Amnesty: Child detainees in Iran subjected to flogging, electric shocks and sexual violence
Amnesty International said that Iran's security services have tortured children and young people, whom they arrested amid the regime's crackdown on protests against the Iranian state.
Amnesty International confirmed in a report that children and young people arrested during the protests, some of whom were as young as 12 years old, were subjected to torture, rape and various forms of sexual violence.
Amnesty confirmed that its research in this field reveals the methods of torture used by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, the Basij forces, the Public Security Police and other security and intelligence forces in Iran against detained girls and boys to get forced confessions.
Amnesty International wrote that since the beginning of its investigation into the suppression of the Iranian popular uprising, it has documented details about the case of 7 children, who were arrested during the protests that swept across the country. Amnesty has received testimonies from victims, their families and others of widespread torture against large numbers of children.
These documents and testimonies were received from 19 eyewitnesses, including two lawyers and 17 adult prisoners who were with children.
Additionally, victims and eyewitnesses were interviewed from provinces across Iran, including East Azerbaijan, Golestan, Kermanshah, Khorasan Razavi, Khuzestan, Lorestan, Mazandaran, Baluchistan, Tehran, and Zanjan.
"Agents of the Iranian regime have separated children from their families and subjected them to unimaginable oppression," said Diana Eltahawy, Amnesty International's Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa.
She also said, "This violence against children represents a deliberate strategy to break the morale of the country's youth and prevent them from demanding freedom and human rights."
She added, "The authorities must immediately release all children who were arrested solely for peaceful protest."
"Without seeing an effective and impartial investigation into the torture of children inside the country, we urge all countries to exercise their universal jurisdiction over Iranian officials, including those in positions of leadership or high responsibility, who are suspected of criminal responsibility for crimes under international law, including the torture of child demonstrators," she stressed.
a.k
ANHA
