UN concerned about Iran’s attitude to protesters
2022.10.28 07:57
UN concerned about Iran’s attitude to protesters
By Ray Johnson
Budrigannews.com – As protesters once more demanded the assassination of the country’s top leader, the U.N. human rights office expressed concern over Iran’s treatment of detained protesters and stated that authorities were refusing to release some of the deceased’s bodies.
Since the death of 22-year-old Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini in police custody last month, the Islamic Republic has been engulfed by demonstrations. Since the revolution in 1979, the unrest has presented one of the most daring challenges to Iran’s religious leadership.
On Friday, protesters in the city of Zahedan, close to Iran’s southeastern border with Pakistan and Afghanistan, were captured on social media calling for the death of the Basij militia, which has been a major factor in the crackdown on demonstrations.
During anti-government demonstrations in Zahedan four weeks ago, clashes resulted in the deaths of dozens of individuals. The provincial security council acknowledged “shortcomings” by the police, despite claiming that armed dissidents were to blame for the clashes that resulted in the deaths of innocent people.
Rights groups claim that thousands of protesters have been detained and at least 250 protesters have been killed nationwide. The unrest has not been eased by security forces’ severe crackdown, which includes the feared Basij militia, which has a history of suppressing dissent.
According to multiple sources, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani told a Geneva press briefing, “We’ve seen a lot of ill treatment… but also harassment of the families of protesters.”
She stated, “Of particular concern is information that authorities have been moving injured protesters from hospitals to detention facilities and refusing to release the bodies of those killed to their families.” This is information that is particularly concerning.
Shamdasani went on to say that in some instances, authorities were preventing the families from holding a funeral or speaking to the media in order to condition the release of the bodies. She said that protesters in detention were sometimes denied medical care as well.
Sepah News, the guards’ news agency, reported that Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said their intelligence unit had stopped a bomb attack in the southern city of Shiraz, two days after a deadly shooting at a shrine there.
15 devotees to the Shah Cheragh shrine perished in the shooting on Wednesday, which Islamic State claimed was a terrorist attack.
