‘They are killing us slowly’: Iranian security forces used ‘unlawful force against plane protesters’

Human rights group alleges violent repression and sexual assault of detainee

Iranian security forces used unlawful force in moving to quell peaceful protests over the downing of a Ukrainian passenger jet, according to Amnesty International.

Authorities arbitrarily detained scores of demonstrators, beating them with batons and firing volleys of rubber bullets and pointed pellets “completely inappropriate for use in any policing situation”, of which the human rights group claims to have evidence in the form of victims’ x-rays.

“The situation in Iran right now is even more painful than death,” a witness in Tehran told Amnesty. ”They are killing us slowly; they are torturing us to death.”

After a brief few days of rare national unity in the wake of Qassem Soleimani’s assassination, the plane’s destruction – and officials’ ensuing denial – saw anti-government sentiment erupt once more, with thousands of demonstrators braving incarceration. Others reportedly risked execution with shouts of “death to the dictator” – a reference to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The Independent previously reported on footage appearing to show helmet-clad police beating protesters with batons as gun-wielding militiamen roamed the streets, some of which were spattered in blood. Witnesses reported a handful of gunshot victims, yet the police denied using lethal force.

Another witness told Amnesty how the security forces fired tear gas into the entrance hall of a metro station to stop people leaving to join the protest – an account consistent with footage posted to social media.

“There was so much tear gas,” they said. “I was so mentally stressed and anxious that I initially didn’t even realise that I had been shot ... the special forces of the police were firing pointed pellets at people.

“My coat is now filled with holes and I have bruises on my body. The streets were filled with armed plain-clothed agents firing shots into the air and threatening to shoot people.

“A member of the security forces chased me when they saw me filming the protest and that’s when I was shot in the leg with a pointed pellet.”

Two x-rays obtained by the group clearly show pellets lodged in the knee joint of one protester and the ankle of another.

The same eyewitness claimed authorities had threatened doctors and she was turned away by three medical centres and even a veterinary clinic after seeking treatment.

On Tuesday, she was allegedly told by a doctor in Tehran that she had to leave immediately because if the hospital’s intelligence department discovered she had been among the protesters she would be arrested.

While scores of arrests are believed to have taken place across the country, in Tehran and Amol, Amnesty alleges detainees’ families are being denied information about their fate and whereabouts, amounting to enforced disappearance.

The group has also received allegations of sexual violence against at least one woman arbitrarily arrested by plain-clothes officers. The woman was allegedly taken to a room in the police station for questioning, where a security official forced her to perform oral sex on him and attempted to rape her.

“Iran’s security forces have once again carried out a reprehensible attack on the rights of Iranian people to peaceful expression and assembly, and resorted to unlawful and brutal tactics,” said Amnesty’s Middle East research and advocacy director, Philip Luther.

“The Iranian authorities must end the repression as a matter of urgency and ensure the security forces exercise maximum restraint and respect protesters’ rights to peaceful expression and assembly.

“Detainees must be protected from torture and other ill-treatment, and all those who have been arbitrarily detained must be released.”

Protests erupted in November, sparked by a fuel price hike amid punishing US sanctions, which Donald Trump has demanded be reinforced. Hundreds of thousands eventually turned out to rail against poverty, government corruption and the regime’s incorrigible nature.

Between 300 and 1,500 people are believed to have been killed, and thousands detained, but a government-enforced internet shutdown served to obscure details of the protests and their death toll.

The demonstrations – believed to be the largest since the 1979 revolution – stalled with the US killing of Soleimani, but reignited in a diminished but no less enraged fashion with the regime’s downing of Ukrainian Airlines flight 752, which killed all 176 people on board.

On Wednesday, as protests entered their fifth day, footage purported to show mourners in Mahabad ripping the Islamic Republic’s flag from atop the casket of a victim of the crash.