Amnesty Details Torture And Rape Of Protesting Children In Iran

Ebadi -- who was awarded the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize for her pioneering human rights efforts, especially for women, children, and refugees -- addressed MEPs, urging the EU to maintain pressure on the Iranian regime over human rights violations.

She called on MEPs not to turn their back on the protests in Iran, sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, during which more than 550 people have been killed and more than 20,000 arrested so far. "Do not give in to this regime," she appealed to the parliament, insisting that "sanctions work" against the Islamic Republic’s authorities. 

"Subordinate aid to Iran, contracts with Iran, and treaties with Iran to respect for international norms, otherwise the money will not benefit the Iranian people at all," said the activist, who now lives in exile.

Before the Iranian opposition figure took the floor European Parliament President Roberta Metsola, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti delivered speeches about empowering women, reiterating that the International Women's Day – which was celebrated globally on March 8, must be seen as an invitation for societies to do better.

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“International Women’s Day is marked in our annual calendar not only to recognize the achievements of women and girls across the world but also as a call to action,” Metsola said. “A rallying point to strengthen gender equality across all spheres of our society.”

Paying homage to Ebadi, she said, “Your presence is a reminder that the fight will not cease, and that freedom requires courage and sacrifice... Women will not go silently into the night. They will not give up. And the European Parliament will continue to stand with the women of Iran.”

“Today I want to honor all those women who are fighting for their freedom and inclusion; women who are killed, beaten, and abused all over the world just for being women…All those women who face all this and remain unbowed and unbroken,” she added.

Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also praised all the courageous Iranian women fighting for their “freedom to show their hair or cover it, to study, work, to love without asking for anyone’s permission” and for inspiring women across the world.

Ebadi emphasized that Iranian protesters’ demand is regime change under the slogan “Woman, life, freedom,” and called on democracies not to remain indifferent to human rights violations in the country.

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Describing the dire situation of imprisoned journalists, lawyers, artists, activists and young schoolgirls, she decried the absence of a functioning and independent justice system in Iran. "Don't look away from the immense violations of fundamental rights in Iran," she called on the MEPs.

Ebadi also urged the world to designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps – the IRGC – as a terrorist group. The 27-nation European bloc has so far stopped short of formally labelling the IRGC a terror group, despite calls to do so from Germany and the Netherlands as well as several rounds of rallies by Iranian diaspora communities to push for blacklisting the outfit. She categorically said, “the Revolutionary Guards is a terrorist group," and urged the UE to "say it officially."

Reassuring that Europe would benefit from a democratic Iran, she said if democracy is established in Iran, not only will the number of refugees fleeing from the region be reduced but also peace and calm will be brought back to the region. "Democracy is the key to Iran's future, it is the key to peace and stability in the whole region, and it is also in your interest," she argued. "If democracy comes to Iran, there will be fewer refugees in your country."

Speaking at an event held by the National Union for Democracy in Iran (NUFDI) trying to engage “maximum support” for the anti-regime protests in Iran, he criticized current US foreign policy.

All measures, he said, including sanctions, taken to contain the Islamic regime in Iran “is based on a false premise and expectation which was behavior change.”

“Expecting them to change their behavior is such a waste of time,” he added.

Pahlavi reiterated that talks and deals with the Islamic Republic are fruitless because “this regime has proven that its DNA, its reason to exist has nothing to do with the national interests of the country and its people; they’re there only to export their ideology at the expense of the Iranian people.” “For them to succeed, the rest of the world has to fail,” he said, explaining the mentality of the regime.

“It’s zero-sum; they [Iran] cannot have an actual coexistence with a world that is democratic and where human rights are the basis of laws and rules,” he said. He echoed the NUFDI’s call for the annulment of any talks to revive the 2015 nuclear deal with the regime, saying that the world assumes that the deal – known as the JCPOA – would work as a safety catch but a cheating regime can uncheck the safety mechanism if it wants to pull the trigger.

The NUFDI unveiled a 15-point document consisting of action plans and strategic tools for the provision of maximum support as a complement to the US policy of “maximum pressure”, which holds the promise of creating a more complete framework for US-Iran policy.

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It calls for a mechanism to hold the Islamic Republic accountable through economic and diplomatic isolation, which also engages, elevates and empowers the Iranian people through the provision of much-needed moral, logistical and financial support. The two strategies work hand-in hand as the pressure on the Islamic Republic weakens the regime in the face of a growing democratic movement and strengthens the Iranian people relative to their oppressors. 

In the opening speech of the event, NUFDI Policy Director Cameron Khansarinia said, “We believe that maximum pressure on the Islamic Republic is necessary; holding the regime accountable for crimes against the Iranian people is not only a movement for freedom, it’s absolutely necessary. Pressure on the Islamic Republic is a form of support of the Iranian people because it comparably weakens the regime and maximum support for the Iranian people is a form of pressure on the regime because it empowers, emboldens, and strengthens the people vis-a-vis the Islamic Republic.”

“First the US must announce a strategic policy shift in its Iran policy,” he said, adding that “the president should publicly address the American people in support of the Iranian people’s movement for a secular democracy.” “Maximum support begins with a formal strategic realignment of US policy and the president coming out formally in support of the Iranian people's right to determine their future and right to a secular democracy” he noted. 

Several pundits from different think tanks, such as the Middle East Institute, American Progress and Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, as well as Member of Canada’s House of Commons Ali Ehsassi and Member of the Belgian Parliament Darya Safai were among the other participants of the event.

A popular voice for the revolutionary movement, Pahlavi said that it is futile to negotiate with the regime because only eradicating the regime can lead to true change. “Secular opposition has the answers,” he said, calling such an action “a controlled implosion” of the regime and not the “anarchy,” which many believe is making the Western powers hesitant to put more weight behind the protesters.

Pahlavi said that “the regime change is not a bad concept” only because it was mishandled somewhere else such as Iraq, emphasizing that it is futile to negotiate with the regime about the solutions for the country “because they’re part of the problem, and the secular opposition has the answers.” 

Pahlavi noted that one of the most important mechanisms for the transition to a democratic Iran is using Tehran’s frozen funds in foreign countries to support strikes by workers in the oil, gas and transportation sectors.

He said one of the most significant elements that put pressure on the previous regime leading to the 1979 revolution, through which his father was overthrown, was financial support for the striking workers of the oil industry.

He underlined that the amount of money needed to support the striking workers is way lower than the funds blocked in other countries due to the US sanctions, saying that supporting workers, who would normally earn around $300 per month, for a few months would offer a manageable solution.

He called for bipartisan support in the US – and in other European countries for that matter, saying that politicians from across the spectrum should support a secular Iran and engage in dialogue with the united front of democratic opposition. "We should take a book out of the experiences that the Israelis have had,” he said, adding that “when it comes to Israel, we expect bipartisan support” from the US regardless of party affiliation. “We don’t expect anything short of bipartisan support when it comes to Iran and our freedom and human rights.”

He described supporting the protesters in Iran as a win-win situation for the world, especially the European countries. He said the immediate tangible benefits would be supplying the energy needs of Europe through Iran’s gas reserves and the stop of the flow of immigrants fleeing from the conflicts in the region to Europe, which is saturated by the number of migrants.

The deadly day, in Zahedan, the provincial capital of Sistan and Baluchestan and home to a large Kurdish population, took place when security forces brutally suppressed demonstrators gathered in front of a police station to protest the killing of Mahsa Amini and the rape of a 15-year-old Baloch girl by the police chief of Chabahar.

Security forces controlled by the Revolutionary Guard, under the Commandership of the Supreme Leader, killing dozens, including 18 children, 300 more seriously injured.

Mowlavi Abdolhamid, the religious leader of Iran’s largely Sunni Baluch population called the massacre "Bloody Friday" and held Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei directly responsible for the massacre.

Moineddin Saeedi, representative of Chabahar city, on Tuesday warned President Ebrahim Raisi that the issue should be handled “with special attention”.

Abdolhamid said in his recent Friday prayer sermons that he is still following up on the rights of the victims of Bloody Friday emphasizing that the measures taken so far are “inadequate”.

The government has failed to conduct a transparent investigation or hold any security officials responsible for the deaths.

“Eighty people are still in hospitals and 17 were shot in the eyes and blinded," added Abdolhamid.

Since Bloody Friday, the people of Zahedan have held their weekly protests pouring into streets for twenty-three consecutive weeks. The protesters have vowed to continue their street demonstrations until the punishment of all the leaders and perpetrators of the massacre.

Judiciary Spokesman Masoud Setayeshi said Tuesday at a press briefing that around thirty celebrities have been indicted by courts, and he threatened them with harsh repercussions if they continued such activities.

The interior ministry said Saturday that over 100 people in eleven provinces were arrested in connection with the poisonings that started in the religious city of Qom in central Iran in late November and spread to dozens of schools across the country. The accused, authorities claim, were connected to “terrorist groups” and foreign governments.

The government, however, has not revealed any details about these alleged arrests, as the public remains skeptical about the government’s role in the attacks.

Among the celebrities indicted for his social media posts about the spate of attacks is popular actor Reza Kianian. In a recent Instagram post Kianian shared a poster showing two men in black balaclavas and combat uniform holding up a little girl with a gas mask on her face fearlessly flashing a victory sign at one of the two men.

Kianian came under immense attack from hardliners on social media for the post that suggested security forces’ involvement in the poisonings, and demanded that authorities take legal action against him for defaming security forces.

Like Kianian, many ordinary Iranians have been suspicious of involvement of the regime itself, or religious extremists protected by the regime, in the school attacks and call the acts “state terrorism”.

Instagram post by actor Reza Kianian 

Authorities have revealed very little about the alleged perpetrators, the nature of the attacks, and the chemicals used to poison the children. The state television, nevertheless, aired the so-called ‘confessions’ last week of a man and his daughter arrested and accused of attacking schools with N2 gas canisters.

One of the accused said in the video that they lit “wicks” attached to the canisters before throwing them in the courtyards of seven schools in Larestan, a city in southern Iran. Experts say N2 is neither poisonous nor flammable to require a flame to explode and spread.

Several celebrity actors and other artists who supported the Mahsa protest movement by criticizing the regime or releasing ‘hijabless’ photos of themselves on social media, such as popular actress Taraneh Alidousti, were arrested in the past six months.

In defiance of the compulsory hijab, Alidousti appeared ‘hijabless’ in the photos taken outside Tehran’s Evin prison with her colleagues and supporters upon her release on a large bail in January after nearly three weeks of imprisonment.

Actress Taraneh Alidousti after being released on bail outside the prison

The harsh legal action against celebrities follows threats of "severe punishment” by Chief Justice Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei against those criticizing the authorities for the gas attacks that have sent hundreds of schoolgirls to hospitals.

The judiciary spokesman also said Tuesday that the charges have been brought against three newspaper editors, academic and reformist political activist Sadegh Zibakalam, and Secretary General of Unity of the Nation Party Azar Mansouri for “spreading rumors and lies.”

Around sixty journalists have been arrested since September in connection with the protests ignited by the death of the 22-year-old Mahsa Amini who died in the custody of the morality police after being arrested on the street for not wearing her hijab ‘properly’. Two female reporters, Elaheh Mohammadi and Niloufar Hamedi, who were arrested in October for their reporting on Mahsa’s death, are still in prison.

According to a video received by Iran International, one of the people who suffered injuries during Iran-Iraq war said Monday that government officials keep repeating that “you went to war for the sake of God.”

This is not the first time the war veterans protest against their poor living conditions.

In the past years, they gathered many times in front of the parliament urging lawmakers to resolve their issues.

In August, Iran's Council of Retirees reported that one of the veterans wounded in the Iran-Iraq war, named Khosro Yavari, set himself on fire and died in Songhor city of Kermanshah province due to financial hardship.

Meanwhile, Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf admitted in a televised speech Monday that the Islamic Republic has failed to resolve economic problems and control inflation. He said the regime has not been able to help people in covering their daily life expenses.

He once again claimed the government intends to compensate for this to some extent "with policies such as tax exemptions and direct subsidies".

These remarks come at a time when inflation has increased sharply this year and MPs have warned against another wave of inflation in the coming year beginning March 21.