Human rights organization Amnesty International accuses Iran: Detained children experience torture and sexual violence in the prisons of the mullah regime. (icon picture)Bild: IMAGO/NurPhoto / imago images
International
16.03.2023, 11:4016.03.2023, 11:48
Trigger warning: The following text describes sexualized acts of violence and their consequences for those affected, which can be stressful and retraumatizing.
The death of Mahsa Amini in custody sparked a wave of protests six months ago Iran out of. They’ve been fighting ever since People tirelessly against the authoritarian government, thereby risking theirs Life. The mullah regime is brutally taking action against the demonstrators – even against them Kinder. This is what the human rights organization Amnesty International claims.
People around the world are showing solidarity with the revolution and the protests in Iran.Credit: IMAGO/ZUMA Wire
Amnesty charges: Revolutionary Guard tortures detained children
Flogging, electric shocks and sexual Violence – are methods of torture that imprisoned children have to endure. According to Amnesty, the aim is to punish and humiliate girls and boys and to extort forced “confessions”. For that scare the Revolutionary Guard, the paramilitary Basij, the police for public security and other security and intelligence forces apparently stop at nothing. Given the predominantly young participants in the protests, Amnesty assumes that thousands of children were imprisoned.
Just a few days ago, Irans justice revealed that at least 22,000 protesters had been arrested. Most of the protesters are said to have been released in the meantime. There are no exact figures from the state.
The paramilitary troops of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard are supposed to bring the demonstrators under control.Image: AP / Vahid Salemi
According to the human rights organization, the children were being held in cruel and inhuman conditions: overcrowded cells, poor access to toilets and washing facilities, lack of adequate food and drinking water, extreme cold and prolonged solitary confinement. Girls were detained by all-male security forces without regard to their gender needs. Officials also allegedly denied the children adequate medical attention, even for injuries sustained as a result of torture.
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Violence as a weapon: Children and young people should be controlled
“This violence against children exposes a deliberate strategy to destroy the vibrant spirit of the country’s youth,” writes Diana Eltahawy in Message. She is Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa. She further says:
“It is abhorrent that officials have criminally wielded such power over vulnerable and frightened children, inflicting severe pain and distress on them and their families and leaving them with severe physical and mental scars.”
According to Eltahawy, the regime is cruelly trying to prevent children and young people from demanding freedom and human rights. In the course of the investigation, Amnesty documented the cases of seven children in detail. The human rights organization spoke to dozens of witnesses, including victims, family members, lawyers and prisoners who were in prison with children.
Documented severe abuse of minors
The violence against children begins with the arrest, where children and young people are beaten in the prison vans and tortured in the detention centers. This included electric shocks to the genitals, forced administration of unknown pills and severe threats. Before they were released, state officials often threatened the children with arresting their relatives if they complained.
According to Amnesty International, children as young as 12 were among the victims.
Descriptions that leave the Green politician Lamya Kaddor speechless. On Twitter she writes: “Authoritarian countries do not shy away from violence and torture of children and young people.” This is a cruel and unscrupulous practice.
Amnesty calls on the international community to act
Amnesty calls for the imprisoned children to be released and appeals to the international community: “As there is no prospect of effective, impartial investigations into the torture of children in Iran, we call on all states to exercise universal jurisdiction over Iranian officials,” Eltahawy urged. A quote from a mother underlines how serious and cruel the situation is.
Warning. Sensitive content follows.
A boy arrested by state agents told his mother, “I was forced to say what they wanted because they raped me with a hose. They took my hand and forced me to put fingerprints on the papers.”
(with dpa material)
A woman is standing in the middle of the street. People gather behind her. Voices from loudspeakers drown out screams and whistles. A jet of water whips across the asphalt. The police aim directly at the demonstrators. One person in particular is able to withstand the pressure: the very woman who is waving the blue star flag of the European Union.
