The Iranian regime perpetrated crimes against humanity in the repression of protests that began in September 2022, following the death in custody of young Mahsa Amini for allegedly wearing the Islamic veil incorrectly, in a series of acts that mainly affected women, children and minorities.
The conclusion was made by the International Investigative Mission created by the UN Human Rights Council to clarify what happened during these events and in the months that followed, a period in which repression became stronger and more widespread within the country.
According to reliable figures cited by the research group, up to 551 protesters died at the hands of security forces, including at least 49 women and 68 minors, most of them shot.
In its first report, presented this Friday (8) to the UN, the Mission determined that there were extrajudicial executions and homicides, forced disappearances, rapes, torture, gender-based persecution and, in general, an unnecessary and disproportionate use of force.
The death of Amini, 22 years old and of Kurdish-Iranian origin, triggered a wave of outrage among women who took to the streets across the country in an unprecedented event to demand their rights.
In its investigations, the Mission concluded that gender-based persecution intersected with ethnic and religious discrimination in a series of human rights violations in which the Iranian government used “the entire state security apparatus.”
As for Amini's case, the experts who make up the Mission were able to determine that the cause of his death was the physical violence suffered during his detention, which the government tried to cover up by denying access to evidence and justice for the victim and his family.
Regarding the violence to contain the protests, the report indicates that the security forces, in addition to killing, caused unjustifiable injuries to the protesters, particularly in the eye area, leaving dozens of women, men and children blind.
During detentions, state authorities tortured victims to extract confessions or humiliate them, and cases were found of women and young girls raped in barbaric acts that included gang rape or rape with an object, electric shock to the genitals, forced nudity and touching .
The Mission also concluded that the government arbitrarily executed at least nine young people between December 2022 and January 2024, following summary trials based on confessions obtained under torture.
The investigations also showed that authorities at the highest hierarchical level in the country encouraged and justified all these human rights violations to repress the protests. One of the strategies used was to present the protesters as separatists, foreign agents or agitators.
The Mission states that “dozens of people remain at risk of being executed in connection with the protests” and called on the Iranian authorities to order the suspension of these sentences, and the release of all protesters, family members or people who expressed support for the protest movement .
Given the total impunity that reigns in Iran in relation to these events, the UN Mission called on countries in the international community to apply universal jurisdiction in all crimes against humanity in question.
The Mission also called on countries to offer protection to Iranians, through refugee status or humanitarian visas, in the case of people persecuted in connection with the demonstrations. (With EFE Agency)
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