Iranian protester Ebrahim Rigi has died in custody after allegedly being beaten by police following his rearrest, according to a rights group.
HAALVSH, a group that monitors rights violations in Iran's Baluchistan region, said in a report that the 24-year-old Rigi was arrested on October 13 in connection with protests in the southeastern Iranian city of Zahedan sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini and the alleged rape of a 15-year-old protester by a local police commander.
HAALVSH has quoted local sources as saying that Rigi, a medical intern, had been released on bail but was then rearrested on the street in Zahedan on February 22 and was taken to the police station. He died an hour later.
The group said that the judge on duty and the forensic pathologist confirmed that Rigi died as a result of beating inside the police station.
A local police official described Rigi's death as the result of an "arbitrary act" in which the police had no role. He did not elaborate.
People in Sistan-Baluchistan Province have been holding protest rallies every Friday since September 30, when a demonstration turned deadly as security forces of the Islamic republic launched a brutal crackdown on demonstrators.
During the so-called Bloody Friday massacre in Zahedan, almost 100 people were killed and hundreds injured by security forces during unrest sparked by the death of the 22-year-old Amini, who was in police custody for allegedly wearing her head scarf improperly.
The protests grew even larger following the news of the alleged sexual assault of a 15-year-old girl by a local police commander.
Anger over Amini's death on September 16 has prompted thousands of Iranians to take to the streets nationwide to demand more freedoms and women's rights. The widespread unrest represents the biggest threat to the Islamic government since the 1979 revolution.
The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency said that, as of January 29, at least 527 people had been killed during the unrest, including 71 minors, as security forces attempt to muzzle dissent.
Sunni Muslims make up the majority of the population in Sistan-Baluchistan but only account for about 10 percent of the population in Shi'a-dominated Iran overall.