Reuters verified the location of two video clips using the distinctive arches and buildings matching file images. However, the semi-official Tasnim news agency denied that Khomeini’s house was set on fire, saying a small number of people had gathered outside the house. Social media videos show dozens of people cheering as a flash of fire ignites a building. Reuters was unable to independently verify the dates the videos were shot. The activist network 1500Tasvir said the incident happened on Thursday night in Khomeini’s hometown of Khomein, south of the capital Tehran. The house had been turned into a museum. “The report is a lie,” Tasnim said. “The doors of the house of the late founder of the great revolution are open to the public.” Khomeini died in 1989. His successor, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has been under intense pressure from nationwide protests calling for an end to harsh clerical rule since the death of Iranian Kurd Mahsa Amini in September while in custody of Iran’s morality police. Iranian women walk past a poster of late Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini during Iran’s Islamic Revolution anniversary ceremony at Behesht Zahra cemetery, south of Tehran, February 1, 2016. REUTERS/Raheb Homavandi/TIMA Separate videos posted by 1500Tasvir purportedly show protesters in several cities in Sistan-Baluchistan province, including the capital Zahedan, where protesters chanted “Death to Khamenei,” and Chabahar, where protesters removed and trampled a boulevard sign that took named after Ayatollah Khomeini. State media reported that authorities held a funeral for seven people killed in the southwestern city of Ize in a terrorist attack. But the mother of a 10-year-old victim, Kian Pirfalak, could be heard in social media videos blaming security forces for her son’s shooting. A video posted on social media purporting to be from Pirfalak’s funeral showed protesters chanting “Khamenei we will bury you.” Reuters was unable to independently verify the authenticity of these videos. On Friday, Tasnim reported pro-government protesters in the northeastern city of Mashhad, where two members of the Basij militia were killed on Thursday. Videos on social media showed police officers confronting a crowd attending the funeral of Aylar Haghi, a medical student who was reportedly killed by security forces during protests in the northwestern city of Tabriz. Authorities said he was killed after falling into an excavation at a construction site. Late Friday, protests continued in several cities and towns in the Kurdish northwest, including Piranshahr, where protesters seized a police station, according to video released by the human rights group Hengaw. Reuters was unable to verify the video. Two intelligence agents were killed in clashes with protesters on Thursday night, according to the Revolutionary Guards’ news site. It also said three other Revolutionary Guards and a Basij member were killed in Tehran and a Basij and a police member were killed in Kurdistan on Thursday. Report from the Dubai newsroom. Written by Michael Georgy. Editing by Alex Richardson and Raissa Kasolowsky Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
