Iranian state TV was hacked and call to join the protests was aired
Topics: News, Politics, Film and TV
Callum Jones
Featured Image Credit: @ksadjadpour/Twitter
Topics: News, Politics, Film and TV
An Iranian state TV channel appeared to be hacked live-on-air on Saturday (9 October) during an evening news program.
The newscast by the Islamic Republic of Iran News Network had its program interrupted while airing a segment on Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Khamenei was attending a meeting in the city of Bushehr when the hackers took over. Watch the hackers take over below:
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The hackers displayed a video of someone in a mask against a black backdrop, followed by a screen showing a photo of Khamenei with a target aimed at his head and fire surrounding him.
A chant of 'women, life, freedom' could be heard, while two on-screen messages read 'join us and rise up' and 'the blood of our youth is dripping from your grip'.
The screen also featured photos of Nika Shahkarami, Hadis Najafi, Mahsa Amini, and Sarina Esmailzadeh - all young woman who have died in Iran in the last month.
Amini, 22, was detained by morality police on 13 September for allegedly not covering her hair properly, and just three days later she died in custody.
This brought on large protests across Iran, which lead to the other three pictured women being killed.
The message also displayed social media handles for the hacker group Edaalate Ali, which translates to Ali’s Justice.
The message remained on-screen for several seconds before the broadcaster cut back to the presenter in the studio who wasn't looking best pleased.
Ali's Justice has seemingly taken responsibly for the hacking by posting the video to social media.
They said: "On the request of people, we fulfilled our promise and did the unthinkable to free Iran."
Meanwhile, on Instagram they added: "Hacking the sound and media. Wake up. Come on down to the street."
Unprecedented protests have taken place across Iran following the death of Amini on 16 September.
Rights group say more than 150 people have been killed since the protests began on 17 September.
The protests have even forced several cities in the country to shutter as a result of violence from the protests.
On Friday (7 October), Iran's Forensic Medicine Organisation said Amini had died from multiple organ failure caused by cerebral hypoxia - not due to blows to the head and limbs, as her family and protestors claimed.
Her family had said that witnesses told them she had been beaten by officers that detained her.
Police said she died after failing ill and slipping into a coma.