15-Year-Old Iranian Protester Tortured to Obtain Confessions

Iranian authorities have subjected a 15-year-old protester to torture in order to extract confessions, a human rights organization reported on July 7. 

Arshak Qeisarbeigi was arrested on June 29 in Sarabeleh, a city in western Ilam province, after participating in demonstrations, according to Hengaw, a Norway-based group that monitors rights violations in Iran's Kurdish regions.

The group said the teenager endured a week of torture at the Sarabeleh Intelligence Department's detention center during which he was forced to sign a blank document.

It had previously been reported that Qeisarbeigi was arrested during anti-government protests that swept the country last year and was later released on bail.

Children under the age 18 played a significant role in the unrest, with numbers indicating that at least 70 of them were killed in the security forces’ crackdown on the protest movement.

Overall, more than 520 people were killed during demonstrations and over 20,000 others were unlawfully detained, activists say. Following biased trials, the judiciary has handed down stiff sentences, including the death penalty, to protesters.