“Suicide” of One Protester! A Serious Threat to the Lives of All Detainees
December 9, 2017 (January 8, 2018) — According to a statement by the “Committee for Following Up on Arrests in the Nationwide December 2017 Protests,” one of the protesters arrested following the December 7 protests, named Sina Ghanbari (22 years old), lost his life on the night of December 16 in Evin Prison’s quarantine ward “for unknown reasons.” Intelligence and security agencies, in contact with two members of parliament, have claimed that he committed suicide.
There is no news of the fate of another detained protester. Evin Prison officials told the family of Ashkan Absouran (20 years old) that he is missing. This is despite the fact that Ashkan Absouran informed his family by phone on December 14 that he had been arrested.
Several Islamic Republic officials have spoken of the arrest of “leaders” of the protests, and the head of the Islamic Revolution’s illegal courts announced: “Some individuals who were present as ringleaders in the riots are subject to charges of moharebeh (enmity against God).”
In this way, once again a serious threat looms over the lives of all detainees. The Islamic Republic has a clear history in this regard. The deaths of several detained protesters at the Kahrizak detention center in 2009, the killing of Zahra Kazemi (Iranian-Canadian photojournalist), and the death of critical blogger Sattar Beheshti, the deaths of political and ideological prisoners Akbar Mohammadi, Waliyollah Fayez Mahdavi, Hadi Saber, and critical blogger Omid Reza Mir Siaafi, labor and union activist Shahrokh Zamani under highly suspicious circumstances of murder, are just a few examples of dozens of cases.
More Than 2,000 Detained
Based on various statistics announced by different sources, the number of detainees as of December 14 is estimated at more than 2,000. Official sources have confirmed the detention of 90 students — mostly for preventive purposes. While other sources have published the names of over 100 arrested students. After announcing the detention of around 1,000 people in the initial days of the protests, the Islamic Republic has refrained from providing any statistics on this matter, and the Interior Ministry spokesperson said today, December 18, that he cannot provide precise figures on the detainees of the recent protests!
At Least 27 Killed
The number of people killed in the recent protests in Iran, according to statements by institutions and official officials of the Islamic Republic, has reached at least 27. The representative of Khomeini Shahr in the Islamic Consultative Assembly announced today that according to official statistics, 4 people were killed in the protests in this city. Previously, at least 22 people had been killed in the protests: 6 in Qahderijan, 3 in Shahinshahr, 4 in Dorud, 6 in Tuyserkan, 2 in Izeh, 1 in Kahrizabad (near Najafabad). Of these, apparently two were Islamic Republic officials, and according to the Minister of Education — two of the killed were young students. Various evidence shows that the number of killed is higher than official figures. The crackdown was carried out mainly by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and Basij. After initially denying it, the IRGC admitted that in suppressing the protests it directly participated in at least three cities and in other cities through the Basij paramilitary force affiliated with the IRGC. The IRGC is responsible for torture and pressure on detainees to extract false confessions in wards 2A and 240 of Evin Prison.
Abdol-Karim Lahiji, Honorary President of the International Federation of Human Rights Societies and head of the “Human Rights Defense Association in Iran,” expressing severe concern for the lives of detainees, announced:
“The right to assembly and protest is a fundamental human right. Any resort to vague and inhumane charges such as moharebeh against protesters constitutes a gross violation of Iran’s government commitments under international human rights treaties and will only result in further aggravating the human rights violations record of Islamic Republic officials before international bodies.”
Source: fidh
