Arrests, murdered children and public executions – the Iranian regime has been trying to quell the protests of the population with brutal methods since the death of the young Kurd Mahsa Amini († 22). Now there are apparently more atrocities: sexual violence.
As CNN reports, Iranian Armita Abbasi (20) was arrested for making statements critical of the regime on her social media accounts. After that, she was repeatedly raped by state security forces. That was mid-October. After eight days, security guards took her to a hospital in the Iranian city of Karaj.
Hospital staff confirmed that Abbasi had numerous injuries suggestive of repeated rape. According to the report, the guards then pressured health professionals to officially attribute the injuries to a time before the arrest.
“Shut up”
Armita Abbasi is not the only victim. Several women have told Iran’s news channel Iran International that security forces searched and stopped them on their way to prison in a “most abhorrent way” – the manly way. This, although officials were also present. When one prisoner said she wanted women to search her, the officers said, “Shut up!”
Another woman said officers forced her and 11 others to undress. Then they humiliated her and laughed wildly.
In addition, many reported that they had been threatened with rape or that family members would rape them.
It also happens with captive men
Men and women in custody report sexual assaults that security forces use as leverage to force victims to make public “confessions”.
The human rights organization Human Rights Watch also documented the serious mistreatment of detainees. Two women were reportedly beaten, assaulted and pressured by being threatened with rape during their arrest.
“The prisoners will be humiliated”
Hamid Hosravi, 55, a Persian lecturer at the University of Zurich, tells Blick: “The attacks and rapes serve two purposes.” On the one hand, the prisoners must be humiliated and absolute power must be demonstrated over them. “On the other hand, a terror regime must be set up to intimidate the entire population.” Hosravi also says, “The prisoners should be forced to confess under torture.”
The regime has always used this method to crack down on members of the opposition and protests. “I think the West underestimates the level of violence.” The regime poses a danger not only to the Iranian people, “but to the whole world”.
Iran expert Mahdi Rezaei (39) from the University of Bern shares this assessment. “The regime wants to intimidate the demonstrators and mentally ruin the prisoners so that they are not active in the future.”