An Iran state TV news broadcast was taken over by hackers with a blunt threat to the nation’s supreme leader over women’s rights.
Hackers supporting Iran’s oppressed women interrupted a state TV news broadcast with an ominous image of gun-sight crosshairs and flames superimposed over an image of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The footage was widely shared online on Sunday, the latest in a barrage of anti-regime messages, such as “Death to Khamenei” and “The Police are the Murderers of the People” activists spray-painted on billboards in Tehran.
Wow! Iran state TV was hacked while broadcasting Khamenei’s meeting with officials. This is done by the “Imam Ali Justice” hacker group. We see Khamenei in fire and hear “woman, life, liberty” for a few seconds on state TV. #MahsaAmini #مهسا_امینی pic.twitter.com/B0dLJ7evp6
— Omid Memarian (@Omid_M) October 8, 2022
“The blood of our youths is on your hands,” read an on-screen message that flashed up briefly during the TV broadcast on Saturday evening, as street protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini, 22, again rocked Tehran and other cities.
“Police forces used tear gas to disperse the crowds in dozens of locations in Tehran,” state news agency IRNA reported, adding that the demonstrators “chanted slogans and set fire to and damaged public property, including a police booth”.
Read the article by Merryn Johns and AFP in the Herald Sun.