Iranian forces kill at least 23 children – amnesty
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – At least, 23 children were killed during “brutal crackdown on youthful protests,” said Amnesty International on Thursday.
Nearly a month has passed since the death in custody of the 22-year-old Mahsa Amini by the police that sparked mass protests all over Iran.
Day after another the protests are getting stronger and garnering support from inside Iran and abroad, with workers from different industries staging strikes.
With slogans chanting “Death to the Dictator,” and banners raised reading “Women, Life and Freedom” the protests go on for the fourth week in a row.
“Children represent 16% of overall deaths of protesters and bystanders recorded by Amnesty International. The organization has so far recorded the names and details of 144 men, women and children killed by Iran’s security forces between 19 September and 3 October,” the organization said in a statement.
“Iran’s security forces have killed nearly two dozen children in an attempt to crush the spirit of resistance among the country’s courageous youth. If the international community were a person, how would it look these children and their parents in the eye? It would lower its head in shame over its inaction against the pervasive impunity enjoyed by the Iranian authorities for their systematic crimes and gross violations of human rights,” said Heba Morayef, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa.
Iranian security forces stepped up their crackdown on Kurdish regions of the country overnight, deploying militia troops, as authorities pursued their deadly suppression of nationwide protests sparked by Mahsa Amini’s death in police custody.
Iran deployed members of the Basij militia, troops which have been at the forefront of repressing popular unrest for decades, in Kurdish areas where seven people were killed in protests overnight.
With over 10 million Kurds living in Iran, Tehran fears pressure for secession will grow among a minority with a long history of struggle for its political rights.
Basij volunteers, affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), may number in the millions, with 1 million active members, analysts say.