{"id":1781,"date":"2021-07-23T21:51:11","date_gmt":"2021-07-23T21:51:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/?p=1781"},"modified":"2022-07-06T13:40:21","modified_gmt":"2022-07-06T13:40:21","slug":"new-amnesty-report-highlights-use-of-live-ammunition-killings-in-drought-ridden-province","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/?p=1781","title":{"rendered":"New Amnesty Report Highlights Use of Live Ammunition, Killings in Drought-Ridden Province"},"content":{"rendered":"

July 23, 2021\u2014With security forces in Iran attacking and killing protesters in Khuzestan Province, the Iranian authorities are once again demonstrating complete disregard for the law, life, and all international standards of policing, the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) said in a statement today.<\/span>CHRI condemns in the strongest terms the security forces\u2019 use of deadly and excessive force to crush dissent, and the state-enforced internet disruptions to hide the violence.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Iranian authorities have learned they can mow down peaceful protesters, which they did by the hundreds in November 2019, with impunity,\u201d said CHRI executive director Hadi Ghaemi.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe international community must speak forcefully and with one voice that the state\u2019s violent crushing of dissent in Iran is unacceptable,\u201d he added.<\/span><\/p>\n

An Amnesty International report released on July 23, wrote, \u201cVideo footage from the past week, coupled with consistent accounts from the ground, indicate security forces used deadly automatic weapons, shotguns with inherently indiscriminate ammunition, and tear gas to disperse protesters.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe authorities seem to think if they kill enough people, they can stem the growing public discontent in Iran,\u201d said Ghaemi, \u201cbut mowing down protesters is murder and that will not crush the Iranian citizenry\u2019s growing outrage over the authorities\u2019 brutal repression and mismanagement of the country.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The report noted that since the protests over water shortages began in Khuzestan on July 15, security forces have \u201ckilled at least eight protesters and bystanders, including a teenage boy, in seven different cities\u201d and that \u201cscores of people, including children, have been injured, including by birdshot, and several are hospitalized in critical condition due to gunshot wounds.\u201d The report also stated that \u201cSecurity and intelligence forces have swept up dozens of protesters and activists, including many from the Ahwazi Arab minority, in mass arrests\u201d and that \u201cmany injured protesters are not seeking hospital treatment due to fear of arrests.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

CHRI calls on the authorities in Iran to immediately:<\/span><\/p>\n

Stop the unlawful use of live ammunition against protestors<\/span><\/p>\n

Release any individuals detained for exercising their right to peaceful protest<\/span><\/p>\n

Allow injured protesters full and safe access to medical care in hospitals<\/span><\/p>\n

Stop the internet disruptions it is imposing in order to hide evidence of the state\u2019s violence<\/span><\/p>\n

The report noted, \u201cIn one video, where single shots are audible, security forces wearing anti-riot gear are seen advancing, some of them on motorcycles, towards a gathering of unarmed protesters,\u201d and that \u201cin all but two video clips reviewed by Amnesty International, protesters are unarmed and clearly pose no threat to life that would meet the threshold for the use of lethal force under international law. Extensive video evidence indicates the demonstrations were mostly peaceful.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet on July 23 called on the Iranian authorities to take urgent action to address the chronic water shortages, rather than using excessive force and widespread arrests to crush the protests about the situation.<\/span><\/p>\n

CHRI strongly supports Amnesty International\u2019s call for the UN Human Rights Council to \u201curgently establish a mechanism to collect and analyze evidence of the most serious crimes under international law to facilitate fair and independent criminal proceedings.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIranian authorities should be responding to protesters in Khuzestan by providing access to clean water and safe spaces for people to air their grievances\u2014not by gunfire and arbitrary arrests,\u201d said Ghaemi.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

July 23, 2021\u2014With security forces in Iran attacking and killing protesters in Khuzestan Province, the Iranian authorities are once again demonstrating complete disregard for the law, life, and all international<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[61],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1781","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1781"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1781\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1782,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1781\/revisions\/1782"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}