This screen grab taken from a video made available on Twitter by group Edalat-e Ali (Ali's Justice) on Oct. 9, 2022 shows a part of a video superimposing crosshairs and flames on the face of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, over the portraits of Mahsa Amini and three other women killed. The image interrupted a state television live news broadcast. (Credit: Twitter/@EDALATEALI1400/AFP)
NICOSIA — Hackers backing Iran's wave of women-led protests interrupted a state TV news broadcast with an image of gun-sight crosshairs and flames over the face of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in footage widely shared online Sunday.
In other anti-regime messages, activists have spray-painted "Death to Khamenei" and "The Police are the Murderers of the People" on public billboards in Tehran.
"The blood of our youths is on your hands," read an on-screen message that flashed up briefly during the TV broadcast 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 the demonstrators "chanted slogans and set fire to and damaged public property, including a police booth."
Anger has flared since the death of Amini on Sept. 16, three days after the young Kurdish woman was arrested by the notorious morality police for an alleged breach of the Islamic republic's strict dress code for women.
"Join us and rise up," read another message in the TV hack claimed by the group Edalat-e Ali (Ali's Justice).
It also posted pictures of Amini and three other women killed in the crackdown that has claimed at least 95 lives according to Norway-based group Iran Human Rights.