Mahta Karami Says She Has Informed UNICEF of Child Deaths in Iran Protests
Mahta Karami, a cinema actress and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in Iran, responded to criticism regarding her silence and inaction in the face of children being killed in various parts of Iran during the recent “crackdown” on protests, stating that she has informed UNICEF officials of these cases.
Ms. Karami on Thursday, October 5, posted a statement on her official Instagram account condemning “any violence against people, especially women and children.”
She wrote: “I am also aware of disturbing reports regarding the killing, wounding, and detention of a number of children and adolescents in the protests and the use of children under 18 years old to confront protesters.”
The renowned Iranian cinema actress emphasized that she has raised all these issues with UNICEF officials in Iran and is “following up” on this matter.
She concluded that her silence on social media regarding current events in Iran over the past days was not due to “inaction and negligence.”
Ms. Karami also attached images of nine children killed during the protests, including Nika Shakarami and Sarina Esmaeilzadeh, to her statement.
According to Iran Human Rights Organization, since the start of the new wave of nationwide protests in Iran less than a month ago, at least nine of those killed were under 18 years old.
In this regard, Ashkan Pouyan, a neurosurgeon and spine surgeon in Zahedan, by publishing an image of a bullet extracted from one of the wounded in the massacre on October 28 in that city, announced in an Instagram story that during the Zahedan protests “a thirteen-year-old child” was also shot.
Amnesty International also confirmed on Wednesday the killing of children during the “crackdown” by Islamic Republic security forces and called for international investigations into the killing of protesters in Iran.
On the other hand, on October 4, in a statement signed by hundreds of members and supporters of the “Imam Ali Society,” it was announced that the Islamic Republic government has used a number of poor children by providing them with “a few bags of groceries” to “suppress” protesters in Iran’s streets.
In recent days, with the continuation of nationwide protests in Iran, the publication of images showing the presence of children under 18 years old with helmets and batons on some streets of Tehran, who have been used to suppress protesters following the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody, became controversial.
This is not the first time that the Islamic Republic has misused children to advance its goals.
Apart from various protests, during the eight-year Iran-Iraq War, many children were sent to the fronts as soldiers and lost their lives in the fighting.
Source: Radio Farda
