Iranian authorities must put an end to violence against peaceful protesters across the country
Starting on 15 November 2019, mass protests haveerupted in Iran in response to a three-fold rise in petrol costs. Protestershave called for improved living conditions amidst high levels of corruption,unemployment, poverty and discrimination across the country. Some reports haveindicated that protests have occurred in 500 locations in at least 120 citiesin 28 provinces, including in Isfahan, Tehran, Shiraz and Tabriz – the largestscale in recent history. In response to the protests, Law Enforcement hasresponded with violence, with reports indicating that as of 2December 2019, at least 208 protesters have been killed; other sources fear the number of casualtiesmight be higher.
These new protests come on the wave of increasingrestrictions on civic space by Iranian authorities. In the context of analready repressed civic environment, authorities have in the past year targetedconservationists, civil society activists - especially labor union andteachers’ union activists - as well as human rights defenders, who have beenwrongfully prosecuted for exercising their rights to freely assemble and formhuman rights associations.
Besides the impunity with which it functions in theface of human rights violations, authorities have deployed various tactics tosilence protesters: based on citizens’ reports, the military and securityforces have opened live ammunition on protesters and hundreds have beeninjured. Iranian officials have announced the arrest of over 7000 protesters.The government has warned protesters of the consequences of participating insuch protests through text messages, including summoning protesters to securitycentres to provide details of their involvement in protests.
The Iranian government also shut down internet accessduring the protests, with reports indicating that up to 95% ofIranians were unable to access the internet, starting on 16 November until 21November. As the intensity of the protests surge, Iranians can only access thenational internet and websites approved by Council of Country Security. Thismeans that monitoring the status of the protests is not possible for theinternational community, allowing for further impunity on the part of LawEnforcement.
Every day the level and scope of the violence andarrests has increased and specifically the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei,has given a green light to widespread repression of theprotesters.
In light of these restrictions, the undersignedorganizations call on the Government of Iran to:
- Immediately and unconditionally release allindividuals and civil society activistswho have been arrested during the protests, upholding the right to freedom ofassembly in accordance with the rights enshrined in the United NationsDeclaration on Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and PoliticalRights (ICCPR), the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders and Human RightsCouncil resolutions 22/6, 27/5 and 27/31.
- Immediately cease the violent crackdown on protesters and ensure thatlaw enforcement abides by international best practice as articulated by the UNCode of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials and the UN Basic Principles onthe Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement.
- Bringto justice, by fair and transparent trial, those responsible for the deaths ofprotesters.
- Reinstate access to the internet and ensure free access to and exchangeof information among Iranians, and with the outside world, and remove thebarriers for such access and exchange.
The undersigned:
- Volunteer Activists (VA)
- CIVICUS : World Alliance for Citizen Participation
- Abdorrahman Boroumand Center for Human Rights in Iran
- Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR)
- The World Movement for Democracy
- Cultura Democratica AC (Argentina)
- Centro para la Apertura y el Desarrollo de América Latina (CADAL)
- Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI)
- World Youth Movement For Democracy
- Human Rights Activists in Iran
- Kurdistan Human Rights-Geneva (KMMK-G)
- Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law
- Andalus Institute for Tolerance and anti-Violence Studies (Egypt and the MENA region )
- Siamak Pourzand Foundation (SPF)
- Defenders of Human Rights Center (Co-founded by Nobel Peace Laureate Shirin Ebadi)
- United For Iran
- Iran Human Rights Documentation Center
- Women’s Learning Partnership
- Freedom House
- Asia Democracy Network (ADN)
- Ensemble Contre la Peine de Mort (ECPM)
- Iran Human Rights
- You for Democracy (Tbilisi-based NGO)
- Arseh Sevom
- Kurdistan Human Rights Network
- World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT)
- Balochistan Human Rights Group (BHRG)
- Baloch Activists Campaign
- Legal Resources Centre from Moldova
- Metro Center For Journalists Rights & Advocacy (Iraqi Kurdistan Region)
- Educational Society for Malopolska (MTO) (Poland)
- Impact Iran
- Pan African Human Rights Defenders Network
- DefendDefenders (East & Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project)
- JoopeA Foundation
- Tavaana (E-Learning Institute for Iranian Civil Society)
- All Human Rights for All in Iran
- Association for the Human Rights of the Azerbaijani people in Iran (AHRAZ )
- Hromadske Radio (Ukraine)
- Human Rights Watch
- SURSUM CORDA Association ("Hearts Up”-Poland)
- Boris Nemstov Foundation for Freedom (Russia)
- Forum 2000 (Czech Republic)
- Article 20 Network
- Minority Rights Group International (MRG)
- Free Russia Foundation
- Equality Now