Iran International
Over 100 female protesters held at Tehran’s Qarchak Prison have been systematically abused and kept in inhumane conditions since their arrest two weeks ago.
Speaking to Iran International, a source who is familiar with the prisoners’ circumstances said they have been strip searched, repeatedly interrogated, threatened by interrogators with losing their once daily two-minute phone calls to their families.
According to the source who did not want to be named for their safety, detainees have been kept indoors in unsanitary conditions throughout this time. The lights are never turned off in the shed even at night, and there are only three toilets and showers.
“Women have developed various infections as there are no facilities for washing and drying clothes and underwear … A few women found head lice in their hair,” the source said.
On Wednesday, a religious and public holiday, protesters took to the streets again in several cities including Tehran, Esfahan, and the religious city of Qom in the evening. The video from Isfahan shows people chanting “Women, Life, Liberty” while in another video a group of protesters are seen chanting “Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid. We stand together!” in Qom.
Authorities have not released any information on the number of detainees, those injured and killed in the protests that began nearly three weeks ago following the death in custody of Mahsa Amini who was arrested for not wearing her hijab “properly”.
A top Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) commander, Brigadier General Ali Fadavi, said Tuesday that detainees are around 15 years old on average while Tehran’s Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor Ali Salehi announced that 400 of those detained in the protests who “were repentant” have been released.
Iran Human Rights, a Norway-based rights organization, said Tuesday that at least 154 protesters, including nine children, have been killed by security forces during the protests.
Very little is known about most of the victims as families are pressured to remain silent if they want the bodies of their loved ones to be handed over to them.
Documentary filmmaker Javad Moguei, a hardliner and Khamenei devotee, has published a very grim account of the great violence against protesters by security forces’, IRGC’s Basij militia, and their plainclothes helpers on Instagram in the past three days.
Moguei said a police officer shot 14 plastic bullets all over his chest and arms in a matter of seconds only because he had objected to the beating of a young girl protesting on the street with no hijab.
“Don’t beat her, she will die, I cried. One of them told me to mind my own business and then my body went on fire. The officer was shooting at my chest and arms nonstop,” an apparently disillusioned Moguei who was subsequently thrown into a van and taken away wrote in one of his posts. He said he was released and officials apologized to him when he was recognized.
Nasrallah, whose militant movement was created by Iran in early 1980s and has been receiving money and weapons from Iran ever since, told media in Lebanon that Amini’s death was a “vague incident”, and it was a plot to weaken the Islamic Republic and create regional tensions.
“The Iranian state is a target and so any incident is exploited to incite people against this state,” Nasrallah claimed.
The nationwide protests and a wave of civil disobedience that followed Amini’s death has led to a serious challenge for the Islamic Republic. Security forces have killed more than 150 protesters and innocent onlookers in the streets, which could fuel more unrest in the coming weeks.
Any weakening of the Iranian regime would be dangerous to its proxies, such as the Hezbollah that almost fully depend on Tehran’s support.
Iranian officials first tried to argue that the 22-year-old woman arrested by the hijab police had an existing illness, which they said caused her to go into a coma in a police station.
After Iran International published her hospital CT scan showing a broken skull, this version could not be supported any longer.
On Tuesday, the chief of Iran’s Judiciary Mohsen Ejei tried to argue that Mahsa Amini was arrested in full public view. However, by all indications, she was hit in the head after she was pushed into a police van where there were no witnesses, or none that has dared to speak out.
One eyewitness who spoke with Amini in the police station told Iran International September 26 that she was complaining of pain in the head before she passed out and taken to hospital, where she arrived in a coma.
The most incredible, however, claim came from an ‘analyst’ on Iran-backed Al Manar TV in Lebanon. While the video of his remarks exists, we could not identify him.
The TV guest said that Amini was an Israeli agent because she was a Kurd with connections to Kurdish insurgent groups fighting against the Islamic Republic. Presumably, the Kurdish groups have ties to Israel, which sent Amini to Iran “with a suicide pill” and she “walked into a police station” and used the pill to kill herself so that Iran could be blamed.
These remarks are typical of diatribe and conspiracy theories the Islamic Republic and its proxies use to try to discredit those they regard as enemies or rivals and feed ideologically convenient disinformation to their followers.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and even Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei have insisted that the government is investigating Amini’s death. But after three weeks, no official has been named as responsible for her arrest and transfer to the police station. No police officer has been suspended or arrested, while officials act expeditiously against critics and quickly “identify” anti-regime "lawbreakers," such as journalists and activists.