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(Beirut) Iranian authorities have ruthlessly cracked down on widespread anti-government protests with excessive and lethal force throughout Iran, Human Rights Watch said today.

Based on videos of protests, and interviews with witnesses and a security force member, Human Rights Watch documented numerous incidents of security forces unlawfully using excessive or lethal force against protesters in 13 cities across Iran. Videos showed security forces using shotguns, assault rifles, and handguns against protesters in largely peaceful and often crowded settings, altogether killing and injuring hundreds. In some cases, they shot at people who were running away.

The Iranian authorities brutal response to protests across many cities indicates concerted action by the government to crush dissent with cruel disregard for life, said Tara Sepehri Far, senior Iran researcher at Human Rights Watch. The security forces widespread shooting of protesters only serves to fuel anger against a corrupt and autocratic government.

Protests began on September 16, 2022, after 22-year-old Mahsa (Jina) Aminis death in the custody of Irans abusive morality police. Concerned governments should cooperate to increase pressure on Iran and undertake a United Nations-led independent inquiry into serious abuses committed during the protests and recommend avenues for holding those responsible to account.

Human Rights Watch verified 16 videos posted on social media that depict protests from September 17 to 22. The videos show police and other security forces using excessive and lethal force against protesters in Tehran, the capital, and the cities of Divandarreh, Garmsar, Hamedan, Kerman, Mashhad, Mehrshahr, Rasht, and Shiraz. They include instances of security forces using firearms, such as handguns and Kalashnikov-pattern assault rifles. Human Rights Watch also interviewed five witnesses to the crackdowns in Sanandaj, Marivan, Saghez, and Mashhad, and a security forces member.

Human Rights Watch also analyzed photos and videos showing grievous, and sometimes lethal, injuries to demonstrators. This research did not include the deadly crackdown by security forces in Zahedan on September 30, nor subsequent attacks against protesters, including on Sharif University Campus in Tehran on October 2.

Human Rights Watch compiled the names of 47 individuals whom human rights groups or credible media outlets documented as having been killed, most by bullets. These included at least nine children, two of them girls, and six women. As of September 31, Iranian state media-affiliated outlets reported the death toll to be around 60 and also announced the death of 10 security forces members. The death toll of protesters is likely significantly higher. Iranian authorities continue to heavily disrupt internet access in large parts of the country and block messaging applications, making documentation and verification more difficult.

We had gathered to chant, [when] security forces on motorcycles came toward us, said a 35-year-old year woman from Sanandaj city about a protest that took place near the Gendarmerie (Palestine) intersection on September 17. We ran toward the alley as they followed us and started throwing teargas and some started shooting bullets. A man behind us was shot in the leg and fell on the ground. People dragged him into another alley and inside someones home. [...] His wound was bleeding very heavily and was very deep.

In one video, filmed in Shahre-Rey city, south of Tehran, a security force member wearing camouflage clothing and surrounded by others in riot gear is seen aiming and firing twice with a Kalashnikov-pattern assault rifle at targets that are not visible. In another, filmed in the city of Rasht, a police officer leading a team of riot police is firing a handgun.

Human Rights Watch also reviewed and verified four videos of security forces firing at crowds of protesters, some fleeing. At least four videos showed security forces using shotguns, which can be loaded with ammunition containing multiple rubber or metal pellets. A security force member confirmed that police forces typically use Winchester shotguns with different ammunition rubber or metal pellets.

A woman from Sanandaj city said that on September 21, security forces there directly shot at her upper chest using so-called less lethal ammunition, causing superficial injuries, when she asked them not to detain a teenager.

[Security forces] ran toward a 13-year-old boy who was standing among the crowd, she said. He was so delicate and small that he didnt even resist. He was on the grass protecting his head while they were beating him. I yelled Leave him alone! and walked towards them. They fired in the air and people started fleeing while they dragged the boy across the street. While I was running, I kept yelling He is my brother!, thinking that was going to provoke their mercy. I saw an officer turning, sitting down, and aiming at me. I saw the fire from his weapon. I got scared and ran away. I had a burning sensation until I got home and realized that I was hit in my chest.

The UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms prohibit the use of firearms except in cases of imminent threat of death or serious injury. The UN Human Rights Committee, which monitors compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, has stated that Firearms are not an appropriate tool for the policing of assemblies, and must never be used simply to disperse an assembly. [A]ny use of firearms by law enforcement officials in the context of assemblies must be limited to targeted individuals in circumstances in which it is strictly necessary to confront an imminent threat of death or serious injury.

The 2020 UNguidance on less-lethal weapons in law enforcement says, Multiple projectiles fired at the same time are inaccurate and, in general, their use cannot comply with the principles of necessity and proportionality. Metal pellets, such as those fired from shotguns, should never be used.

A woman in Saghez city, in Kurdistan province, said that on September 18, the second day of the protests in the city, security forces shot at their group of protesters when her friend started filming security personnel striking their batons at a houses metal door, forcing them to seek refuge inside a nearby house. She said: After some time when we felt that it was safe, we left the house, but security forces were hiding behind the trees at the end of the street and started shooting at us from behind as we were running away.

Human Rights Watch examined two photos that Rohini Haar, an independent medical analyst, said showed protesters with serious injuries that are diagnostic of those sustained by metal pellets.

In two videos, one of them graphic, verified to have been filmed in the city of Kerman, demonstrators can be seen carrying away an unconscious woman bleeding from the head while a large crowd runs away.

Videos also show police officers and other security forces members, including plainclothes agents, operating side-by-side with the police, punching, kicking, and beating peaceful protesters and bystanders with batons. Police forces also used less-lethal weapons, including pepper ball launchers and riot guns.

The 35-year-old woman said that on October 1, she saw security forces attacking a group of women peacefully protesting in Sanandaj with metal cables and batons. She said that in response, we also started protesting. They rushed towards us and the rest of the crowd. ... A person in plain clothes started hitting a woman. I went forward, I cursed him, I told him not to. He came back toward me and started hitting me with a metal tow cable. One of them grabbed my neck when I was leaving and the other two came and hit me one or two times. She shared photos of hematomas on her back, arm, and abdomen that she said resulted from the beatings.

Human Rights Watch found that most protesters were peaceful, but some threw rocks and other objects. In some cases, protesters assaulted security forces. The use of violence by protesters does not justify the excessive use of force by security forces, Human Rights Watch said.

In Garmsar, graphic videos show security forces responding with automatic weapons fire to protesters attacking a police station with rocks and other projectiles. In one graphic video, a protester who appeared to present no imminent risk to security forces collapses immediately after gunfire is heard. A later graphic video shows the protester dead with a catastrophic injury to the head.

Since September 16, Iranian security agencies have also arrested hundreds of activists, journalists, and human rights defenders outside the protests. These include Niloufar Hamedi, a reporter of the Shargh Daily paper, and Elaheh Mohammadi, a reporter with Hammihan daily paper, both of whom reported on the death of Mahsa (Jina) Amini. Aminis family requested the presence of independent medical reviewers to determine the cause of her death.

Under Iranian law, women who appear without proper hijab in public, based on the judgment of the countrys abusive morality police, can be fined or sentenced from between 10 days to two months in prison. Irans morality police regularly arrest women in public places. Over the past five years, authorities have prosecuted several activists, including the prominent lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh as well as Yasman Ariani, Saba Kordafshari, Monireh Arabshahi, Mojgan Keshavarz and Farhad Meysami for their peaceful opposition to compulsory hijab laws.

Since the outbreak of the protests, Iranian authorities have heavily disrupted internet access across the country. They have blocked several social media platforms, including WhatsApp messaging application and Instagram, since September 21 by an order of Irans National Security Council. Over the past four years, Iranian authorities have used partial or total internet shutdowns during widespread protests to restrict access to information and prohibit dissemination of information, in particular videos of the protests, Human Rights Watch said.

Internet shutdowns violate multiple rights, including the rights to freedom of expression and access to information, and the rights to peaceful assembly and association. Under international human rights law, Iran has an obligation to ensure that internet-based restrictions are provided by law and are a necessary and proportionate response to a specific security concern. Officials should not use broad, indiscriminate shutdowns to curtail the flow of information, nor to harm civilians ability to freely assemble and express political views.

Over the past four years, Iran has experienced several waves of widespread protests. Authorities have responded to these widespread protests across the country with excessive and lethal force and the arbitrary arrests of thousands of protesters. In one of the most brutal crackdowns, in November 2019, security forces unlawfully used excessive and unlawful lethal force against massive protests across the country. Amnesty International estimated that at least 340 people were killed during the 2019 protests. Iranian authorities have failed to conduct any credible and transparent investigations into the security forces serious abuses.

People in Iran are protesting because they do not see the death of Mahsa (Jina) Amini and the authorities crackdown as an isolated event, but rather the latest example of the governments systematic repression of its own people, Sepehri Far said.

Link:
Iran: Security Forces Fire On, Kill Protesters - Human Rights Watch

An 85-year-old American and former U.N. official was allowed to leave Iran today after being held there for more than six years.

Baquer Namazi is flying to Muscat, Oman, said a lawyer representing the Namazi family. "After a short layover, he will be leaving Oman and heading to Abu Dhabi," said lawyer Jared Genser. While in the United Arab Emirates, Namazi will undergo surgery to clear possible arterial blockages that could lead to a stroke.

The case of Namazi and his son, both dual U.S.-Iranian citizens, has received international attention and been the subject of indirect talks between the United States and Iran for years.

In 2015, son Siamak Namazi was arrested while on a business trip to Iran. The elder Namazi was arrested on a visit to try to free his son - both sentenced to prison for what the U.S. says were fake spying charges.

Through their family lawyer, Namazi's other son, Babak Namazi, said, "It is impossible to articulate and describe sufficiently how I am feeling. I am just so grateful that after so long, I will shortly be able to embrace my father again. In recent years, I thought this day would never happen."

But he noted that the "nightmare" continues for his brother and for two other Americans held in Iran.

Siamak Namazi, 51, was in Iran's notorious Evin Prison until the weekend, when Iran allowed him to go to a family home in Tehran for a week-long furlough where he could re-unite there with his father. The furlough could be extended but he is not allowed to leave Iran.

The United Nations and Oman helped broker the releases. Iranian officials have repeatedly said they would like to swap westerners they're holding for Iranians being held in the U.S. and elsewhere.

In 2016, as the Iran nuclear deal was implemented, the Obama administration released seven Iranians from jail and dropped charges on others as Iran released Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian and four other Americans. In 2019, the Trump administration released an Iranian scientist accused of violating sanctions, in return for a Princeton University graduate student studying in Iran.

Iranian media said the travel permission for Baquer Namazi comes as part of a deal to release some Iranian assets frozen in foreign banks. But the U.S. state department denied that Tuesday, calling it, "absolutely false."

Continue reading here:
Iran allows ailing American Baquer Namazi to leave the country for treatment - NPR

The Islamic Republic of Iran has survived longer than anyone had a right to expect. Today great revolutions are rare, because revolutions require the unflinching belief that another world is possible. In 1979, when clerics took power in Tehran, another world was possible. This is the world that Iranians still live in. A largeand apparently growingnumber of them dont seem to like it. After a 22-year-old woman named Mahsa Amini died in police custody on September 16 after being arrested for wearing her headscarf improperly, anti-government protests spread across the country, just as they seemingly do every few years.

Kim Ghattas: A whole generation revolts against the Iranian regime

Forty-three years after its founding, the Islamic Republic sputters along as yet another repressive, sclerotic regime. What makes the Iranian system differentexceptional, evenis the arc of its tragedy and the unusual role played by an entirely novel theological doctrine. In the beginning, the Islamic revolution was popular. Otherwise, it wouldnt have succeeded. The aggressive secularization under the shah in the 1960s and 70s had been discredited, and millions of Iranians turned to Islamic symbols, concepts, and leaders for inspiration. If the shahs Westernization project was the problem, then perhaps Islam could be the solution. And yet that solution took a peculiar form, one that foreordained todays discontent: Irans new rulers created a system far more intrusive than clerics of previous centuries could have ever imagined.

If one could sum up the original intent of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeinis revolution, it was, quite simply, to preserve Islam. In his most influential treatise, Islamic Government, published in 1970, Khomeini wrote, The preservation of Islam is even more important than prayeran odd if maddeningly vague claim. In practice, however, this meant something quite specific. For Khomeini, Islam could be preserved only through Islamic government. And this, in turn, was possible only if juriststhat is, clerics specializing in Islamic jurisprudenceled the government as guardians of Islam.

The reason this Islamic regime can seem so un-Islamicmerciless and absolutistis because it did something without precedent in Islamic history. What came to be known as wilayat al-faqih, or guardianship of the jurist, married clerical and executive power and intertwined them in a sort of Frankenstein ideology. In the great Islamic caliphates of the premodern era, the legal system was decentralized and the states reach was limited, with clerics enjoying considerable autonomy. As the keepers of sharia, Gods law, they interpreted how it applied to matters as varied as criminal codes, business contracts, and inheritance. But these clerics had never ruled directly. Instead, the caliphwho, in most cases, was not trained as a religious scholarwas responsible for executing laws and devising new ones on issues not explicitly covered by sharia. In revolutionary Iran, such distinctions would be put to the side, with a notably sectarian element added to the mix. Irans clerics, like the overwhelming majority of Iranians, were part of the Shiite branch of Islam. They would take Shiisms historical reverence for clergy and fuse it with a modern conception of the state.

Until the Safavid empire emerged in Persia in the 16th century, Shiite Muslims had largely lived as minorities under Sunni rule. Because Shias were rarely in a position to govern, Shiite doctrine had relatively little to say about the appropriate exercise of political power. Shias believed that legitimate authority was to be found in the descendants of the Prophet Muhammad, unlike Sunnis, whoin theory, if not necessarily in practiceselected their leaders through a consultative process. Importantly, Shiite tradition held that the imams in the line of the prophet were divinely protected from error on theological matters.

The problem was that the 12th of these imams went into occultation in the 10th century. He was, and still is, the hidden imam. Because he was endowed with infallible powers of religious interpretation, his absence deprived the Shiite clergy of their source of authority and led themalbeit with some exceptions centuries latertoward a politics of political resignation. As the Islamic legal scholar Mohammad Fadel notes in a forthcoming paper, All hopes for political transformation were deferred to an indefinite, apocalyptic future.

For Khomeini, the future arrived in 1979. Any number of questions about how to govern legitimately while the imam was in occultation remained unresolved. Khomeini provided an answerthe responsibilities of the inerrant imam were to be, in effect, delegated to the jurists, and then more specifically to the jurist. It just so happened that Khomeini was that jurist.

In fairness to Khomeini, when he was giving the lectures that would form the core of Islamic Government, he probably hadnt fully entertained the possibility that, one day, hed return triumphant to Tehran and get the chance to implement his ideas. Beyond the sort of vague sketching that one tends to do in exile, Khomeini had offered few specifics about how he might actually govern. Some of this ambiguity was strategic. To avoid frightening leftist and liberal allies during the revolutions honeymoon, he and his supporters downplayed the harder edges of juristic rule.

Ideas matter. Ideology made Irans Islamic revolution possible. But ideas do not come fully formed in a vacuum. Unusual ideas are typically the product of unusual situations. As perhaps all political doctrines are, the unadorned radicalism of Khomeinis philosophy of government was a reaction to what had come before. The shah wasnt just any dictator. He was an exceptionally brutal one. More than that, he fashioned himself an authoritarian modernizer, like Turkeys Kemal Atatrk before him, who would cut Islam down to size and reorganize society on strictly secular lineswith Western backing no less. The orchestrated attack on Islam that many Iranians perceived was made more sinister by the unfortunate fact of a CIA-supported coup that had ousted the democratically elected prime minister in 1953, thereby elevating the shah.

Khomeini, along with a growing number of conservative clerics and laymen, came to believe that Islam was in danger of being extinguished. If as much as Islams very preservation was at stake, exceptional measures would have to be taken, with a frown and a grimace if need be. This helps explain how Khomeini could possibly declare that the absolute mandate (velayat-e-motlaq) of Islamic government was the most important of the divine commandments and has priority over all derivative commandments, even over prayer, fasting, and pilgrimage to Mecca. In another time and place, this would have been dismissed as nonsensical ranting, or worse, heresy.

Khomeinis radicalism was real and deeply felt. His grievances were legitimate. But the totalizing nature of the dictatorship to come was not predestined. Another ingredient was necessary. That something else was the modern state, in all of its sprawling, overbearing glory. Until the 20th century, states simply could not be authoritarian in the fullest sense of the word. Their bureaucratic, technological, and surveillance capacity was limited. Even under despots, ordinary people could still live relatively free lives because the state could only extend its tentacles of control so far. The introduction of the nation-state removed any such constraints. Leaders could seek dominion not just over government but over society, too. Not only did they want to change your behavior; they wanted to transform the way you perceived the world.

Read: Sons of the Iranian revolution

If the shahs strong state was what threatened Islam, a strong stateand perhaps even a stronger onewould be required to protect it from its enemies at home and from those abroad as well. This expansiveness is in the character of revolutions, when they succeed. They are wondrous events. As the longtime Berkeley professor Hamid Algar once argued, perhaps with a hint of hyperbole, the Iranian revolution was the most significant, hopeful, and profound event in the entirety of contemporary Islamic history. But many revolutions prove too wondrous. Because they fight against great injustice and promise, in turn, a great reordering, revolutions cant help but forge a stronger state than the one they seek to destroy.

The irony is that the clerics were well aware of these pitfalls. As the Iranian American sociologist Said Arjomand writes, Khomeinis original vision was one of a withered state. For both better and worse, this antiauthoritarian impulse is embedded in Islam. In the fall of 1979, during the early, heady days of revolution, Khomeini observed that dictatorship is the greatest sin in Islam. On this, he wasnt necessarily wrong. But for the ayatollah and his heirs, the modern statein all of its powerproved too alluring.

Go here to read the rest:
The Reason Iran Turned Out to Be So Repressive - The Atlantic

Trevor Noah

Trevor Noah addressed the protests, led by women and now high school girls, that have roiled Iran in recent weeks following brutal government crackdowns on womens rights.

The protests were spurred in part by the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish women killed in police custody after being arrested for not covering her hair properly.

In a recent speech, Irans supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, called the protests a bitter incident and blamed the US and Israel.

Come on, man. You cant blame the US and Israel for everything, the Daily Show host said. This is Iranians protesting what the Iranian government is doing to them. Its not about America or Israel. I bet this dude comes out of the bathroom at a party like, looks like Israel clogged up your toilet, huh?

Secondly, can I just say how every single day Im continually impressed by the bravery and the tenacity of the women and girls in Iran, Noah continued. Because remember, they are risking their lives protesting a brutal regime.

Which I know for a fact I wouldnt have the guts to do, he added. I wont lie. Like once my mom thought it was a Friday when it was actually a Saturday, and I was so scared to incur her wrath that I just went to school.

On the Late Show, Stephen Colbert checked in on a pivotal Senate race in Georgia between incumbent Democrat Raphael Warnock and GOP candidate Herschel Walker, who is in favor of a national abortion ban with no exceptions. Turns out, he might make one exception to that, Colbert noted.

According to a report by the Daily Beast, the extremely anti-choice Walker paid for his then-girlfriends abortion in 2009. Walker has denied the report, calling it a flat-out lie. And if theres one thing Herschel Walker knows, its lying, said Colbert, because he as done a ton of it.

Walker has falsely claimed he was an FBI agent, hid secret children from his campaign, and falsely claimed that he never falsely claimed to have graduated from the University of Georgia. He not only lied, he lied about lying? What kind of lesson does that teach his secret children! Colbert joked.

His former girlfriend brought receipts one from the abortion clinic, a copy of a $700 check from Walker, and a signed get well card. This is a, um, whats the word? A disaster, said Colbert. So the former football star went on Fox News to perform damage control with, as Colbert called it, the most effective birth control known to man: Sean Hannity.

Asked to explain the $700 check, Walker said: Well, I send money to a lot of people, and thats whats so funny. I do scholarship funds for kids, I give money to people all the time because Im always helping people.

Its true, he does like helping people, said Colbert. For instance, that interview really helped Raphael Warnock.

And in Los Angeles, Jimmy Kimmel dug into the release of Confidence Man, the new Trump book by the New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman. If you thought there wasnt any more all to tell, you were incorrect, said Kimmel.

Among the details in the book, published on Tuesday: that five-year-old Donald Trump threw rocks at a baby named Dennis basically the same thing he did to Mike Pence many years later, Kimmel quipped.

Kimmel listed some of the books highlights: that Trump thought gay people loved him, that during a flight with the Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell, he had his then 13-year-old son Eric fast-forward through all the dialogue in Bloodsport just to watch the fight scenes. Surprising part of that story is he let Eric on the plane, said Kimmel.

Trump often made fun of his son-in-law Jared Kushner, so we have that in common I guess, Kimmel laughed.

In the lead-up to an ultimately scrapped meeting with Taliban leadership at Camp David, Trump was concerned that his daughter Ivanka would have to wear a burqa. Inviting the people who helped Osama bin Laden, thats one thing, but nobody puts Ivanka in a burqa! Kimmel deadpanned.

What a book this is, Kimmel concluded. I have to admit, I find it very entertaining. Hes not boring. Hes not like Joe Biden, sucking on a roll of Necco wafers to go to bed at 8 oclock. He does like 10 crazy things a day.

Continued here:
Trevor Noah hails bravery and tenacity of Irans women and girls - The Guardian

In this post we describe the sanctions recently imposed by Canada on Iranian individuals and entities following the detention and, according to the Canadian government, apparent killing of Mahsa Amini, an Iranian woman, in Iranian morality police custody.

On October 3, 2022, Canada amended the Special Economic Measures (Iran) Regulations to list an additional 25 individuals and nine entities in relation to Irans gross and systematic violations of human rights and/or Irans ongoing grave breach of international peace and security. These new sanctions follow over nine years of the Canadian government not imposing further sanctions on Iran (the 2016 amendments to Canadas sanctions on Iran were largely a loosening of restrictions following the P5+1 agreement in relation to Irans nuclear program). The impetus for the new sanctions appears to have been the death in Iranian police custody of Ms. Amini. For those who follow the Canadian governments policy objectives it is not surprising that this event was the catalyst for revisiting and tightening Canadas sanctions program on Iran.

Ten Iranian individuals were designated on the basis of the Canadian governments opinion that gross and systematic human rights violations have been committed in the Islamic Republic of Iran and that these individuals had sufficient involvement in such violations to merit being designated by Canada. Nine entities were designated on this basis including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Cyber Defense Command, Evin Prison, the Office of the Enjoining Right and Forbidding Evil, the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) and the Morality Police. Many of the designated individuals lead designated entities.

In addition, 15 Iranian individuals were designated on the basis of the Canadian governments opinion that the actions of the Islamic Republic of Iran constitute a grave breach of international peace and security that has resulted or is likely to result in a serious international crisis and that these individuals had sufficient involvement in such actions to merit being designated by Canada. These amendments signal concern about Irans activities in the weapons of mass destruction and/or terrorism areas. In that regard it is worth noting that the news release issued by Canada in connection with the new designations specifically referenced the Canadian governments 2012 designation of Iran as a state sponsor of terrorism under the State Immunity Act.

Given the long-established (but possibly now somewhat diminished) business relationships between Iranian and Canadian persons it is important that Canadian businesses assess whether these new sanctions have any implications for their compliance activities.

Go here to read the rest:
Canada Imposes New Sanctions on Iran in Relation to Human Rights Violations and Irans Actions That Have Resulted or Are Likely to Result in a Serious...