Iran ordered an investigation on Wednesday into videos and images of violence by the government forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran against Iranian protesters.
In one of these videos, several government agents are seen beating a man severely. Then one of the agents runs over the man with a motorcycle and another agent shoots him from close range. The authenticity of these images, like many other videos released from the ongoing protests in Iran, cannot be independently verified.
The video appeared on social media late Tuesday and is purportedly from Tehran.
"This shocking video sent from Tehran today is another horrific reminder that the cruelty of Iran's security forces knows no bounds. Amid a crisis of impunity, they're given free rein to brutally beat & shoot protesters," Amnesty International said via Twitter.
It added that the United Nations Human Rights Council should immediately investigate.
The Iranian police issued a statement saying an investigation into the incident had been ordered.
"The police absolutely do not approve of violent and unconventional behavior and will deal with the offenders according to the rules," said the statement published by state news agency IRNA.
The unrest started in protest of the mid-September killing of Mahsa Amini, 22, while in the custody of the morality police, allegedly because of inappropriate clothing, and has continued for seven weeks.
People from across the country have made this one of the biggest challenges to the government since the victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1979 by participating in demonstrations against the regime and chanting the slogan "Death to [Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali] Khamenei."
Iranian leaders blame the crisis on the United States and other Western powers, a narrative that most Iranians do not believe.
Khamenei, who has rarely commented on the protests, in a speech to schoolchildren accused the United States of establishing "a plan for Tehran and the country's large and small cities." He called American officials who support the protests "shameless."
According to an updated death toll issued Wednesday by the Norway-based group Iran Human Rights, 176 people have been killed in the crackdown on protests sparked by Amini's death.
Another 101 people have lost their lives in a separate protest wave in Zahedan in the southeastern Sistan-Baluchestan province.
Thousands have been arrested nationwide, rights activists say, while Iran's judiciary has said 1,000 people had already been charged over what it describes as "riots."
Despite the deaths, arrests and a strong warning by the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, protesters in Iran continue to risk their lives and protest in the streets.
The challenge to the regime is compounded by the custom in Iran to mark 40 days since a person died, turning every mourning ceremony for the dozens killed in the crackdown into a potential protest flashpoint.
"Funerals and 40-day commemoration ceremonies for killed protesters are increasingly becoming the impetus for further unrest," said Kita Fitzpatrick, Iran analyst at the Critical Threats Project of the American Enterprise Institute.
"This places the regime in a bind: They run the risk of inadvertently sustaining the protest movement in attempting to violently suppress it."
Some information for this report came from Agence France-Presse.
