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A week after millions of Iranians flooded the streets following the death of one of the country's top generals, Qassem Soleimani, a contrasting symbolic image played out in Tehran on Sunday.

Crowds of people outside Beheshti University refused to trample over giant U.S. and Israeli flags that had been painted on the ground, according to video filmed at the scene that has been verified by NBC News.

This appeared to be a symbolic gesture, given that walking on, or burning, these flags has been a feature of previous demonstrations.

Encouraging marchers to do the same may have been why they were painted in the street outside the university. And declining to comply was likely one way for the protesters to send a message to the government, according to H.A. Hellyer, a senior associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, a think tank in London.

"Iranian protesters are likely very aware that the Iranian regime uses legitimate grievances against the United States and Israel to deflect criticism," said Hellyer, who is also a nonresident scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a Washington think tank.

"By not stepping on their flags, they're unlikely to be showing support for the U.S. and Israel, but more just sending a message to the regime that they aren't interested in deflection," he said.

In Tehran and elsewhere, anger on the streets has been palpable. The country is in the midst of three days of angry demonstrations after the government admitted it accidentally shot down a Ukrainian International Airlines passenger jet during a military confrontation with the United States.

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After three days of denials, the Iranian government admitted Saturday that one of its missiles had downed the plane and killed all 176 people on board, mostly Iranians. The country had just fired missiles at U.S. forces in neighboring Iraq in retaliation for a drone strike directed by President Donald Trump that killed Soleimani.

Although this admission of guilt by the government appeared to be the trigger for the protests, they have since expanded into a wider call for democratic reforms and a critique of Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and others.

Some of the protesters have called for Khamenei to stand down, and there have been clashes between demonstrators and security forces. One video appeared to show the aftermath of a woman being shot in Tehran, although police have denied firing at the crowds over the weekend.

Another piece of footage showed a commemorative roadside banner of Soleimani that had been set alight, and elsewhere protesters were seen ripping down and stomping on posters of the dead general.

"Our protests were about all of the irresponsibility of the regime, not just the plane. The plane was the trigger of this protest," said Elhan, 29, one of those who took to the streets in Tehran.

She asked not to publish her last name for fear of reprisals, telling NBC News by phone Monday that the demonstrators "just want a true democracy we are so angry and sad."

It's not the first time that Iranians have made a point about refusing to disrespect the U.S. and Israeli flags. In 2016, a prominent professor, Sadegh Zibakalam, went to great lengths to avoid this shimmying along an adjacent railing rather than walking on the ground on which they had been painted.

Students in particular have employed other tactics over the years to show that they are unwilling to toe the government's line.

"When regime representatives shout 'death to America! death to Israel!' over a loudspeaker, the students chant back 'death to Russia! death to China!' said Gissou Nia, a human rights lawyer and a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, a Washington think tank. "It's not because the students actually want death to those nations, it's just to show the world that they are not aligned with the regime's world view. "

While refusing to walk on flags isn't new, what is significant about this weekend's protesters is that they took to the streets knowing it carried a great risk to their lives, according to Holly Dagres, a nonresident fellow also at the Atlantic Council.

It was just last November when anti-government demonstrations last broke out across Iran, with people initially angry about a hike in gasoline prices but soon calling for other political freedoms.

The U.S.'s special representative for Iran Brian Hook has said that more than 1,000 Iranian citizens may have been killed in the ensuing clashes. Although Iran has disputed any figures on the death toll as "purely speculative" and "highly inaccurate."

"Despite knowing full well that their brothers and sisters were just killed, the protesters this week are willing to take to the streets and sacrifice their lives to have their voices heard against the Iranian government," Dagres said. "That is courageous and impressive."

These demonstrations took place days after a mass outpouring of grief, or at least dissatisfaction, following Soleimani's death. The funeral procession in his hometown of Kerman was so packed that dozens of people died in a stampede.

For many experts, Iran is too often seen in the West as a simple, homogeneous entity that thinks and acts in a unified manner.

Of course the reality is far more nuanced in this nation of 82 million people that features many "diverse political strands," according to Arshin Adib-Moghaddam, a professor at the School of Oriental and African Studies, a university in London.

Alexander Smith is a senior reporter forNBC News Digital based in London.

Caroline Radnofsky is a London-based reporter for NBC News.

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Iran protests: Crowds in Tehran refuse to walk on U.S. and Israeli flags - NBC News

When we arrived at the museum on the northern edge of Tehrans Shahr Park on a drizzly late October morning, we were greeted by the museums director, Mohammad Reza Taghipoor Moghadam who, I couldnt help but notice, had no legs. As he wheeled himself into the museum, my companions and I followed closely behind.

After entering the compact round building, we gathered in a small room where Moghadam introduced us to his colleagues, Mr. Mohammadi, who was wearing dark sunglasses even on the dreary morning, and Mr. Roostapour who wore no glasses but, like Mr. Mohammadi, suffered from damage to his eyes and lungs resulting from chemical warfare.

As veterans of the Iran-Iraq war (1980-1988), all three men bore grave injuries more than 30 years after the war had ended. Today they welcome visitors to the Tehran Peace Museum where they discuss the history of the brutal war, describing how Iraq, under Saddam Hussein who was aided with intelligence and arms provided by the United States, used chemical weapons against Iranians and Kurds.

Three veterans of the Iran-Iraq war talk about the effects of war on soldiers and civilians at the Tehran Peace Museum with a group of visiting Americans.

Jon Letman

One museum display states that some 65,000 Iranian civilians and military veterans still suffer chronic health problems from those attacks. Standing before exhibits detailing how civilians were victims of the war, the three veterans spoke about the suffering caused by nuclear weapons, poison gas, nerve agents, incendiary munitions, cluster bombs, conventional rockets, missiles, mortars and artillery used in wars waged from the air, in the sea, and on the ground by militaries around the world.

As the veterans recounted the human and environmental damage caused by chemical warfare, I thought about Hawaiis own role in testing and training for war.

I recalled how in 1967 the Army conducted Operation Green Mist in which it tested the deadly nerve agent sarin in the Waiakea Forest Reserve on Hawaii Island.

That reminded me of a 2012 Civil Beat report about how some 16,000 bombs filled with mustard agent were dumped by the military in waters off Oahu during World War II.

When Moghadam spoke of the harm from depleted uranium and the environmental damage it causes, Hawaii popped into my head again, specifically the DU previously used at Schofield Barracks and Pohakuloa Training Area on Hawaii Island.

Although the Iran-Iraq war ended more than 30 years ago, murals depicting soldiers killed in battle are found throughout Iran today.

Jon Letman

As the three men spoke, I thought of the decades of Navy bombing carried out on Kahoolawe which, in turn, made me think of RIMPAC, the international war games Hawaii hosts every two years. I thought of the ships used as target practice in sinking exercises off Kauai, the artillery fired between Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea, the amphibious assaults rehearsed and the urban warfare training drills carried out across Hawaii.

When Moghadam talked about the death, destruction and squandered resources resulting from nuclear weapons, I thought of the Sandia National Laboratorys Kauai Test Site where technology is tested for use in Americas next generation of nuclear weapons, part of a $1.5 trillion modernization of the U.S. nuclear arsenal.

This comes as Iran continues to suffer under punishing U.S. sanctions, a policy of maximum pressure, and the threat of war despite Irans compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (i.e., Iran nuclear deal).

Moghadam explained how Iranian civilians, not Irans government, are the primary victims of sanctions that have greatly expanded into a complex spider web-like network that isolates ordinary Iranian citizens from global commercial and financial systems. Intensified U.S. sanctions restrict almost everything coming into Iran including life-saving medicines and medical equipment things like respirators, air purifiers, and wheelchairs that these veterans rely on.

Civilian people who are not politicians do not deserve to be affected by sanctions, Moghadam said, adding war is a great business for countries.

Indeed, war is good business. In Hawaiis case, the business of war often called defense is central to Hawaiis economy. Military, weapons and war are Hawaiis second largest sector of its economy with Hawaii ranking second in the nation for its defense spending as a percentage of state GDP, and third highest for defense spending per resident. In 2017, more than 81,000 military personnel and civilians were employed by the defense sector, reported to generate over $14 billion for Hawaiis economy.

From our congressional delegation who proudly announce securing military contracts, to our local leaders who are almost universally on board with military projects, to our families who have become dependent on military-related jobs, to our schools which cooperate with the military and are eager to expand STEM programs that will train Hawaiis youth to pursue careers in the military, intelligence, or security, Hawaii is steeped in war.

We remain complicit in the suffering of the victims of war.

We all know what war is and what it does. As former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee so crudely said in a 2016 GOP presidential debate, the purpose of the military is kill people and break things.

All too often in Hawaii, we not only support but also celebrate our own role in wars fought in someone elses country. As long as we accept or encourage Hawaii to be a place that facilitates the business of war, we will remain complicit in the suffering of the victims of war.

Even when we talk about living aloha and the cost of war, unless we are sincere in our opposition to supporting Hawaiis war industry, we are the ones who dont have legs to stand on.

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Trip To Iran Triggers Thoughts Of Hawaii's Role In War - Honolulu Civil Beat

Israel's Minister of Social Equality, Gila Gamliel says that the Islamic Revolution in 1979 in Iran forced tens of thousands of Jewish people to leave $31.3 billion of their assets and properties behind when they fled the country.

"After a two-year clandestine research, the Israeli Prime Minister's cabinet has concluded that the total wealth left behind by the Jews in Iran and Arab countries amounts to nearly $150 billion," Gamliel maintained.

Gamliel launched the classified project in 2017, teaming up with Israel's National Security Council, whose purpose was to evaluate the total sum of the property and assets that were left behind by Jews who had to flee Iran and Arab countries.

Based on the research, Israeli media report that Netanyahu is planning to force Iran and several Arab lands to pay compensation for the wealth left by the Jews.

The decision means that in any future talks with Iran and Arab governments, Israel will be obliged to table the subject and demand compensation.

According to a study by the Museum of the Diaspora, more than 700,000 Jews from Arab countries and Iran migrated to Israel, mostly in the second half of the 20th century, including nearly 400,000 from North Africa. The remainder arrived from Iraq, Yemen, and other countries.

It is hard to say how many Jews were forced out of these countries by governments, but most left because they had no choice given the prevailing anti-Semitic propaganda and serious intimidation.

It is the first time that the Israel has compiled comprehensive data on this issue, with significant historical and international political ramifications, Israel Hayom reported.

Gamliel is set to officially present the report to the government in the coming weeks.

Initially, in February 2010, the Knesset approved the Law for Preservation of the Rights to Compensation of Jewish Refugees from Arab Countries and Iran. Article 3 of the law stipulates, "Within the framework of negotiations to achieve peace in the Middle East, the government will include the issue of compensation for the lost property of Jewish refugees from Arab lands and Iran, including property owned by the Jewish communities of those lands." In the meantime, the Israeli prime minister was made responsible for advancing the provisions of the law.

"This is nothing less than the beginning of correction of the injustice of historic proportions," Gamliel was quoted as saying. "We will now be able to restore the property and wealth of hundreds of thousands of Jews, as part of the narrative of how a small state absorbed so many people after they were turned into penniless refugees."

The study breaks down the value of assets and population numbers for several of the countries, with assets including land, homes, savings, and businesses. Over 100,000 Jews lived in Iran, with assets of $31.3 billion; there were 38,000 Jews in Libya, who were stripped of $6.7 billion in assets; Yemen had 55,000 Jews, who had $2.6 billion in assets; neighboring Aden had a community of 8,000 Jews, with $700 million in assets; and in Syria, 30,000 Jews forced to leave the country left behind $1.4 billion in assets, the daily newspaper of Torah Jewry, Hamodia reports.

In the meantime, the research shows that only 10,000 Jews are left in Iran and just twenty Syria, while no Jews are living in Libya and Yemen.

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Israel Will Seek $31 Billion Compensation From Iran For Jewish Property - RadioFarda

At least 304 people have been killed, with many more wounded and thousands arrested after tens of thousands of people from all over Iran and representing all segments of society have exercised their fundamental right to freedom of assembly.... in the largest-scale unrest in 40 years, warn MEPs in the resolution adopted on Thursday by show of hands.

Nationwide protests in Iran started on 15 November, after the government announced a 50 percent increase in the price of fuel. The authorities have reacted in an unacceptable manner, MEPs say, urging Iranian authorities to disclose the total number of deaths and detainees, and inform all families where their relatives are being detained. Allegations of excessive use of force must be promptly investigated and all perpetrators must be brought to justice.

They also demand that Iran immediately release Sakharov prize laureate Nasrin Sotoudeh, who is still imprisoned serving a sentence of 33 years and 148 lashes.

Online service blockage

MEPs strongly condemn Irans decision to shut down internet access to global networks, as this is preventing communication and the free flow of information for Iranian citizens and is a clear violation of the freedom of speech.

Calling on Iranian authorities to live up to their international obligations, MEPs urge EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell to continue raising human rights concerns with Iranian authorities at bilateral and multilateral meetings.

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MEPs condemn violent crackdown on the recent protests in Iran | News - EU News

Irans authorities are carrying out a vicious crackdown following the outbreak of nationwide protests on 15 November, arresting thousands of protesters as well as journalists, human rights defenders and students to stop them from speaking out about Irans ruthless repression, said Amnesty International today.

The organization has carried out interviews with dozens of people inside Iran who described how, in the days and weeks during and following the protests, the Iranian authorities have held detainees incommunicado and subjected them to enforced disappearance, torture and other ill-treatment.

At least 304 people were killed and thousands were injured between 15 and 18 November as authorities crushed protests using lethal force, according to credible reports compiled by the organization. The Iranian authorities have refused to announce a figure for those killed.

Harrowing testimony from eyewitnesses suggests that, almost immediately after the Iranian authorities massacred hundreds of those participating in nationwide protests, they went on to orchestrate a wide-scale clampdown designed to instil fear and prevent anyone from speaking out about what happened, said Philip Luther, Middle East and North Africa Research Director at Amnesty International.

Harrowing testimony from eyewitnesses suggests that, almost immediately after the Iranian authorities massacred hundreds of those participating in nationwide protests, they went on to orchestrate a wide-scale clampdown designed to instil fear and prevent anyone from speaking out about what happened

Video footage verified by Amnestys Digital Verification Corps, backed up by witness testimony, shows Iranian security forces opening fire on unarmed protesters who did not pose any imminent risk. The majority of the deaths that the organization has recorded occurred as a result of gunshots to the head, heart, neck and other vital organs indicating that the security forces were shooting to kill.

The UN has stated that it has information suggesting that at least 12 children are among those killed. According to Amnesty Internationals research, they include 15-year-old Mohammad Dastankhah, who was shot in the heart in Shiraz, Fars province, as he passed by the protests on his way home from school, and 17-year-old Alireza Nouri, who was killed in Shahriar, Tehran province.

Instead of continuing with this brutal campaign of repression, the Iranian authorities must immediately and unconditionally release all those who have been arbitrarily detained, said Philip Luther.

The international community must take urgent action, including through the UN Human Rights Council holding a special session on Iran to mandate an inquiry into the unlawful killings of protesters, horrifying wave of arrests, enforced disappearances and torture of detainees, with a view to ensuring accountability.

Instead of continuing with this brutal campaign of repression, the Iranian authorities must immediately and unconditionally release all those who have been arbitrarily detained

Wave of mass arrests

On 17 November, the third day of protests, state media reported that more than 1,000 protesters had been arrested. On 26 November, Hossein Naghavi Hosseini, a spokesperson for Irans parliamentary committee for national security and foreign policy, said 7,000 people had been arrested. The authorities have yet to provide an official figure.

Several sources independently told Amnesty International that security forces are still carrying out raids across the country to arrest people in their homes and places of work.

Children as young as 15 have been detained alongside adults, including in Fashafouyeh prison, Tehran province, which is notorious for torture and other ill-treatment. Other places where detainees have been held are military barracks and schools.

Various government officials, including the Supreme Leader and the head of the judiciary, have labelled protesters as villains and rioters and associated protesters with foreign powers. State media has called for the death penalty to be used against protest leaders.

Also being targeted for arbitrary arrest and detention are journalists, students and human rights defenders, including minority rights and labour rights activists, and people from ethnic minority groups.

Journalist Mohammad Massaed was arrested on 23 November after posting a tweet about the near-total internet shutdown imposed by the authorities between 16 November and around 24 November. He was released on bail several days later.

Activist Soha Mortezaei was one of dozens of students arrested during a protest at Tehran University on 18 November. She has been detained without access to her lawyer or family since. Security officials based in the university had previously threatened to torture her with electric shocks and detain her in a mental hospital.

Minority rights activists arrested include Akbar Mohajeri, Ayoub Shiri, Davoud Shiri, Babak Hosseini Moghadam, Mohammad Mahmoudi, Shahin Barzegar and Yashar Piri who were all arrested in their places of work in Tabriz, East Azerbaijan province.

Some prisons and detention centres are now reported to be experiencing severe overcrowding. On 25 November, the head of the city council of Rey in Tehran province expressed concern to reporters that Fashafouyeh prison is extremely overcrowded and has neither the capacity nor the facilities to accommodate such large numbers of detainees.

At least two people who participated in the protests told Amnesty International they are in hiding fearing for their lives and said many others are in a similar situation.

One person said: I have been in hiding since I was seen and filmed by the security forces at the protests. They beat me with a baton before I escaped. I am now in hiding with a serious leg injury. I am not safe because they have gone to my house to arrest me. My situation right now is no different to being in prison.

While some of those arrested have been released, many remain detained incommunicado, denied access to their families and lawyers. A number of families told Amnesty International they are deeply concerned about loved ones who require access to medical treatment, given the authorities appalling track record of denying medical care to people in prisons.

Torture and other ill-treatment

Eyewitness accounts and video evidence indicate that some detainees have been subjected to torture and other ill-treatment, including through beatings and floggings. One person said that a family member who was released on bail emerged with bruises and cuts to his face and head and is so traumatized from his experience that he refuses to leave the house.

One video verified and geolocated by the Digital Verification Corps shows handcuffed detainees being taken into the grounds of Mali Abad police station in Shiraz, Fars province, and then beaten, punched and kicked by security forces.

Without urgent international pressure thousands will remain at risk of torture and other ill-treatment

Credible sources have informed Amnesty International that in Rajai Shahr prison in Karaj, Alborz province, hundreds of detainees, including children, were brought in trucks to the prison. They say that handcuffed and blindfolded detainees have been punched, kicked, flogged and beaten with batons by security forces on a daily basis.

Victims and eyewitnesses have also told Amnesty International that Iranian security forces have raided hospitals and medical centres across the country, arresting injured protesters and transferring them to detention centres, thereby denying them access to potentially life-saving medical care.

One source said that intelligence officials forced managers of a hospital in Khuzestan province to provide them with a list of names of newly admitted patients.

Another man described how he was arrested by plain-clothes officeOpen Graphrs as he was about to be discharged from a hospital in Alborz province after being treated for a gunshot wound to the stomach. He said he saw many other people with gunshot wounds and other injuries at the detention centre.

The authorities have an obligation to protect all detainees from torture and other ill-treatment. Given the systematic use of torture in Iran, it is crucial that the authorities provide UN officials, mandate holders, and other relevant experts immediate access to detention centres and prisons to conduct fact-finding investigations, said Philip Luther.

Without urgent international pressure thousands will remain at risk of torture and other ill-treatment.

Enforced disappearance and incommunicado detention

In dozens of cases reported to Amnesty International, detainees have had little or no contact with their families since their arrest and some have been held in conditions amounting to enforced disappearance, which is a crime under international law.

Relatives have told the organization they have visited police stations, prosecution offices, Revolutionary Courts, prisons and other detention centres to search for loved ones who have been forcibly disappeared but the authorities are refusing to provide them with information.

The mothers of a group of minority rights activists who were arrested during raids in East Azerbaijan province and West Azerbaijan province said the authorities said they had no intention to provide them with information. We can do whatever we want with your children. We can detain them for however long we want, even for 10 years... We will execute them and you will not be able to do anything about it, one official said.

Those subjected to enforced disappearance include Kurdish labour rights activist Bakhtiar Rahimi, who was arrested at his place of work in Marivan, Kurdistan province, on 27 November. There has been no news of his fate or whereabouts since. This is especially worrying since he suffers from kidney and heart problems and needs daily medication and specialist health care.

The world must not stand by in silence as the Iranian authorities continue to commit widespread human rights violations in their ruthless bid to crush dissent, said Philip Luther.

To read the Persian language version of this press release please click here

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News Iran: Thousands arbitrarily detained and at risk of torture in chilling post-protest crackdown - Amnesty International