Severity of Suppression and Killing of Iranian People During November 2019 Protests Was Unprecedented in Past Eighty Years

The unprecedented dimensions of the suppression of public protests in November 2019 (Aban 98) in Iran continue to affect the lives of many citizens even two years later.

In contrast, the commanders and perpetrators of this violent and brutal suppression still enjoy absolute judicial immunity and evade accountability for the many unanswered questions surrounding the November 2019 public protests. The public protests that began following the announcement of a sudden increase in energy carrier prices in Iran rapidly spread to more than 200 Iranian cities, resulting in violent and brutal reactions from the regime’s security and military forces, leading to unprecedented killings and suppression of protesters in Iran. Moreover, the regime’s decision to cut off the country’s internet for several days was not only another form of suppression against citizens, but also made the suppression of protesters in the streets of many cities more violent and brutal under the shadow of blocked communication channels, making it difficult and impossible to monitor the situation of victims. Two years after the bloody November 2019 protests in Iran, many families of the deceased and some of the wounded and detained still face severe security and judicial pressures, effectively remaining trapped in the continuation of suppression and violence.

Hadi Ghayemi, director of the Human Rights Campaign in Iran, referring to the fact that the unprecedented suppression carried out in November 2019 is a stain on the history of the Islamic Republic, said: “The severity of suppression and killing of people during the few days of November 2019 protests was unprecedented in the past eighty years in Iran and public protests, and one can observe the continuation of acts of violence and suppression in the regime’s treatment of the families of the deceased and those who were wounded in the November 2019 protests.”

Ghayemi added: “Severe security and judicial treatment of the families of the deceased, wounded, and detained is clear evidence of the fears of the officials of Iran’s Islamic Republic from transparency and justice-seeking by the families of the deceased and wounded victims of the November 2019 suppression.”

The Human Rights Campaign in Iran, on the eve of the second anniversary of the November 2019 public protests, while emphasizing the necessity of clarifying the dimensions of this bloody suppression, demands the trial of all individuals who played any role in this suppression. The Human Rights Campaign in Iran calls on the international community to be the voice of justice-seeking for the families of the deceased, wounded, and detained of November 2019 so that the dimensions of this unprecedented suppression become increasingly clear. This issue gains even greater importance and necessity because many of the protesting citizens in November 2019 were from the weak and low-income segments of society, and the consequences of the damages resulting from the regime’s suppression on their lives are manifold.

Although the officials of the Islamic Republic claimed that 230 people were killed in the November 2019 protests, according to Reuters news agency reports, more than 1,500 people were killed in the November 2019 public protests. Amnesty International also announced the number of deaths in the November 2019 protests as 304 people. This is while the damages inflicted on Iranian citizens as a result of the regime’s violent and brutal suppression can also be examined in other forms.

Generally speaking, the damages inflicted on Iranian citizens as a result of the suppression of the November 2019 protests can be defined in three categories: first, the deceased. Second, the detained. Third, the victims and the wounded.

In fact, it can be said that the November 2019 suppression continues for many families and individuals in one of the three aforementioned categories (the killed, the detained, and the victims). The continuation of suppression, or what amounts to hidden suppression for the families of the deceased, has become more apparent with the obstruction and strictures by security and government officials over the past two years in holding mourning ceremonies or in some cases with the arrest of relatives of the deceased.

This hidden suppression for the second group, namely those detained in November 2019, is most evident in the legal proceedings of the cases of many detained protesters. Cases that in some instances have led to the issuance of unjust and severe sentences, such as death sentences. The lack of access for many detainees to lawyers and also the intensification of strictures on independent lawyers who have defended the detainees in their cases is another aspect of the continuation of the November 2019 suppression.

For the third group, namely the wounded from the November 2019 protests, one can examine the continuation of suppression or hidden suppression from several perspectives; apart from the infliction of some irreparable damages (such as limb loss) on citizens as a result of the suppression by security forces, the heavy medical treatment costs for a large group of victims of the November 2019 protests who were from the weak segments of society represent another form of the continuation of suppression and the consequences of injuries sustained during the protests.

Job loss and the inability to enter social environments, which in fact confines many of them to their homes, is yet another consequence of hidden suppression against the victims of the November 2019 public protests.

After two years have passed since the public protests in November 2019, and despite the intensification of the regime’s treatment of justice-seekers in Iran, the voice of justice-seeking by the families of the deceased of November 2019 and the victims grows louder each day, and the regime’s insistence on continuing the suppression of this justice-seeking demonstrates that November 2019 has not ended for either the regime or the protesters and the families of the victims.

Hadi Ghayemi, referring to the increasing costs of the justice-seeking movement compared to other historical periods in Iran, said: “The international community must pay attention to the fact that the regime’s suppression against many citizens related to the November 2019 protests continues to be applied in various forms and methods, and its commanders and perpetrators remain freely and without any fear of prosecution and trial, continuing their work.”

Source: Human Rights Campaign Iran