LONDON: At least 65 children between the ages of 2 and 17 have been killed in a “brutal crackdown” since protests erupted against the Iranian regime over 90 days ago, an opposition group has said.
“Three months have passed since the beginning of the Iranian people’s uprising against the mullahs’ regime,” said the National Council of Resistance of Iran. “According to the reports by the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran from inside the country, more than 700 people have been murdered and thousands injured by repressive forces and more than 30,000 people arrested and subjected to the most brutal torture.”
A report issued by the NCRI’s Foreign Affairs Committee, which is based on information from the PMOI network, revealed the name and age of each victim, as well as the city in which they were killed.
It found that 13 of the victims were girls and 52 were boys, while five victims were under 10 years old, and 60 were between 10 and 17 years old.
The report also said that the victims were from 33 cities across Iran, with the largest number of child victims reported in Zahedan, the capital of Sistan and Baluchistan Province, which registered 15 deaths in the southeast, followed by nine in Tehran and four in Piranshahr, in Kurdistan Province.
“Most of these children were killed by gunshots, but some of them, including Sarina Ismailzadeh, Nika Shakrami, Mohammad Hossein Kamandalo, and Maedeh Hashemi, were killed by baton blows to their heads and other vital areas, or by severe beatings by the security forces,” the reports said.
“Some were injured due to severe blows and injuries and died after some time. One example is Armika Ghaem Maghami, who was in a coma fighting for her life for 10 days before finally succumbing to her injuries,” it added.
“It should be emphasized that this report only includes confirmed cases and that the actual number of child victims is certainly higher, with some families being afraid to reveal victims’ names due to continuous threats by the regime.”
The report also said that the Iranian regime has denied any involvement in the children’s deaths but added that “the fact that children have been brutally victimized by the regime’s repression is also evident in protesters’ slogans, which include chants of ‘We don’t want a child-killing regime.’”
Amnesty International said 26 people faced possible execution after the Islamic Republic hanged two people who were arrested over the protests that erupted after the death in police custody of young Kurdish-Iranian woman Mahsa Amini on Sept. 16.
The unrest, in which demonstrators from all walks of life have called for the fall of Iran’s ruling theocracy, poses one of the biggest challenges to Iran since its 1979 revolution. “At least 26 people are at great risk of execution in connection with nationwide protests after Iranian authorities arbitrarily executed two individuals following grossly unfair sham trials in a bid to instil fear among the public and end protests,” Amnesty International said in a statement.
“The time has come for the international community to stand with the people of Iran, to accept their will, and to recognize their right to resist and defend themselves,” the NCRI said.
It urged countries to close the Iranian embassies, designate the Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist group in order to hold the regime accountable and to put an end to their impunity, refer the regime’s crimes to the UN Security Council and take steps toward expelling it from the UN.
