Statistical report on human rights violations in Iran in year 1401 (March 20, 2022, to March 20, 2023)
9-April-2023
Category: executions، Iran's Uprising 2022، Prisoners، protesters
Introduction:
The year 1401 ended while the second half of it coincided with massive and nationwide uprisings against the Islamic Republic. During the uprisings, the repressive forces resorted to violent suppression and killed at least 700 protesters of who at least 70 were children. According to the authorities of the Islamic Republic, at least 80,000 protesters were arrested during these 6 months protests.
“The number of those who were pardoned, including those arrested for riots and non-riots, including those whose sentences were reduced, exceeds 80,000,” said Mohseni Ajeei on March 14 – Khamenei’s website.
The authorities of the Islamic Republic never announced the number of people killed in the protests, nor on the total number of arrested protesters.
In addition to the widespread repression and human rights violations, the Islamic Republic continued to execute prisoners. Even 4 of the protestors were executed without a fair trial and in the absence of any criminal evidence against them. The Islamic Republic has repeatedly proven that it uses execution as a tool to suppress and intimidate the people.
In addition, there is still no data on the number of protesters who were shot wounded by the security forces. As the injured protesters were scared to go to medical centers as this would lead to them being arrested and tortured. So, they just were treated at their homes. This is a clear violation of the protesters’ right to access medical care and yet another example of violation of human rights.
Shooting in the eyes of the protesters caused a large number of them to lose their sight. The New York Times reported that the eyes of at least 580 protesters were injured due to the use of bird-shot pellets by the security forces and that deliberately and systematically shot to the eyes of protesters. On November 22, 2022, in an open letter, some of ophthalmologists warned about the use of bird-shot pellets by the government agents against the protesters, leaving many of them blinded in one or both eyes.
In the last months of the year 1401 (November 2022 to March 2023), in a horrible criminal act, the government systematically, deliberately, and repeatedly poisoned the girls school students. The criminal act started in November and culminated in March. This caused the anger and protest of parents, families, and teachers. According to official sources, at least 6 thousand female poisoned students were hospitalized. The authorities of the Islamic Republic, however, refused to accept the responsibility and attributed the poisonings to “mass hysteria”.
The “Breathing in Confinement”, the Statistics Center of the Prisoners’ Rights League in Iran presents an annual report which emphasizes that after Ebrahim Raisi came to power, the human rights violations notably intensified especially the number of executions. It is worth mentioning that the state media report only a few cases of death sentences, arrests, and other human rights violations and that human rights activists inside the country face many risks and restrictions in collecting and reporting the relevant news. Therefore, acknowledging the shortcomings in providing accurate statistics, we present a statistical report on the widespread and systematic violation of human rights by the government of the Islamic Republic.
To read the full report in PDF, click on the following link:
Statistical report on human rights violations in Iran in year 1401