Iran says nine nationals of European countries detained for role in unrest

Iranian security forces have arrested nine people from Germany, Poland, Italy, France, the Netherlands, Sweden and other countries for their role in the protests against the death of a young woman in police custody, the Intelligence Ministry said on Friday.

The nine unidentified persons were detained "during the riots or while plotting in the background," the ministry said in a statement carried by Iranian media.

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

The protesters have vented their 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.