Iran: Horrific crackdown on November protests
Published by Ali on December 24, 2019International Liberty Association: We receive more reports and evidences regarding the cracking down on November protests in Iran which indicates the scale of the crimes that committed are much higher than what have been reported so far. Till now, it has been reported, by a various news agency and human rights organisations, that, more than 1,500 have been killed by security forces, plainclothes agents and Revolutionary Guards, over 4,000 have been wounded, and at least 12,000 arrested and detained, who are facing torture and execution, or suspicious death in detention centres.
ILA along with a number of human rights organisations, believe that, actual figures must be considered much higher. It should be mentioned that, many cases have not been registered due to massive repression despite vicious slaughter of protesters.
There have been numerous reports indicating that before handing over the bodies of the victims, security forces threaten families and make them sign written pledges not to hold funeral ceremonies for their loved ones and refrain from talking about the reason for their deaths.
Bereaved families face two options in filling the birth certificates of their loved ones, before being able to collect the bodies of their loved ones:
- If the family insists on registering the reason for death as “being shot with live ammunition and firearms,” they must pay between 20 and 200 million tomans as the cost of bullets.
- If the family accepts to register the reason for death as “natural death” and proclaim that “they have no objections,” they can receive the bodies for free.
In both cases, however, security forces control and monitor the funeral procession and memorial of the victims. They even prevent families from crying at the grave of their loved ones to bid farewell.
Intelligence Ministry agents also patrol the street where the victims’ residences are located. They check all flyers and banners announcing the funerals. They instruct families not use large portraits of their loved ones, and they are the ones to choose the eulogizer.
Mohammad Javad Abedi, 16, from Isfahan worked as a construction worker. On Sunday, November 17, he was shot dead as he was going back home from work. His family did not receive his death certificate and were not allowed to see his body. His shrouded corpse was buried in Isfahan, in the presence of intelligence agents. Mohammad Javad’s father said he could not even see which part of his son’s body had been shot. Ali Sartippi, 21, was shot in the abdomen by security forces and wounded in the city of Malard on Sunday night, 17 November. He was taken to a hospital in Karaj where he lost his life at 4 a.m.
The body of Ali Sartippi was buried on 21 November. There are no black mourning flags or flyers around his residence. According to witnesses and reports, a large number of youths from this neighbourhood have been killed during the Iran November protests but the families are forced to restrict their mourning ceremonies to within the walls of their homes due to threats and intimidations by the security forces.
At the time of collecting his body, the family of Arsham Ebrahimi were instructed to bury him in the dark of the night. They were accompanied by four State Security Force agents to bury him in a place previously designated by them.
ILA: Due to massive suppression, many of those wounded are in dire conditions. Plainclothes agents and IRGC forces are stationed inside most hospitals to identify and arrest those wounded in the Iran November protests.
Many of those wounded have refrained from going to hospital to receive treatment, as they will face themselves with high risk of arrest.
Another protester wounded in Karaj, was immediately transferred to hospital to be operated on. Intelligence Ministry agents, however, took him to another hospital and interrogated him despite his critical physical conditions. Two days later, he was transferred to a detention centre. He spent one night without food and medicine in temporary detention and was subsequently transferred to prison.