Protesters' Death Certificates Show True Account Of Regime Brutality
A Twitter account dedicated to news about protests in Iran has released a batch of death certificates of those killed by security forces.
A Twitter account dedicated to news about protests in Iran has released a batch of death certificates of those killed by security forces.
The activist account 1500 Tasvir, which runs popular Instagram and Twitter accounts, started uploading the documents on Wednesday.
The account also published a large batch of harrowing photos and videos of people shot or killed by the regime late in March, saying that such documentation must remain forever in the country’s history.
The cause of death for hundreds of people who died during the protests of "Women, Life, Liberty” movement is stated as "unknown", and the death certificates of dozens of others attested the use of "live fire and bullets" as the cause of death.
Other causes of death mentioned in the certificates are ruptures of veins or blood vessels, crushing of the skull, hemorrhagic shock (loss of a large volume of blood), and severe tissue damage, all of which point to injuries caused by the security forces’ bullets and batons.
In several cases, the words live fire or bullet are intentionally avoided and replaced by alternative terms such as "accelerated metal projectile" or “metal object."
There are several cases in which the cause of death is declared as “unknown” despite testimonies by eyewitnesses who were present at the scene and directly testified otherwise. These include the cases of Mehrshad Shahidinejad and Sina Malayeri, two protesters who were beaten to death by batons during rallies in the city of Arak according to eyewitnesses.
In one of the certificates published by 1500tasvir, the cause of the death of Behnam Layeghpour was declared as “violence by other protesters” despite his family's account of the incident. Layeghpour was reportedly shot two times in his throat and chest from close range in October as his fiancée was watching. A security agent stood over him and prevented people from helping him at gunpoint.
Human rights sources have reported the death of over 500 protesters, including about 70 children, during nationwide protests sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in the custody of hijab police in September 2022.
There are no official reports about the number of casualties but several rights groups, such as the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), have put the death toll at way more than 500.
In addition to the people who were killed during the regime’s crackdown on street protests, the Islamic Republic has also stepped up its executions in the past several months.
Iran Human Rights organization and the ECPM (Ensemble contre la peine de mort or Together Against the Death Penalty) released on Thursday their latest annual report on the death penalty in Iran, revealing that 2022 had the highest annual number of executions since 2015. At least 582 people were executed, an increase of 75 percent compared to 2021.
The report said that in 2022, the Islamic Republic’s authorities “demonstrated how crucial the death penalty is to instil societal fear in order to hold onto power,” adding that 88 percent of all executions (511), were not announced by the regime.
According to the report, at least 15 people, among them two protesters, were executed for security-related charges. It also claimed that hundreds of protesters were facing show trials at the Revolutionary Courts, many with charges punishable by death.
In a statement published Thursday, well-known lawyers and filmmakers said that the attacks since November had affected about 13,000 Iranian schoolgirls by March 21, adding that human rights activists should raise awareness about the issue so that international judicial institutions put it on their agenda.
Prominent lawyers Ramezan Hajimashhadi, Giti Pourfazel, Saeed Dehghan, Mehrangiz Kar and Nasrin Sotoudeh as well as award-winning director Jafar Panahi and actress Katayoun Riahi were among the signatories of the statement.
Pointing out that while government security forces were efficient in identifying and arresting protesters, they have shown negligence in pursuing the perpetrators of the chemical attacks, which indicates that they are in line with the regime’s agenda.
Attacking schools is "a kind of threat and revenge against young girls and teenagers who have been striving to end the compulsory hijab through the 'Women, Life, Freedom’ movement.”
Close to 300 schools were targeted in the past Iranian year ending on March 20 without any apparent effort by the government to seriously pursue the perpetrators or explain to terrified parents and students what was happening in so many schools.
Thousands of students have been affected, mostly girls, with hundreds more hospitalized with symptoms including respiratory distress, numbness in their limbs, heart palpitations, headaches, nausea, and vomiting.
While there was lull in attacks as schools closed for the Nowruz holidays, fresh incidents took place this week as students returned to classrooms.
The signatories also referred to the death of a Kurdish teenager who was hospitalized following one such attack, saying that despite the continuation of these chemical attacks, international institutions have not yet taken effective and deterrent actions.
Amid intensified measures to enforce hijab laws, Iran's regime is facing fresh protests over a renewed wave of chemical attacks on schoolgirls and economic woes.
The attacks coincided with the funeral of a Kurdish child from the city of Kamyaran who was laid to rest in Pashavah village in Kordestan province. The 16-year-old boy, Karo Pashabadi, had been taken to hospital for treatment on March 15 after inhaling poisonous gas after a chemical attack on a school in Tehran, where he was living. At least one other child, 11-year-old Fatemeh Razaei, has died in the attacks which began on November 30 and have taken place in hundreds of schools nationwide.
Ordinary Iranians have been suspicious of the involvement of the regime itself, or religious extremists protected by the regime, calling the attacks “state terrorism,” although the regime has denied responsibility and even staged arrests of suspects after widespread protests. Popular belief is that such large-scale and coordinated attacks cannot happen without the green light of regime authorities.
Moineddin Saeedi, a member of the Iranian Parliament from Chabahar in Sistan-Baluchistan Province, criticized a police move to use traffic cameras to identify women removing hijab. He said, "If these cameras can detect crimes to such an extent, why are we currently facing the poisoning of girls?"
Iranian state media is sounding the rallying cry for participation in the annual pro-Palestine event, held on the last Friday of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which is on April 14 this year.
In addition to several organizations affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards, the country's traditional army, the Islamic Republic’s Assembly of Experts for Leadership, and government ministries as well as several Iranian Maraji -- supreme legal authorities for Twelver Shia Muslims – issued statements in the past few days, calling for participation.
Such state-sponsored events are usually shunned by the general public and the regime ends up transporting paramilitary Basij forces and its supporters from small towns to provincial capitals to form demonstrations with large crowds for the façade of mass support.
A large number of students and conscripts who are serving their mandatory military service as well as workers of government organizations are either forced or cajoled into partaking in the event in exchange for food, days off, and financial bonuses.
According to a letter obtained by "IranWire” website, the Physical Education Organization of Tehran province, has ordered directors of sports centers of the province to make sure national teams’ athletes participate in the "Quds Day march".
In the letter, Karamali Iraji, a deputy at the Ministry of Sport and Youth, also talked about a “directive by the Tehran’s governor’s office” about forcing the national teams' athletes to show up at 10:30 on Friday morning at Tehran’s Vali-Asr square, one of the main routes of the rallies.
The routes for the rallies are pre-determined by the regime and different recreational booths and gift shops are usually set up along the way. The regime also installed a huge mural at Enghelab (Revolution) square, which leads to Tehran’s main square Azadi. The colossal banner reads, “We will be in Quds in less than 17 years,” referring to remarks by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei who keeps saying that the Israeli government will fall by then and Muslims will conquer the region.
Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf has been announced as the official who will deliver the main speech on the day. The content of the speech is already obvious for Iranians who have been listening to the same statements for at least four decades. It will start with the promulgation of the Palestinian cause and their right to the “occupied territories” and will go on with highlighting “the atrocities by the Zionist regime” and will end with the latest political upheavals inside Israel. Reiterating Khamenei’s views, the speaker will probably predict that Israel will fall within a certain number of years.
In a post on his Twitter account on Thursday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani posted pictures of a recent meeting between top leaders of the Palestinian and Lebanese resistance movements, Hamas and Hezbollah, both proscribed terror groups in the West. He said: “The balance of power has long shifted – to the detriment of the fake Israeli regime and to the benefit of the Palestinian nation.”
The event, which takes its name from the Arabic-language name for Jerusalem, is held to express support for Palestinians and oppose Israel and Zionism. Directed against Israel’s existence, Al-Quds Day was proclaimed by the founder of the Islamic Republic Ruhollah Khomeini on 7 August 1979. He called on Muslims worldwide to unite in solidarity against Israel and in support of the Palestinians, saying the "liberation" of Jerusalem was a religious duty to all Muslims.”
In Iran, Quds Day also features demonstrations against other countries that the regime deems as enemies, including the United States, the UK and Saudi Arabia. It has now become an international phenomena to perpetuate antisemitic and anti-Israel propaganda among the Muslim world under the auspices of a collective cause propagated by Iran's dictator.