PARIS: Executions of convicts, arrests of dissidents and a resurgence in patrols imposing the compulsory carrying of hijabs: Iran is stepping up repression at dwelling as tensions flare with its arch-foe Israel, activists say.
Iranians within the Islamic republic have endured elevated repression since nationwide protests have been sparked from September 2022 by the dying in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was arrested for allegedly flouting the necessary gown guidelines for girls.
However the crackdown has entered a brand new section as fears of a regional battle surge, with Israel launching an obvious strike on Iran on Friday.
Activists have reported that the dreaded white vans of the “morality police” have returned to metropolis squares throughout Iran, selecting up girls deemed to have violated the rule of compulsory hijab in pressure because the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Tehran police chief Abbas Ali Mohammadian overtly introduced the most recent crackdown on April 13, with native media saying it was codenamed “Nour” (“gentle” in Persian).
A number of movies posted on social media — below the hashtag “jang aliyeh zanan” (“battle in opposition to girls”) — have proven girls being bundled into vans by male police in physique armour accompanied by feminine police brokers dressed within the Islamic chador.
Streets become ‘battlefield’
“The Islamic Republic has turned the streets right into a battlefield in opposition to girls and youth,” 2023 Nobel Peace Prize laureate and jailed rights activist Narges Mohammadi wrote in a message from Tehran’s Evin jail and printed by her supporters on social media.
In a single video filmed near the Tajrish metro station in northern Tehran, a girl collapses on the bottom after being apprehended by the police, telling bystanders who then search to revive her that her cellphone was confiscated.
One other consists of what seems to be the sound of police utilizing electrical shock in opposition to girls who had been rounded up and put right into a van.
“Amid rising dissent at dwelling and worldwide consideration centered on regional tensions, the Islamic republic is grabbing the chance to accentuate its marketing campaign of repression in opposition to dissent,” stated the director of the New York-based Heart for Human Rights in Iran, Hadi Ghaemi.
“With out a agency worldwide response, the Islamic Republic might be emboldened to accentuate its violence in opposition to girls and its egregious violations of human rights,” stated Ghaemi.
A whole bunch have been killed, based on rights teams, and 1000’s arrested, based on the United Nations, within the crackdown on the 2022 protests that represented one of many greatest challenges to the Islamic republic.
‘Alternative to tighten grip’
Amongst these arrested in latest days was Aida Shahkarami, the sister of Nika Shahkarami, 16, who died through the 2022 crackdown, her mom Nasrin wrote on social media.
Aida was detained “for not carrying the necessary hijab,” Nasrin Shahkarami wrote on social media.
Nika Shahkarami was discovered lifeless through the protests, with some relations accusing the safety forces of killing her.
Dina Ghalibaf, a journalist and scholar at Tehran’s Shahid Beheshti College, was arrested after accusing safety forces on social media of placing her in handcuffs and sexually assaulting her throughout a earlier arrest at a metro station, based on the Norway-based Hengaw rights group.
Executions, which activists say are utilized by Tehran as a way to instil worry into society, have additionally continued apace, with a minimum of 110 individuals executed this 12 months alone based on the Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) group.
Amongst these executed in latest days have been a married couple, Esmail Hassaniani, 29, and his spouse Marjan Hajizadeh, 19, who have been sentenced to dying for drug-related fees in a joint case and hanged in Zanjan central jail on 11 April, based on IHR.
“The regime will with none doubt use this chance to tighten the grip contained in the nation,” stated IHR director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam.
“They nonetheless have not managed to take the management that that they had earlier than September 2022. They might have the chance to take action now, if all of the worldwide consideration goes to the escalating pressure with Israel.”
Iranians within the Islamic republic have endured elevated repression since nationwide protests have been sparked from September 2022 by the dying in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was arrested for allegedly flouting the necessary gown guidelines for girls.
However the crackdown has entered a brand new section as fears of a regional battle surge, with Israel launching an obvious strike on Iran on Friday.
Activists have reported that the dreaded white vans of the “morality police” have returned to metropolis squares throughout Iran, selecting up girls deemed to have violated the rule of compulsory hijab in pressure because the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Tehran police chief Abbas Ali Mohammadian overtly introduced the most recent crackdown on April 13, with native media saying it was codenamed “Nour” (“gentle” in Persian).
A number of movies posted on social media — below the hashtag “jang aliyeh zanan” (“battle in opposition to girls”) — have proven girls being bundled into vans by male police in physique armour accompanied by feminine police brokers dressed within the Islamic chador.
Streets become ‘battlefield’
“The Islamic Republic has turned the streets right into a battlefield in opposition to girls and youth,” 2023 Nobel Peace Prize laureate and jailed rights activist Narges Mohammadi wrote in a message from Tehran’s Evin jail and printed by her supporters on social media.
In a single video filmed near the Tajrish metro station in northern Tehran, a girl collapses on the bottom after being apprehended by the police, telling bystanders who then search to revive her that her cellphone was confiscated.
One other consists of what seems to be the sound of police utilizing electrical shock in opposition to girls who had been rounded up and put right into a van.
“Amid rising dissent at dwelling and worldwide consideration centered on regional tensions, the Islamic republic is grabbing the chance to accentuate its marketing campaign of repression in opposition to dissent,” stated the director of the New York-based Heart for Human Rights in Iran, Hadi Ghaemi.
“With out a agency worldwide response, the Islamic Republic might be emboldened to accentuate its violence in opposition to girls and its egregious violations of human rights,” stated Ghaemi.
A whole bunch have been killed, based on rights teams, and 1000’s arrested, based on the United Nations, within the crackdown on the 2022 protests that represented one of many greatest challenges to the Islamic republic.
‘Alternative to tighten grip’
Amongst these arrested in latest days was Aida Shahkarami, the sister of Nika Shahkarami, 16, who died through the 2022 crackdown, her mom Nasrin wrote on social media.
Aida was detained “for not carrying the necessary hijab,” Nasrin Shahkarami wrote on social media.
Nika Shahkarami was discovered lifeless through the protests, with some relations accusing the safety forces of killing her.
Dina Ghalibaf, a journalist and scholar at Tehran’s Shahid Beheshti College, was arrested after accusing safety forces on social media of placing her in handcuffs and sexually assaulting her throughout a earlier arrest at a metro station, based on the Norway-based Hengaw rights group.
Executions, which activists say are utilized by Tehran as a way to instil worry into society, have additionally continued apace, with a minimum of 110 individuals executed this 12 months alone based on the Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) group.
Amongst these executed in latest days have been a married couple, Esmail Hassaniani, 29, and his spouse Marjan Hajizadeh, 19, who have been sentenced to dying for drug-related fees in a joint case and hanged in Zanjan central jail on 11 April, based on IHR.
“The regime will with none doubt use this chance to tighten the grip contained in the nation,” stated IHR director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam.
“They nonetheless have not managed to take the management that that they had earlier than September 2022. They might have the chance to take action now, if all of the worldwide consideration goes to the escalating pressure with Israel.”
