On an autumn day in September, 16-year-old Nika Shakarami disappears without a trace. Earlier in the day, she attended a demonstration in Tehran. Full of life and energy, she went out into the streets of the capital together with several thousand others, outraged by the death of Jina Amini. All with the same demands: Freedom and life for all – men and women. Nika Shakarami died aged 16. The authorities and the family tell different stories about how she actually died. It wasn’t until ten days later that the family found her lifeless body in a cold room at a police station. Authorities claim she died after jumping or falling from a building in the city. The mother tells a different story. One where Shakarami was killed by Iranian security forces, who threatened the family to lie about how their daughter actually died. – Killed the same day – I saw her body myself, said the mother. The back of her head showed that she had suffered a severe blow, as her skull was smashed in. She is convinced that her daughter was killed in the protests, the same day she disappeared. The story of Shakarami is one of several that the human rights organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) claims to have documented in its latest report on Iran. Iranians protest in Tehran in September 2022, following the death of Jina Mahsa Amini. Photo: AP There they point to how Iranian security forces are said to have tortured and killed several children and young people since the protests broke out last autumn. “Father figure” Khamenei The reason why the regime has cracked down so hard on young people and children recently is that they will not accept anyone who threatens their power, says a researcher news has spoken to. – As in all strictly conservative ideologies, children play an important role in representing the values of the regime. They represent the future of the state, says Pardis Shafafi. She is a researcher at CNRS, and specializes in political violence in Iran. – It is also important for the regime to show that it is they who protect the children and preserve their innocence, says Shafafi. Researcher Pardis Shafafi says that it is all about retaining power and the conditions in society for the regime. Photo: PRIVAT She highlights how there is a picture of Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, in all schools. – It is Khamenei and the regime’s attempt to build up under the idea that he is the “country’s father figure” and his children his subjects, says Shahafi. This image from Twitter is supposed to show school students who have taken off their hijabs and are pointing the finger at Iran’s supreme leader. But when the children in society break with this image, and at the same time actively challenge it by demonstrating, the regime intervenes before the threat becomes too great. They go from their promise to protect the children to the threat of attacking them, says Shafafi. – It shows that the regime is willing to do absolutely everything to keep the status quo. – No tendency to distinguish between children and adults. She goes on to say that it is not entirely new that the authorities in Iran punish children and young people in this way. What is new is that they are now very open about it. – They don’t try to deny it; and say they are doing what is necessary, says Shafafi. This picture from April 2023 shows how three Iranian women walk with their hair loose in the streets of Tehran, despite the Hijab mandate in the country. Photo: Reuters Claus Valling Pedersen is a professor at the University of Copenhagen where he researches and lectures on Iran. He says that Iran tends not to distinguish between big children and adults. In the legal system and police custody, they are treated on an equal basis with adults. – In addition, the demonstrators who took part in the protests that began last September were mainly young and older children. In order to intimidate the protests into silence, the authorities have chosen to punish them in the same way as adults, says Pedersen. HRW: Children are tortured and killed Human Rights Watch (HRW) writes in the report that they have spoken to several children and young people about their experiences in encounters with Iranian security forces and authorities. These are some of the stories they highlight: A 17-year-old boy is said to have been subjected to violence and sexual abuse by Iranian security forces after taking part in the protests. He ended up with bruises all over his body and bleeding from the anus, writes HRW. Another, underage boy tells of torture with needles under his nails. A girl describes how she allegedly had her clothes set on fire and was whipped and beaten during interrogation. Two other children say they were tortured into revealing the whereabouts of other family members. Demonstrators in Berlin hold up a poster with the Kurdish slogan ‘Jin, Jiyan, Azadi’ (Woman, Life, Freedom) in support of the people of Iran. Photo: JOHN MACDOUGALL / AFP A 16-year-old twice tried to take his own life after he was said to have been beaten up, exposed to electric shocks and sexually abused during interrogation. In January, two brothers aged 17 and 19 were arrested in Zahedan. For 21 days they were in custody and were tortured, and forced to give information about their father, HRW writes in the report. The youngest of the brothers could not walk afterwards due to injuries under his feet. He also told about sexual abuse, torture with electric shocks and death threats. Protesters killed and families threatened At least 537 protesters have been killed since September last year, according to the HRW report. Among these are 68 children who took part in the protests. At the age of 13, Omid Sarani was killed when security forces shot protesters in Zahedan. 17-year-old Abolfazl Adinezadeh suffered the same fate a week later when he was shot at close range with a shotgun during a demonstration in Mashhad. The family was threatened with prosecution if they complained. 15-year-old Asra Panahi was beaten to death on 12 October. The authorities are also said to have threatened her family, in addition to several other children who have been killed or injured by security forces. 16-year-old Hasti Hossein Panahi has been in a coma since she was beaten up on 9 November. Nine-year-old Kian Pirfalak who was shot dead a week later. Their families have also received clear warnings from the authorities.
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Claims Iran has killed and tortured several children and young people – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
