Dozens of children killed and arrested in Iran protests, UN says

Iranian security officials threaten to crack down further on protesters

Iranians walk past a huge billboard showing a montage of pictures titled “the women of my land, Iran” featuring Iranian women who are all observing the hijab, on Valiasr Square in Tehran. AFP

Iranian security forces have killed at least 23 children and arrested many more during their crackdown on anti-government protesters, the UN said this week as demonstrations continued.

The children were shot with live ammunition in at least seven provinces. Others have been hit at close range by pellets or suffered beatings, said Ravina Shamdasani, spokeswoman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

“Certain schools have been raided and children arrested by security forces. Some principals have also reportedly been arrested,” Ms Shamdasani said.

“The agency is aware that the Iranian education ministry itself confirmed a few days ago that an unspecified number of children had been sent to psychological treatment centres after being arrested in the anti-government protests,” she said.

The government has made mass arrests of protesters but the UN said they received reports of at 90 members of civil society including human rights defenders, lawyers, artists and journalists.

“On 12 October three lawyers were arrested as they demonstrated outside the bar association in Tehran,” Ms Shamdasani said.

She said “the continued unnecessary and disproportionate use of force against protesters must stop.”

“Arresting people solely for exercising their rights of peaceful assembly and freedom of expression constitutes an arbitrary deprivation of liberty,” she said.

The UN representative said the organisation is calling for the “immediate release of all those arbitrarily detained.”

It comes as the deputy commander of the Iranian Internal Security Forces, Qassem Rezaei, said on Wednesday that there “is no place for protests that result in chaos, disorder and insecurity”.

Iranian authorities have arrested 14 foreigners over the unrest, the semi-official Fars news agency reported on Wednesday.

"Investigations show that citizens of 14 countries, including the United States, Russia, Austria, France, the United Kingdom, and Afghanistan, have been arrested in recent riots in the country, of which Afghan nationals are the most numerous," Fars reported.

Fars did not say when the arrests were made. It also did not say whether they included nine foreigners who Iran's intelligence ministry said on September 30 had been arrested for their role in protests.

“We will not tolerate demonstrators who pursue such goals,” he said.

The unrest in Iran started after a 22 year old woman, Mahsa Amini, died three days after she was arrested by Iran's notorious morality police.

Her family and activists allege she died as a result of being beaten.

However, Iranian authorities said her death was the result of multiple organ failure caused by cerebral hypoxia.

Iran's Forensic Organisation said her death “was not caused by blows to the head and vital organs and limbs of the body”, in its report revealed on state television.

Since her death, dozens have been killed, mostly protesters but also members of the security forces, and hundreds arrested.

In an attempt to quash the month-long protests, Iran said it was planning to criminalise the sale of virtual private networks (VPNs) used to skirt internet restrictions.

"Selling anti-filtering tools is unauthorised, but unfortunately it has not been criminalised. Efforts are being made to criminalise this issue," said Telecommunications Minister Issa Zarepour.

"It is not in the field of my duties and naturally relevant institutions should follow this up," he said on state television after a cabinet meeting.

Iranian media outlets reported last year that lawmakers were working on a draft bill that could further restrict internet access.

The bill calls for "organising social media" and the banning of VPN software used widely to bypass internet restrictions and blocks imposed on social media platforms, Etemad newspaper wrote in June 2021.

The text also calls for jail terms for any one found guilty of violating the terms of the bill if it becomes law, according to the reformist daily.

Internet users had expressed concern over the draft bill proposed by some conservative lawmakers, who have had a parliamentary majority since 2020.

Activists around the world have railed against the regime, some cutting their hair in protest.