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Qarchak Prison One of the Darkest Symbols of Human Rights Violations in Iran
A new report by the Iranian Human Rights Organization sheds light on the abysmal conditions of Qarchak Prison, near Varamin.
According to the Iranian Human Rights Organization, the wards of Qarchak Prison are essentially repurposed poultry sheds. For years, they have been used to house female prisoners, including political detainees, without adhering to any standards.
The report states that Qarchak Prison in Varamin not only violates global standards but also disregards the most basic principles of human dignity.
The Iranian Human Rights Organization reports that women in Qarchak Prison (southeast of Tehran) are held in extremely cramped spaces, without adequate ventilation or sufficient light. They endure unsafe drinking water, poor-quality food, inadequate health and medical services, and humiliating, gender-based treatment as part of their daily suffering.
Originally converted from a poultry farm to a men’s addiction treatment center, this facility was later repurposed as a women’s prison. However, no significant structural changes were made. The wards lack windows, and when the iron doors of the exercise yards are closed, the only visible scenery is walls.
Many prisoners are deprived of sleeping space due to severe overcrowding and a lack of basic facilities.
On average, between 1,500 and 2,000 women are incarcerated in this prison most months of the year. Each hall in Qarchak Prison is designed to hold fewer than 100 individuals, but they usually house over 150, and at times, this number has reached 600, leaving prisoners without even floor space to sleep.
According to the report, poor hygiene conditions, lack of facilities, and harsh punitive measures have turned Qarchak Prison into an “exile zone for many female political and civil prisoners.”
The Iranian Human Rights Organization warned that the existence of such facilities, especially in the 21st century, is a stark reminder that justice and human dignity are still sacrificed in many parts of the world. It emphasized the urgent need to close Qarchak Prison and transfer all detainees to facilities meeting minimum international standards.
Prisoners reported the abundance of pests and vermin in their living areas, including cockroaches, mice, salamanders, lizards, water bugs, and even venomous tarantulas.
Prisoners stated that the prison water is undrinkable and, if not boiled and purified, causes various gastrointestinal and kidney diseases.
Political prisoners who were temporarily exiled to this prison reported that the water is unfit even for bathing.
A political prisoner recounted developing severe eczema due to bathing with the mineral-laden water of Qarchak Prison, requiring about a year of treatment after release.
The report revealed that Qarchak Prison lacks a water purification system. Women, many of whom have no financial means, are forced to buy overpriced bottled water from the prison store for drinking.
Moreover, the poor-quality tap water is frequently cut off during the hot season.
Due to frequent water outages, prison authorities turn off the evaporative coolers in the wards, creating unbearable heat that often escalates psychological tensions and severe conflicts among inmates.
The Iranian Human Rights Organization reported that each hall, housing an average of 150 prisoners, has at most three or four toilets, which lack proper sewage disposal systems.
Sewage overflow on the floors attracts insects and creates toxic odors, leading to respiratory issues for prisoners.
The issue of inadequate sanitary facilities affects not only prisoners but also visitors, who have no access to toilets despite traveling long distances.
Despite the high number of sick inmates, medical visits are severely limited, with a maximum of five prisoners per ward being seen by a doctor.
Ophthalmologists and dentists rarely visit the prison, and dental care, apart from extractions, must be paid for by the patients themselves.
The report added that the prison’s medical laboratory cannot perform most tests, and if prisoners are referred to external medical centers, they must cover the costs themselves.
A political prisoner reported that in several instances where inmates working in the kitchen suffered severe burns from boiling water, the authorities refused to transfer them to a hospital, instead prescribing painkillers and burn ointments before sending them back to their wards.
While authorities are extremely restrictive in prescribing essential medications for prisoners, they frequently distribute sedatives and painkillers, using them as a means to pacify inmates.
The principle of separating prisoners based on the nature of their crimes is not observed, and most political prisoners are currently housed in Ward Seven alongside dangerous inmates.
Additionally, addicts and inmates with infectious diseases, including HIV and hepatitis B, are not segregated from other prisoners.
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Iran: 133 Executions in One Month
The Human Rights Activists News Agency, in a detailed report, announced that within just one month (from October 22 to November 21), at least 133 executions were carried out in Iran, including one public execution, 24 death sentences issued, and seven death sentences upheld.
This report, published on Thursday, November 21, on the HRANA website (hra-news), warned of “serious challenges in the field of human rights in Iran.”
According to the report, the state of human rights violations in Iran over the past month presents a “troubling outlook.”
The report states: “We have witnessed widespread violations, including the implementation of death sentences without fair trials, suppression of freedom of expression, arbitrary detentions, denial of the right to education, suicides among children and adolescents, domestic and honor-based violence against women, violations of workers’ rights, and excessive use of force by security forces.”
The report emphasizes the “urgent need for effective international and domestic actions to address these violations and support the victims,” stating that “instances of military and judicial violence, especially against women and minorities, have raised deep concerns regarding the Iranian regime’s commitment to upholding international human rights standards.”
The report includes instances such as “executions in cases where fair judicial procedures were not followed,” “widespread suppression of freedom of expression and arbitrary arrests,” “extensive violations of the right to education through student suspensions,” and “suicides resulting from pressure and hopelessness among children and adolescents.”
Highlighted in the report are the execution of Jamshid Sharmahd, a dual Iranian-German citizen, on charges of “corruption on earth”; death sentences for Milad Armoon, Alireza Kafaie, Amir Mohammad Khosheghbal, Navid Najaran, Hossein Nemati, and Alireza Barmarzpournak—six protesters involved in the case known as the “Ekbatan kids“; the issuance of a death sentence for Mohammad Mahdi S., one of those arrested during the nationwide 2022 protests, on charges of “murdering a IRGC Basij member”; and the sentencing of Varisheh Moradi, a political prisoner, to death on charges of “armed rebellion.”
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UN expert urges probe of Iran ‘atrocity crimes,’ ‘genocide’ in 1980s
AFP – July 22, 2024
Javaid Rehman, the U.N.’s independent special rapporteur
Geneva, Switzerland — A U.N. expert called Monday for an international investigation into “atrocity crimes,” including genocide, committed in Iran against religious minorities and amid a purge of dissidents in the 1980s.
Javaid Rehman, the U.N.’s independent special rapporteur on the rights situation in Iran, said there should be “no impunity for such gross human rights violations, regardless of when they were committed.”
“The Iranian regime and its leaders should not be allowed to escape the consequences of their crimes against humanity and genocide,” he added.
The expert, whose mandate ends on July 31, said in a statement that the “atrocity crimes” of summary, arbitrary and extra-judicial executions in 1981-1982 and in 1988 “amounted to crimes against humanity of murder and extermination, as well as genocide.”
Women, some reportedly raped before being killed, and numerous children were among those executed, he said.
Rehman lamented that “the targeting and victimizing of religious, ethnic and linguistic minorities and political opponents continued with complete impunity during, and since, the first decade of the establishment of the Islamic Republic in 1979.”
He highlighted attacks on the Bahai — Iran’s largest non-Muslim minority — which he said was “targeted with genocidal intent and persecution.”
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Iran Executes Finger Amputation Sentences on Two Brothers Convicted of Theft
Iran Wire – October 30, 2024
The authorities use a guillotine machine to amputate the fingers
Authorities at Urmia Prison in Iran’s West Azerbaijan Province carried out the sentence of finger amputation on two brothers convicted of alleged theft.
Branch 1 of the provincial juvenile court ordered the amputation of four fingers from the right hand of each brother, Shahab and Mehrdad Teimouri.
Originally from Sarpol-e Zahab, the brothers now reside in Malard, Karaj. They were arrested in 2019 on theft charges.
In April 2020, Branch 24 of Iran’s Supreme Court, under Judge Mohammad Karami, upheld the sentence. A similar sentence for co-defendant Ebrahim Khatibi was reduced to 20 years in prison.According to court documents obtained by human rights monitors, Mehrdad Teimouri acknowledged involvement in theft but disputed the extent of the charges, reported the Hengaw human rights organization.
The country’s Islamic Penal Code provides for various corporal punishments amounting to torture, including amputation, flogging, blinding, crucifixion and stoning.
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How Iran’s Internal Repression Fuels Regional Conflict and Global Outcry
October 27, 2024, By Dr. Ela Zabihi
The Iranian regime has long used violence as a tool to suppress dissent and maintain its hold on power. Recent months have seen an unprecedented surge in executions, with over 500 reported in 2024 alone. This includes the execution of more than 300 prisoners since the inauguration of the new president, Pezeshkian, in August. The regime has carried out executions at an alarming rate. These executions serve as a method of silencing political opposition and dissent within the country, reminiscent of the 1988 massacre when 30,000 political prisoners were executed. As internal protests grow and international pressures mount, Tehran’s response has been to increase its use of the death penalty as a means of instilling fear and control.
Externally, Iran’s aggressive foreign policy exacerbates conflicts throughout the Middle East. By financing, training, and arming proxies in Lebanon, Gaza, Yemen, and Iraq, the regime fuels regional instability. Senior Iranian officials, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, have openly admitted that Iran’s involvement in these conflicts serves to distract from the regime’s internal struggles. Khamenei has stated, “If we do not fight in Lebanon, Gaza, Yemen, and Iraq, we will have to fight in Tehran.” This clear admission underscores the regime’s strategy of exporting conflict to prevent domestic unrest.
Iran’s foreign interventions serve to distract the international community from its severe human rights violations at home. The humanitarian crisis within Iran, marked by the systematic repression of its population, is too often overshadowed by the focus on regional conflicts.
Despite the severity of these crises, effective international action has been hindered by geopolitical considerations and misinformation propagated by the Iranian regime. Global powers have been reluctant to confront Tehran out of fear of further destabilizing the region. Additionally, the regime’s efforts to delegitimize opposition groups have been somewhat effective in diverting attention from their own abuses.
However, international bodies such as the United Nations have voiced strong opposition to Iran’s increasing use of executions. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and various UN thematic mandate holders, including the Special Rapporteur on Iran, Professor Javaid Rehman, have condemned the surge in executions, calling on Tehran to halt these unlawful acts. The joint statement issued by the US, UK, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand also highlights the regime’s brutal repression of women, girls, and political activists.
UN experts have described Iran’s executions as unlawful, pointing to serious violations of fair trial and due process rights and urged Iran to immediately halt the use of the death penalty.
…The situation in Iran is urgent, and the risk of another massacre is real. Without decisive international intervention, the cycle of repression and violence will continue, both within Iran and across the region. The global community must take action to stop the executions and hold the Iranian regime accountable for its crimes.
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More Than 850 Executions in Iran in 2023
Iran has put behind one of its worst years in terms of executions, with at least 864 prisoners put to death, Indeed, the death penalty is considered one of the most severe forms of punishment, and it has been abolished or significantly restricted in over 170 countries worldwide. Only around 30 countries still actively use the death penalty. Unfortunately, the Iranian regime consistently remains at the forefront of these countries that continue to implement capital punishment. Julia Duchrow, the Deputy Secretary General, Amnesty International (Germany), has stated regarding executions in Iran, “The leader of Iran is responsible for 65% of the executions carried out worldwide last year.”
The trend of executions continued to escalate throughout 2023, with more than 36% of the executions (313 cases) taking place in the last three months of the year, coinciding with the war in Gaza, which the regime has been using as a smokescreen to ratchet up human rights abuses at home.
The executions have been especially harsh toward ethnic minorities. Among the victims, 191 individuals, or more than 22%, are from the most oppressed and marginalized Baluch citizens.
Notably, among the executed were eight juvenile offenders who were under 18 at the time of committing the crime. Seven executions were shockingly carried out in public.
Also on January 1, 2024, five prisoners were executed in Karaj Central Prison.
On January 4, two prisoners were hanged in Ardabil, and one in Hamedan, while three others were hanged in Ardabil Central Prison in the previous ways. On Tuesday, January 2, the government news agency IRNA reported the execution of nine prisoners in Ardabil.
Six protesters were executed in 2023 and two in December 2022. The eight protesters were sentenced to death and hanged after unfair trials, solely for their participation in the protests.
The Iranian judiciary had issued death sentences for over 100 people who took part in the 2022-2023 protests. Some of the protesters are still in a state of uncertainty, while others remain under the shadow of the death sentences.
In 2023, the death sentences of 693 prisoners were carried out secretly without any media coverage. Most of the data on executions is obtained through independent media and through communication with inside the prison.
Since January 2023, the death sentences of 26 female prisoners have been executed in Iranian regime prisons, showing a 37% growth compared to the previous year.
In the previous year, Iran became the largest executioner of women in the world by executing at least 16 women in 2022. According to Amnesty International’s report in 2022, a total of 24 women were executed worldwide, 16 of which belonged to Iran. In 2023, the regime broke its own record.
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IRAN: SECURITY FORCES USED RAPE AND OTHER SEXUAL VIOLENCE TO CRUSH “WOMAN LIFE FREEDOM” UPRISING WITH IMPUNITY
Security forces in Iran used rape and other forms of sexual violence, amounting to torture and other ill-treatment, to intimidate and punish peaceful protesters during the 2022 “Woman Life Freedom” uprising, Amnesty International said in a new report published today.
The 120-page report, “They violently raped me”: Sexual violence weaponized to crush Iran’s “Woman Life Freedom” uprising, documents in detail the harrowing ordeals of 45 survivors, including 26 men, 12 women and seven children, who were subjected to rape, gang rape and/or other forms of sexual violence by intelligence and security forces following their arbitrary arrest for challenging decades of oppression and entrenched gender-based discrimination. To date, the Iranian authorities have not charged or prosecuted any officials for the instances of rape and other sexual violence documented in the report.
“Our research exposes how intelligence and security agents in Iran used rape and other sexual violence to torture, punish and inflict lasting physical and psychological damage on protesters, including children as young as 12. The harrowing testimonies we collected point to a wider pattern in the use of sexual violence as a key weapon in the Iranian authorities’ armory of repression of the protests and suppression of dissent to cling to power at all costs,” Amnesty International’s Secretary-General Agnés Callamard said.
“Iran’s prosecutors and judges were not only complicit by ignoring or covering up survivors’ complaints of rape, but also used torture-tainted ‘confessions’ to bring spurious charges against survivors and sentence them to imprisonment or death. Victims have been left with no recourse and no redress; only institutionalized impunity, silencing and multiple physical and psychological scars running deep and far.”
Intelligence and security agents in Iran used rape and other sexual violence to torture, punish and inflict lasting physical and psychological damage on protesters, including children as young as 12. The harrowing testimonies we collected point to a wider pattern in the use of sexual violence as a key weapon in the Iranian authorities’ armory of repression.
Agnés Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary-General
The report reveals that perpetrators of rape and other forms of sexual violence included agents from the Revolutionary Guards, the paramilitary Basij force, and the Ministry of Intelligence, as well as different branches of the police force including the Public Security Police (police amniat-e omoumi), the Investigation Unit of Iran’s police (agahi), and the Special Forces of the police (yegan-e vijeh). Survivors included women and girls who had defiantly removed their headscarves, as well as men and boys who took to the streets to express their outrage at decades of gender-based discrimination and oppression.
Map of Iran showing the 17 provinces where Amnesty International documented rape and other forms of sexual violence against protesters during the “Woman Life Freedom” uprising . ©Amnesty International The prevalence of sexual violence during the “Woman Life Freedom” uprising is difficult to estimate, as stigma and fears of reprisals usually lead to under-reporting. Nevertheless, the organization’s detailed documentation of 45 cases in more than half of Iran’s provinces, along with accounts from survivors and other former detainees about additional instances of rape and other sexual violence against scores of detained protesters, indicates that the documented violations are part of a wider pattern.
Amnesty International shared its findings with the Iranian authorities on 24 November but has thus far received no response.
“ISN’T THIS WHAT YOU SEEK FROM LIBERATION?”
Sixteen of the 45 survivors whose cases were documented in the report were raped, including six women, seven men, a 14-year-old girl, and two boys aged 16 and 17. Six of them – four women and two men – were gang raped by up to 10 male agents.
State agents raped women and girls vaginally, anally and orally, while men and boys were raped anally. Survivors were raped with wooden and metal batons, glass bottles, hosepipes, and/or agents’ sexual organs and fingers. Rape took place in detention facilities and police vans, as well as schools or residential buildings unlawfully repurposed as detention places.
Plainclothes agents made us face the walls of the vehicle and gave electric shocks to our legs…They tortured me through beatings … They pulled down my trousers and raped me…I was really being ripped apart…I was throwing up a lot and bleeding from my rectum.
Farzad, survivor of gang-rape by security agents
Farzad, who was gang raped in a van belonging to the Special Forces of the police told Amnesty International: “Plainclothes agents made us face the walls of the vehicle and gave electric shocks to our legs…They tortured me through beatings … resulting in my nose and teeth being broken. They pulled down my trousers and raped me…I was really being ripped apart…I was throwing up a lot and bleeding from my rectum.”
Maryam, who was gang raped in a Revolutionary Guards detention centre, recounted that her rapists told her: “You are all addicted to penis, so we showed you a good time. Isn’t this what you seek from liberation?”
Two female protesters run from security forces on motorcycles during a protest for Mahsa Amini, who died after being arrested by morality police allegedly not complying with strict dress code in Tehran, © Stringer/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images Amnesty International further documented the cases of 29 survivors who were subjected to forms of sexual violence other than rape. These routinely involved state agents grabbing, groping, beating, punching, and kicking survivors’ breasts, genitals and buttocks; enforcing nudity, sometimes in front of video cameras; administrating electric shocks, inserting needles or applying ice to men’s testicles; forcibly cutting women’s hair and/or dragging them violently by their hair; and threats to rape survivors and/or their relatives.
Rape and other sexual violence were frequently accompanied by other forms of torture and ill-treatment, including beatings, floggings, electric shocks, administration of unidentified pills or injections, denial of food and water, and cruel and inhuman detention conditions. Security forces also routinely denied survivors medical care, including for rape-related injuries.
NO DOMESTIC PATH TO JUSTICE
The overwhelming majority of survivors told Amnesty International that they did not file complaints after release, fearing further harm and believing the judiciary to be a tool of repression rather than redress.
Six survivors revealed their torture marks or complained about abuse when brought in front of prosecution officials for questioning while still in detention, but were ignored.
Three survivors raised formal complaints after release, but two were forced to withdraw them after security forces threatened to kidnap and/or kill them or their relatives, while the third was ignored for months and told by a high-ranking official that he “mistook” a body search for sexual violence.
Amnesty International also examined a leaked official document, dated 13 October 2022, and published by a media outlet outside Iran in February 2023, which reveals that the authorities covered up complaints of rape made by two young women against two Revolutionary Guards agents during the protests. The Deputy Prosecutor of Tehran advised in the document to classify the case as “completely secret” and suggested to gradually “close [the case] over time.”
REELING FROM TRAUMA YET YEARNING FOR JUSTICE
The women, men and child survivors told Amnesty International they continued to deal with the physical and psychological traumas of rape and other forms of sexual violence.
I used to be a fighter in life. Even when the Islamic Republic tried to break me down, I carried on. However, recently, I think about suicide a lot…I am like a person who waits all day for night-time so I can sleep.
Sahar, one of the survivors of sexual assault by security agents
The mother of a schoolboy who was raped told Amnesty International that her son attempted suicide twice while in custody.
A protester, Sahar, recounted the traumatic impact of sexual violence at the hands of security forces who removed her clothes, apart from her underwear, and touched her breasts and genitals while mocking and threatening her with rape:
“I used to be a fighter in life. Even when the Islamic Republic tried to break me down, I carried on. However, recently, I think about suicide a lot…I am like a person who waits all day for night-time so I can sleep.”
Zahra a woman who was raped by an agent of the Special Forces police described the long-lasting psychological toll:
“I don’t think I will ever be the same person again. You will not find anything that will bring me back to myself, to return my soul to me… I hope that my testimony will result in justice and not just for me”.
“Without political will and fundamental constitutional and legal reforms, structural barriers will continue to plague Iran’s justice system, which has time and again exposed its shameful inability and unwillingness to effectively investigate crimes under international law,” said Agnés Callamard.
With no prospects for justice domestically, the international community has a duty to stand with the survivors and pursue justice. They should support the extension of the mandate of the UN Fact-Finding mission on Iran to ensure an independent mechanism continues to collect, preserve and analyse evidence of crimes under international law.
Agnés Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary-General
“With no prospects for justice domestically, the international community has a duty to stand with the survivors and pursue justice. They should support the extension of the mandate of the UN Fact-Finding mission on Iran to ensure an independent mechanism continues to collect, preserve and analyse evidence of crimes under international law and other gross human rights violation. We urge states to initiate criminal investigations in their own countries against suspected perpetrators under the principle of universal jurisdiction, with a view to issuing international arrest warrants.”
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UN Committee Condemns Human Rights Violations In Iran
A UN General Assembly committee has slammed Iran for discriminating against and harassing women and girls, in addition to a host of other human rights violations.
The Third Committee of the 78th General Assembly approved a resolution entitled “Situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran” by a vote of 80 in favor.
The resolution, whose draft was introduced by Canada, condemned the misogynistic policies and practices of the Iranian regime, calling on Tehran to put an end to its discrimination against women.
The regime continues to introduce yet stricter legislation to crack down on hijab and ‘chastity’ laws as more women across Iran reject the mandatory headscarf and curbs on their behavior. Surveillance has been stepped up and like Mahsa Amini, the symbol of the Women, Life, Freedom uprising which began after her death in morality police custody last year, a 16-year-old girl, Armita Geravand, also died in their hands in recent weeks.
Citing “the Iranian authorities’ flagrant disregard for human rights, life and dignity”, the resolution condemned “the intensified, targeted repression of women and girls by Iran, both online and offline”. Women are arbitrarily arrested on the street for hijab refusal and refused entry to public spaces including universities, hospitals and public spaces.
https://press.un.org/en/2023/gashc4401.doc.htm
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Iranian girl in critical condition after alleged encounter over hijab, activists say
Reuters
EDT Updated a day ago
DUBAI, Oct 4 (Reuters) – An Iranian teenaged girl is in critical condition in hospital, two prominent rights activists told Reuters on Wednesday, after falling into a coma following what they said was a confrontation with agents in the Tehran metro for violating the hijab law.
Armita Geravand’s case is highly sensitive, raising concerns the 16-year-old might face the same fate as Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman whose death in a coma last year in the custody of morality police sparked months of nationwide protest.
While authorities have denied claims by rights groups that Geravand went into a coma on Sunday after a confrontation with officers enforcing the Islamic dress code, Iranian-Kurdish rights group Hengaw posted her picture unconscious at a Tehran hospital where she was taken after the incident.
There was no immediate response from Iran’s interior ministry to a request for comment about the incident.
“We are following her case closely. She is in coma at Intensive Care Unit of the hospital and her condition is critical … her relatives said there is a heavy presence of plain clothes at the hospital,” one of the activists in Iran said.
The second activist said security forces had forbidden Geravand’s parents from posting her picture on social media or from talking to human rights groups.
The activists spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.
CCTV footage, shared on IRNA, showed Geravand without mandatory hijab accompanied by two female friends walking toward the train from the metro platform. Upon entering the cabin, one of the girls is seen immediately backing off and reaching for the ground, before another girl is dragged unconscious from the cabin by passengers.
Reuters could not immediately verify the authenticity of the footage.
The head of the Tehran Metro Operating Company, Masoud Dorosti, told IRNA the CCTV footage showed no sign of verbal or physical conflict between passengers or company employees.
An Iranian journalist was briefly arrested on Monday when she went to the hospital to inquire about Geravand’s situation, Iranian media reported.
“Iranian security institutions have said her condition was caused by low pressure – an oft-repeated scenario from such institutions,” Iran-based rights group Dadban said on social media.
In a video posted on the state news agency IRNA, her parents said that their daughter had suffered a drop in blood pressure, lost her balance, and hit her head inside the metro cabin.
“I think my daughter’s blood pressure dropped, I am not too sure, I think they have said her pressure dropped,” her mother said. But she added that there was no point in creating controversy.
Rights groups on social media have called on authorities to publish the footage from inside the cabin, claiming that her parents’ statement was made under duress.
Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on social media platform X said: “Once again a young woman in #Iran is fighting for her life. Just because she showed her hair in the subway. It is unbearable. The parents of #ArmitaGarawand do not belong in front of cameras, but have the right to be at their daughter’s bedside.”
Reporting by Dubai Newsroom and Parisa Hafezi Editing by Michael Georgy and William Maclean
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Iran: Respect families’ right to commemorate loved ones killed during uprising without reprisals on one-year anniversary
The families of those unlawfully killed by Iran’s security forces during the “Woman Life Freedom” uprising in 2022 must be allowed to mark the one-year anniversaries of their deaths, Amnesty International said today, as the Iranian authorities ramp up their campaign of harassment and intimidation against victims’ families to enforce silence and impunity.
In new research published today, Amnesty International details how the Iranian authorities have been subjecting victims’ families to arbitrary arrest and detention, imposing cruel restrictions on peaceful gatherings at grave sites, and destroying victims’ gravestones. Not a single official has been held to account for the unlawful killing of hundreds of men, women and children by security forces during the authorities’ brutal crackdown on the popular uprising that engulfed Iran following the death in custody of Mahsa/Zhina Amini on 16 September 2022. Amnesty International considers the mental pain and anguish inflicted on mourning families by the authorities’ abusive practices to be a violation of the absolute prohibition on torture and other cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment under international law.
“The cruelty of the Iranian authorities knows no bounds. In their sinister attempt to cover up their crimes, the authorities are compounding the anguish and suffering of victims’ families by preventing them from demanding justice, truth and reparation or even planting flowers at their loved ones’ graves. As the anniversary of the uprising nears, victims’ families fear that the authorities will deploy their usual repressive tactics to bar them from holding commemorations,” said Diana Eltahawy, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa.
“The international community must support victims’ families by pressing the Iranian authorities in private and in public to respect their right to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly. The families must be protected from arbitrary detention, threats and other reprisals. States must also call on the Iranian authorities to release all those who were detained for advocating for truth and justice over the deaths, quash all unjust convictions and sentences against them, and drop all charges against those facing reprisals for speaking out.”
The international community must support victims’ families by pressing the Iranian authorities in private and in public to respect their right to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly. The families must be protected from arbitrary detention, threats and other reprisals.
Diana Eltahawy, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa
Amnesty International has documented in its latest publication the cases of 36 victims’ families from 10 provinces across the country who have been subjected to human rights violations in recent months. They include families of 33 individuals who were unlawfully killed by the security forces during the protests; families of two individuals who were arbitrarily executed in connection with the protests; and family of one torture survivor who committed suicide upon release from detention.
Human rights violations against families for seeking justice, truth and reparation
The violations inflicted against victims’ families include arbitrary arrest and detention; unjust prosecutions on vaguely-worded spurious national security charges, which, in some cases, led to prison and flogging sentences; summoning and subjecting them to coercive interrogations by prosecutors or security forces; putting them under unlawful surveillance; and destroying or damaging the graves of their loved ones.
In July 2023, the mother of 16-year-old Artin Rahmani, who was shot dead by security forces on 16 November 2022 in Izeh, Khuzestan province, said on Twitter: “The authorities of the Islamic Republic killed my innocent son, imprisoned my brother and relatives, and summoned me to the prosecutor’s office for the crime of seeking justice for the killing of my child to silence me. Citizens in Iran have no right to protest and any efforts to seek freedom are suppressed with great violence”.
The authorities of the Islamic Republic killed my innocent son, imprisoned my brother and relatives, and summoned me to the prosecutor’s office for the crime of seeking justice for the killing of my child to silence me. Citizens in Iran have no right to protest and any efforts to seek freedom are suppressed with great violence.
Mother of 16-year-old Artin Rahmani, who was shot dead by security forces on 16 November 2022
The authorities have also tried to bar victims’ families from holding ceremonies at the graves of their loved ones, including on the occasion of their birthdays. Families who have defiantly held gatherings have reported the heavy presence of security forces who violently cracked down on ceremonies, taking pictures of those present and beating or arbitrarily arresting family members.
Damaging the graves of those unlawfully killed
Amnesty International documented and published images depicting the destruction of graves belonging to more than 20 victims from 17 cities. Graves have been damaged with tar, paint and arson; headstones have been broken; and phrases on gravestones describing victims as “martyr” or stating that they died for the cause of freedom have been forcibly erased. The authorities have failed to conduct any investigations to identify those suspected of criminal responsibility for these crimes and bring them to justice or to take measures to prevent the repeated destruction of gravesites.
Some of the graves were damaged by security forces in front of family members; other graves were damaged overnight or at other times when nobody was present after authorities repeatedly threatened to destroy gravestones that depict artwork expressing support for the “Woman Life Freedom” uprising or that contain poetic phrases indicating that victims suffered unnatural deaths caused by political oppression.
In April 2023, the sister of Milad Saeedianjoo, who was fatally shot by security forces in Izeh, Khuzestan province, on 15 November 2022, said on Instagram: “To the person who, on the birthday of my brother, grabbed my hair, tortured me with a baton, trampled on my brother’s grave in front of my eyes… What is the verdict you have given yourself for all of this? It has been proven to me who is the murderer of my brother… Our family has not filed a complaint in any court in Iran… because it was futile going to the murderer to file a complaint about the murderer…”
Mahsa/Zhina Amini’s family has publicly spoken out about the repeated damage to her grave. The authorities have announced plans to make substantial changes to Aichi cemetery in Saqqez, Kurdistan province, where she is buried, that will make her grave less accessible to the public. Her grave has become a place where families of those unlawfully killed during the protests gather to find collective solace and solidarity and indicate their determination to seek justice.
