The Islamic Republic marked the 44th anniversary of the Iranian revolution on Saturday with state-organised rallies, as anti-government hackers interrupted Iran President Ebrahim Raisi's televised speech.
Raisi, whose hardline government faces one of the boldest challenges from young protesters calling for its ouster, appealed to the "deceived youth" to repent so they can be pardoned by Iran's supreme leader.
In that case, he told a crowd congregating at Tehran's expansive Azadi Square: "the Iranian people will embrace them with open arms."
His live televised speech was interrupted on the internet for about a minute, with a logo appearing on the screen of a group of anti-Iranian government hackers that goes by the name of "Edalate Ali (Justice of Ali). A voice shouted, "Death to the Islamic Republic."
https://twitter.com/omid9/status/1624392706645495812?s=20&t=yJPq1r30HZ5LVgw48fYtjg
Nationwide protests swept Iran following the death in September of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in the custody of the country's morality police.
Security forces have responded with a deadly crackdown to the protests, among the strongest challenges to the Islamic Republic since the 1979 revolution ended 2,500 years of monarchy.
As part of an amnesty marking the Iranian revolution anniversary, authorities on Friday released jailed dissident Farhad Meysami, who had been on a hunger strike, and Iranian-French academic Fariba Adelkhah.
On Sunday, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued an amnesty covering a large number of prisoners, including some arrested in recent anti-government protests.