Amnesty International accuses Iran of using torture to extract confessions after 2019 protests
Some 7,000 people were arrested by Iranian authorities, including children as young as 10, the rights group reported.
Iran has committed widespread torture to extract confessions of those rounded up in last year’s anti-government protests and subjected hundreds to grossly unfair trials, Amnesty International said in a new report published Wednesday.
Electric shocks, mock executions, waterboarding and ripping out fingers and toes were among the torture methods documented by the London-based human rights group, which interviewed dozens of Iranian protesters, witnesses, and others jailed or disappeared. Combined with video footage, official statements and court documents, the evidence reveals “a catalog of shocking human rights violations” carried out by Iranian police, prison guards and security forces, Amnesty International's report said.
A dramatic increase in gasoline prices last November, which came amid an economic crisis exacerbated by Washington’s sanctions campaign, sparked widespread anti-government demonstrations. Thousands of young, mostly working-class protesters took to the streets in at least 100 cities, demanding a complete overhaul of the political establishment.
An unknown number of protesters were killed in the bloody crackdown that followed. Iran, which blamed the unrest on interference from foreign governments, acknowledged in May that as many as 230 people died. The US State Department estimated at least 1,000 Iranians died in the chaos.
