Protests across Iran into third week after Mahsa Amini’s death


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Protesters rallied across Iran and strikes were reported throughout the country's Kurdish region on Saturday as demonstrations in response to the death of a woman in police custody entered their third week.

The protests, sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old from Iranian Kurdistan, have become the biggest show of opposition to Iran's clerical authorities since 2019, with dozens killed in unrest.

At least 92 people have been killed nationwide in the crackdown, the Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) NGO said on Sunday.

"The international community has a duty to investigate this crime and prevent further crimes from being committed by the Islamic Republic," said IHR director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam.

Its previous toll had said 83 people were confirmed to have been killed in the protests.

People demonstrated in London, Rome, Madrid and other western cities in solidarity with Iranian protesters, holding pictures of Amini, who died three days after she was arrested by the morality police for “unsuitable attire”.

In Iran, social media posts showed rallies in cities including Tehran, Isfahan, Rasht and Shiraz.

In Tehran's traditional business district of Bazaar, anti-government protesters chanted “We will be killed one by one if we don't unite”, while elsewhere they blocked a main road with a fence torn from the central reservation, videos shared by the widely followed Tavsir1500 Twitter account showed.

Students demonstrated at universities, and dozens were detained at Tehran University. The semi-official Fars news agency said some protesters were arrested in a square near the university.

A a police motorcycle burns during a protest over the death of a young woman who had been detained for violating the country's conservative dress code, in downtown Tehran, Iran. AP
A a police motorcycle burns during a protest over the death of a young woman who had been detained for violating the country's conservative dress code, in downtown Tehran, Iran. AP

The protests began at Amini's funeral on September 17 and spread to Iran's 31 provinces, with all layers of society, including ethnic and religious minorities, taking part and many demanding supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's departure.

Purported CT scan images of Amini showed a bone fracture, haemorrhage and brain edema, Iran International, a Persian-language television station based in London, reported.

Iran International said it received the medical documents and dozens of exclusive images from a hacktivist group which showed Amini suffered a fracture on the right side of her head caused by severe trauma.

Hundreds injured

Amnesty International has said a government crackdown on demonstrations has so far led to the deaths of at least 52 people, with hundreds injured. Rights groups said dozens of campaigners, students and artists have been detained.

Iran's currency neared historic lows reached in June as Iranians bought dollars to protect their savings, amid little hope Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers would be revived and concerns over the economic consequences of the unrest.

The rial fell to 331,200 to the dollar, compared with 321,200 on Friday, according to the foreign exchange site Bonbast.com.

The currency had plummeted to an all-time low of 332,000 per dollar on June 12.

Iranian authorities said many members of the security forces have been killed, accusing the US of exploiting the unrest to try to destabilise Iran.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said four members of its forces and the volunteer Basij militia were killed on Friday in attacks in Zahedan, the capital of the south-eastern Sistan and Baluchestan province.

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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

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Updated: October 02, 2022, 11:16 AM