Tehran: Iranian children were not spared the brutality of the security authorities, as 68 children between the ages of 2 and 17 were killed between September 17, 2022, to December 16, 2022, during anti-hijab protests in Iran.
Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) in Iran, a group that’s been monitoring the protests said in a report that Iranian security forces killed 68 children as part of their campaign to suppress protests over the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody.
As per a report by Arab News, 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 victims were from 33 cities across Iran, with the largest number of child victims reported in Zahedan, the capital of Sistan and Baluchestan Province.
HRANA announced that 470 protesters had been killed in the unrest as of Friday, December 16.
At least 18,450 people, including 646 students, were arrested in those protests that took place in 161 cities and towns and 144 universities.
Amnesty International said 26 people are at great risk of possible execution after the Islamic Republic hanged two people who were arrested over the protests that erupted after the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini on September 16.
Iran has been shaken by violent protests since September 16, sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, three days after the morality police detained her in Tehran because of the country’s strict dress code.
The demonstrations involving people from all walks of life and different sects in Iran after Amini’s killing.
Iranian women are at the fore in the demonstrations, in which many young people participate, to chants of “Woman life freedom” and “Death to the dictator.”
The protests represent one of the boldest challenges facing the country since the 1979 revolution.
