranians with dual citizenship.

The ministry did not provide evidence for any of its claims.

Iran has detained a number of Iranians with dual citizenship over the years, accusing them of spying or otherwise undermining national security. Critics accuse Iran of using such detainees as bargaining chips to secure concessions from the international community.

A number of Europeans were detained in Iran in recent months, including a Swedish tourist, a Polish scientist and others. Two French citizens arrested in June are accused of meeting with protesting teachers and taking part in an antigovernment rally.

Iranian state TV has reported that at least 41 protesters and police have been killed since the demonstrations began September 17. An Associated Press count of official statements by authorities tallied at least 14 dead, with more than 1,500 demonstrators arrested.

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists says at least 28 reporters have been arrested.

Iranian authorities have severely restricted internet access and blocked access to Instagram and WhatsApp, popular social media applications that are also used by the protesters to organize and share information.

That makes it difficult to gauge the extent of the protests, particularly outside the capital, Tehran. Iranian media have only sporadically covered the demonstrations.

Iranians have long used virtual private networks and proxies to get around the government's internet restrictions.

Shervin Hajipour, an amateur singer in Iran, recently posted a song on Instagram based on tweets about Amini that received more than 40million views in less than 48 hours before it was taken down. 

Women have defiantly burned their headscarves and cut their hair in the protests over Amini's death, announced September 16, that are the biggest seen in Iran since demonstrations in November 2019 over fuel price rises.

A leading Iranian human rights lawyer, Nasrin Sotoudeh, told US news magazine Time that she expected the protests to go on regardless of the intensity of the authorities' crackdown.

'What the people want is regime change, and no return to the past,' said Sotoudeh, who is on medical furlough from a 38-year jail sentence for her advocacy work.

'And what we can see from the current protests and strikes that are now being initiated is a very real possibility of regime change.'

Iran Human Rights Organization, a group based in Norway, said that Hajipour has reportedly been arrested. There was no official confirmation.

Amnesty's warning comes as Iran presses ahead with an intensifying crackdown that has seen the arrest of many journalists, activists and other prominent figures.

Former Iranian international footballer Hossein Maahini was arrested Friday after supporting the protests on his social media accounts, state media said.

Iranian football fans, meanwhile, asked FIFA to ban their national team from this year's World Cup in Qatar over the crackdown.

Security forces also arrested singer Shervin Hajipour, whose song 'Baraye' ('For') made up of tweets about the protests went viral on Instagram, the rights group Article 19 said. His song, which racked up millions of views, has now been removed from his Instagram account.

The crackdown has drawn widespread international condemnation.

Demonstrations of solidarity with Iranian women have been held worldwide, and rallies are planned in 77 cities on Saturday.

Iran has blamed outside forces for the protests, and on Wednesday it launched cross-border missile and drone strikes that killed 14 people in northern Iraq's Kurdistan region, accusing rebel groups based there of fuelling the unrest.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards pledged to carry out more attacks until the groups are disarmed.

The United States said one of its citizens had been killed in the Iranian strikes.