Iranian security forces raped and abused male and female protesters as young as 12 – six victims were gang-raped by groups of up to 10 people

Iranian security forces raped and sexually assaulted male and female protesters as young as 12, according to a damning new report.

Amnesty International found that security forces used rape and sexual violence to torture, punish and traumatize protesters arrested as part of the Tehran regime’s crackdown on nationwide protests that began in September 2022.

The human rights group says they have collected testimonies from 12 women, 26 men, one girl and six boys who survived rape or other forms of sexual violence.

The 120-page report details 45 cases of rape, gang-rape or sexual violence against protesters, with six victims raped by groups of up to 10 men.

With cases in more than half of Iran’s provinces, Amnesty expressed concern that these documented violations appear to be part of a “broader pattern.”

Amnesty International found that security forces used rape and sexual violence to torture, punish and traumatize protesters arrested as part of the Tehran regime’s crackdown on nationwide protests that began in September 2022 after the death of Mahsa Amini (pictured) broke out.

“Our investigation shows how intelligence and security forces in Iran have used rape and other sexual violence to torture, punish and inflict lasting physical and psychological harm on protesters, including children as young as 12,” Amnesty’s Secretary-General said. said Agnes Callamard.

The London-based organization said it shared its findings with Iranian authorities on November 24 “but has so far received no response.”

Protests began in Iran in September 2022 following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody. Her family says she was killed by a blow to the head, but this has always been denied by Iranian authorities.

After Iran’s clerical leadership cracked, the movement lost momentum late in the year in a violent crackdown that left hundreds dead, according to human rights activists, and thousands arrested, according to the United Nations.

According to Amnesty, 16 of the 45 cases documented in the report were rapes, including six women, seven men, a 14-year-old girl and two boys aged 16 and 17. Six of them – four women and two men – were gang members. raped by up to 10 male officers, the report said.

It said the attacks were carried out by members of the Revolutionary Guard, the paramilitary Basij force, intelligence ministry agents and police as the regime in Tehran cleared protesters from the streets.

The rapes of women and men were carried out with “wooden and metal sticks, glass bottles, hoses and/or the genitals and fingers of officers,” the report says.

In addition to the 16 rape victims, Amnesty said it has also documented cases of 29 victims of other forms of sexual violence, such as beatings on the breasts and genitals, forced nudity and the insertion of needles or ice into men’s testicles.

The testimonies were collected through interviews with the victims and other witnesses, conducted remotely via secure communication platforms.

“The harrowing testimonies we have collected point to a broader pattern of using sexual violence as a key weapon in the Iranian authorities’ arsenal to suppress protests and stifle dissent in order to stay in power at all costs,” it said. Callamard said.

Members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) take part in a military exercise of the IRGC ground forces on October 17, 2022 in Aras region, East Azerbaijan province, Iran.

Demonstrators chant slogans during a protest against the death of a woman by sub-police on September 21, 2022 in central Tehran, Iran.

A woman identified only as Maryam, who was detained for two months after removing her headscarf in protest, told Amnesty that she was raped by two officers during an interrogation.

“He (the interrogator) called two others forward and told them: ‘It is time’,” she said.

“They started tearing my clothes. I screamed and begged her to stop.

“They brutally raped me with their genitals in my vagina and raped me anally with a drinking bottle.”

“Even animals don’t do that,” she was quoted as saying by the group.

A man named Farzad told Amnesty that plainclothes police officers raped him and another male protester, Shahed, while they were sitting in a vehicle.

He said plainclothes police officers forced him and other detainees to face the walls of the vehicle, where they were given electric shocks before sexually assaulting them.

“They pulled down my pants and raped me,” he said in his statement.

“I couldn’t scream. “I was really torn… I threw up a lot and bled from my rectum when I went to the bathroom,” said Farzad, who was released without charge a few days later.

Another woman, Sahar, also told Amnesty how she was attacked and how the experience made her suicidal.

She said security forces took off her clothes and touched her private parts, taunted her and threatened her with rape.

“I used to be a fighter in life. Even when the Islamic Republic tried to tear me down, I continued,” she told the human rights group. “However, I have been thinking about suicide a lot lately. “I’m like someone who waits all day for night so I can sleep.”

Zahra, a woman who was raped by a police officer, also described the psychological damage.

“I don’t think I will ever be the same person again,” she told Amnesty.

“You will find nothing that will bring me back to myself, bring my soul back to myself… I hope that my testimony leads to justice and not just for me.”

Other victims who spoke to The Guardian newspaper described similar attacks.

Mahdi Yaghoubi (31), who was arrested during protests in Tehran in November 2022, told the publication that security officers sexually assaulted him to make “confessions”.

They touched and pinched my private parts to force me to confess,” he said. “They didn’t do it to embarrass me or rape me.” They did this as a method of painful torture. They wanted me to suffer and feel the pain.”

Iranians protest against the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini after she was arrested by sub-police in Tehran on September 20, 2022

He added that officers would insult him and other prisoners and call him “begheyrat” (a man without self-respect) to humiliate and belittle them.

Yaghoubi said he managed to escape from Iran with his sister in the back of a truck.

Amnesty said most victims did not report the attack for fear of further repercussions and that those who informed prosecutors were ignored.

“With no prospect of justice at home, the international community has a duty to stand with the survivors and fight for justice,” Callamard said.