Image: APA/AFP/-
The regime in Iran is cracking down on the opposition with full force. Since the mass protests began in the fall, four demonstrators have already been executed and more than 18,000 arrested. Terrible conditions prevail in the prisons: kicks and whippings, electric shocks and rapes are part of everyday life, as eyewitnesses now report. A group of German journalists spoke to those affected who had been mistreated by Iranian security forces – and survived.
More than a dozen opposition supporters said they had been beaten with clubs or fists during interrogations and arrests, and some of their bones had been broken. In detention, they are said to have been tortured physically and psychologically for days and weeks. They would have had to kneel blindfolded for about 24 hours. Others were reportedly whipped with water hoses and tortured with electric batons.
In some cases, those affected were said to have been tied to furniture and sexually abused with rubber truncheons or electric batons. The injuries, some of which were massive, had not been treated for days. Several victims were also threatened with the death penalty. A former prison guard confirmed the common practice of torture. He and his colleagues tortured prisoners in various detention centers for more than ten years.
Since the death of 22-year-old Kurdish girl Mahsa Amini in September, protests against the government have raged across the country. Amini died after being arrested by the vice squad and activists say she was mistreated. She had not worn her headscarf “properly”.
Source: Nachrichten
