Human rights watch: Iran used “excessive and lethal force”
cnn
October 08 2022
human rights watch also condemning the iranian government's hardline response.
it's accusing security forces of using quote, excessive and lethal force against peaceful protesters. lama Fakih is the middle east and north africa director for human rights watch comes to us now live from beirut and thanks for being available.the report points to a need for more international pressure on iran to end lethal force that the u.s. did announce sanctions on individuals in the security apparatus. is that enough? should there be stronger pressure and what pressure.
Lama Fakih: the u.s. announced sanctions are welcome and they are necessary. but they are not going to be sufficient. with the government as oppresses as iran. we need to see coordinated action from a group of states including states in the global south. and we also need to see action at the UN, and this is why we and others have been calling for an international mechanism to investigate the abuses in the context of this protest movement and to ensure that there is accountability.
Q: iran is, of course, when it comes to sanctions and the mechanism is a different thing obviously, but iran … years of sanctions. do you have any confidence they would be susceptible to such pressure or just likely to carry on.
Lama Fakih: unfortunately, the repressive tactics that we have been you know seeing over the course of the past weeks in iran are nothing new. you know most recently in the protest movement in two thousand and nineteen, we saw the same types of abuses and after those abuses as well, there was impunity for those crimes. so what needs to change is a direction towards accountability. we have seen iranian women, kids, men get on the streets and speak out against the brutality of the regime and we need to see actors in the international community standing by them to support them as it continues to demand their right.
Q: the human rights watch report, which people can see on the website and read in detail gives the real details of incidents of security forces acting unlawfully excessive lethal force against protesters. what sorts of force and how brutal according to your investigation?
Lama Fakih: the iranian government has responded to what has been mostly peaceful protest in illegal ways. we and others have documented how security forces have approached crowds with shotgun with handgun opening live fire, fire into crowded area. they've chased protesters into alleys, into home, love teargas at them. in one case. we spoke to a woman who described trying to defend a child who was being beaten by security forces and instead of letting that child go, she was shot in the chest with pellets.
this is the kind of brutal response that we have been seeing from the iranian government in response against to people who are out on the street peacefully demanding their right.
Q: that was the striking thing as i was reading the report. you know you compiled the names of i think it was forty seven individuals who human rights groups like yours or credible media outlet documentaries being killed, most of them by bullets and as you watch them, at least nine are children. i mean, just how indiscriminate have the security forces being with the brutality.
Lama Fakih: unfortunately, the information that we have compiled is really the tip of the iceberg. as you have reported, the iranian government has also taken steps to restrict access to information for people on the ground and for people to know what is happening in iran today. so what we do know is that the iranian government is deploying a security forces in illegal ways to stamp out individuals who are on the streets demanding their rights and standing up to decades and decades of repression, decades of women not being able to access their basic rights.
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