23 February 2020 :

In his latest report released on February 19, 2020, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, Javaid Rehman wrote that he was “shocked” at the number of deaths, acute injuries, and ill-treatment of persons detained during the November 2019 protests. “According to reports, detainees are being tortured or are suffering other forms of ill-treatment, sometimes to extract forced confessions.” Rehman said in his report, “There are also reports of denials of medical treatment, including for injuries caused by the excessive use of force by the security forces, with some other detainees being held incommunicado or being subjected to enforced disappearance. Rehman asserted that he “is concerned about reports that families of individuals killed by the security forces have been threatened not to speak out.” Javaid Rehman wrote in his report that in the days following the protests, images and reports emerged which demonstrated the security forces’ brutal methods including direct shooting of unarmed citizens. Rehman added in another part of his report that on November 25, one of the members of the parliamentary Foreign Affairs and Intelligence Committee announced that more than 7,000 protesters had been arrested. They were detained in overcrowded places without having access to their lawyers. They are tortured and mistreated and put under pressure to make forced confessions. UNSR also reiterated that reporters had been strictly ordered to refrain from criticizing the regime’s treatment of the protesters. Javaid Rehman’s new report has been compiled under the UN General Assembly (UNGA)’s Resolution 74/167 and is scheduled to be presented to the UN Human Rights Council gathering on March 9, 2020. In the final part of his report, Javiad Rehman urges the clerical regime to free all the protesters arrested in November 2019 and to immediately inform their families of their conditions and place of detention. The UNSR also pointed out in his report to the execution of minors, the dire conditions in the detention centers, use of brute force and violence against ethnic and religious minorities, executions in public, murder of those who carry goods and fuel on their shoulders in the border regions of Kurdistan and Baluchestan, and discrimination against women.