Iran – Videos expose security brutality, government claims to investigate the perpetrators from the police
The international outcry forced the Iranian authorities to open an investigation into videos that revealed Iranian security violence against protesters. One video showed a number of government agents beating a man severely, then one agent ran over the man on a motorbike and another agent shot him at close range. The video circulated on social media late on Tuesday, purporting to be from Tehran.
“This shocking video from Tehran today is yet another horrific reminder that, amid a crisis of impunity, Iranian security forces are relentless in their cruelty and release them to brutally beat and shoot protesters,” Amnesty International said on Twitter, adding that the UN Human Rights Council must investigate the matter immediately and Iranian police issued a statement saying it had ordered an investigation into the incident. “The police do not approve at all of the violent and unconventional behavior and will deal with the perpetrators in accordance with the rules,” said the statement carried by the official Iranian news agency.
Security brutality
The unrest, which began as a protest against the killing of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in mid-September while she was held by the morality police for allegedly dressing indecently, lasted for seven weeks. The incident prompted citizens from all over the country to take part in one of the biggest challenges to the government since the victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1979 by demonstrating against the regime and chanting the slogan “Death to the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei”, according to the “Voice of America” network. Iranian leaders are blaming the crisis on the United States and other Western powers, a narrative most Iranians dismiss. In a speech to schoolchildren, Khamenei, who rarely comments on the protests, accused “a plan for Tehran and the big and small cities in the country,” and described the stance of U.S. officials supporting the protests as “brazen”. According to an updated death toll released by the Norwegian-based Iran Human Rights Organization, 176 people were killed in the crackdown on protests that erupted after Amini’s death. Another 101 people were killed in a separate protest wave in Zahedan in the southeast of Sistan-Baluchistan province. Human rights activists say thousands were arrested across the country, while the Iranian judiciary said that 1,000 people have already been charged in what it described as “riots.”
The Mullahs in Trouble
Despite the deaths, arrests, and severe warning from the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, demonstrators in Iran continue to risk their lives and protest in the streets. The challenge to the regime is compounded by the custom in Iran to commemorate the 40th day since the death of a person, turning every mourning ceremony for the dozens who were killed in the crackdown into a potential protest hub. Kita Fitzpatrick, Iranian analyst at the Critical Threats Project of the American Enterprise Institute, said that “the 40-day funerals and commemorations of the protesters who were killed have become an increasing motivation for further unrest, and this puts the regime in a dilemma: they risk unwittingly perpetuating the protest movement in an attempt to suppress it with violence.”
