Assault on 'courageous' Iranian women holding protests is 'attack on humanity': German FM

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on Thursday condemned the "brutal attack" on Iranians protesting the death in custody of young Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini.

"We are on the side of the courageous women in Iran," Baerbock told reporters on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. "The brutal attack on the courageous women in Iran is also an attack on humanity."

The official death toll from Iran's wave of popular unrest over Amini's death shot up Thursday to at least 17.

However the Oslo-based non-government group Iran Human Rights said at least 31 civilians had been killed in a crackdown by the Iranian security forces in six nights of violence.

Baerbock said Germany would ask the UN Human Rights Council to address the repression as a violation "of women's rights and thus human rights."

"This makes clear that if women's rights are trampled on, if one has no other weapon than to violently crack down, then it's the weakest kind of authority."

Amini, 22, died last week after she being arrested by the Islamic republic's feared morality police for allegedly wearing a hijab headscarf in an "improper" way, sparking widespread outrage.