Iranian regime turned the site of 2019 peaceful protest into war zone, tribunal hears

Ambulance driver says demonstrators were standing on street corners when security forces opened fire

Amenh Shahbazifard was killed during November 2019 protests when she stopped to help an injured demonstrator. Photo: Aban Tribunal

The site of a peaceful protest against high petrol prices in Iran turned into a war zone when security forces fired on demonstrators who blocked the roads with their abandoned cars, an ambulance driver told a tribunal on Friday.

The man, who gave evidence via video link with his face covered, told a hearing in central London that motorists had turned off their engines and were standing on street corners when they were shot down in November 2019 by armed militia and Revolutionary Guard officers.

“They weren’t doing anything, they were just standing,” said the driver. “Without any warnings, they used their Kalashnikovs to fire towards the people. Within the very first minutes, it was as if I was witnessing a war scene.”

The driver was giving evidence at the Iran Atrocities Tribunal, or Aban Tribunal, which started hearing evidence last year about the deaths of at least 323 people during anti-regime protests across the country.

The first evidence sessions in September 2021 were beamed live to Iran, sparking reprisals against some of those who gave evidence, tribunal organisers said.

The driver, whose name was withheld, was one of 116 people who came forward with further evidence for the tribunal, which was organised by rights groups with the help of international lawyers. The latest evidence was not streamed to protect the witnesses.

Although the tribunal has no weight in law, the organisers hope the statements could be used in future in potential prosecutions outside of Iran. A team of six legal experts and human rights activists will issue a final report in May, which will rule whether Iran was guilty of international crimes and name those responsible.

The tribunal is investigating crimes against humanity, including murder, torture and rape committed during the protests and in its aftermath, with 160 officials identified as suspects. These include prison guards and security officials identified on mobile phone footage firing on crowds and high-level leaders including President Ebrahim Raisi, who was head of the judiciary at the time.

The demonstrations in November 2019 were sparked by a spike in fuel prices but swiftly grew into a wider protest against the political establishment, with demands for constitutional reforms. But it was put down brutally over five days amid a national internet shutdown.

The ambulance driver, who was known only as witness 451 and who ferried the injured to hospital, told the tribunal that security forces controlled the hospitals and were removing military bullets from the bodies of the dead to try to cover up the extent of the killings.

The families of the victims were not informed of their loved ones' fate for days before they were told to collect the bodies and bury them with little ceremony.

One of the victims was an Iranian woman who was shot from behind while helping to bandage the wounds of a young protester who was wounded, her brother, Mohammed Shahbazifard, told the tribunal.

Amenh Shahbazifard left her home in the city of Karaj to pick up medicine for her 4-year-old child when she saw the injured protester, who had been hit in the leg.

“She went to help and used his shawl to cover the leg and then she was shot from behind,” said her brother.

The family only found out what had happened when a stranger picked up her discarded phone after frantic attempts to call her. Both Amenh and the young protester she tried to help died, the tribunal was told.

After the family finally found her body in a mortuary, officials said they had to pay the equivalent of $4,750 before they would release her for burial, said Mr Shahbazifard. Officials finally accepted a quarter of that sum.

The tribunal has previously heard evidence about widespread torture in prisons and the rounding up of dissidents following the protests.

The backers of the tribunal project take as their inspiration the Russell Tribunal from the 1960s, which investigated the US intervention in Vietnam, and the Iran Tribunal from 2012, which examined the massacre of thousands of prisoners in the late 1980s.

Organisers hope that it will lead to a full investigation by the UN and sanctions imposed on those chiefly responsible.