HRW Denounces Ramped-Up Repression in Iran

Human Rights Watch (HRW) says the Iranian authorities are trying to “impose a chokehold” on peaceful dissent to prevent public commemoration of Mahsa Amini’s death in police custody a year ago through intimidation, arrests, prosecutions and trials of all those deemed critical of the Islamic Republic.

Ahead of the September 16 anniversary of Amini’s death, which sparked monthslong anti-establishment protests, the authorities targeted “activists, artists, dissidents, lawyers, academics, students, and family members of those who were killed” during the demonstrations, the New York-based human right watchdog said in a statement on September 15.

More than 500 people were killed, including dozens of children, and over 22,000 others were unlawfully detained across the country in the state crackdown on the nationwide protests, activists say. Following unfair trials, the judiciary has handed down stiff sentences, including the death penalty, to protesters.

Amini’s death has become “the symbol of the government’s systematic oppression of women, injustice and impunity,” Tara Sepehri Far, senior Iran researcher at HRW, said, adding that the authorities “can't erase the mounting frustration, louder calls for fundamental change, and the resistance and solidarity in Iranian society in the face of mounting repression.” 

HRW said it had compiled reports of outspoken family members of at least 36 people killed or executed during the protests who have been interrogated, arrested, prosecuted and/or sentenced to time in prison over the past month.

The authorities have also targeted lawyers working for or supporting the rights of protesters or their families. Saleh Nikbakht, the lawyer who represents Amini’s family, was charged with “propaganda against the state” over interviews he gave to domestic and foreign media.

HRW said that at least 27 university instructors who were critical of government policies were “dismissed, suspended, forced to retire, or their contracts were not renewed since late July. The actual number is most likely higher, the group added.

And according to the Volunteer Committee to Follow-Up on the Situation of Detainees, at least 161 university students have been subjected to disciplinary measures over the past year for their activism related to the protests.

Among the artists who faced reprisals, arrests and prosecution, singer and composer Mehdi Yarahi was arrested last month after the release of a song in support of the protest movement. Toomaj Salehi, a popular rapper, was sentenced to six years and three months in prison on the charge of “corruption on Earth.”

The authorities have also responded to the widespread defiance of the compulsory headscarf by “ramping up their efforts to impose the dress code on women, using a range of tactics, including legal summonses, new legislative initiatives, and increasing pressure on private business to impose hijab rules,” HRW said. 

Iranian lawmakers are currently reviewing a 70-article draft Hijab and Chastity Bill that envisions additional fines and dismissal from job and educational opportunities for those appearing in public without a head covering. 

HRW urged all delegations of UN member states meeting Iranian counterparts during the annual UN General Assembly leaders’ week in New York (September 18-26) to “raise the plight of activists and put it at the center of their engagement.”

“The international community was vocal in supporting the protest movement when people took to the streets in Iran last year,” Sepehri Far said. “But achieving the rights and equality the protesters demanded is the work of generations, not months. Those who spoke out should now focus on supporting activists, artists, academics, lawyers, students, families of those killed, members of civil society and all those paying a very steep price for their ongoing resistance to oppression.”