I see, so the citizens of Iran that are being tortured , hanged, blinded , etc,etc,etc,,, by the thousands for protesting , are protesting because their main concern is the seething hate for America and the Jews they have, and they just feel that the ruling Mullahs are not acting upon their hate ferociously enough in terror attacks ?
More than 120 protesters blinded by Iranian agents, probe confirms
UC Berkeley’s Human Rights Center says the victims, most aged 30 and under, suffered partial or full loss of sight in the government crackdown on protests demanding women’s rights.
By
Edward Lempinen
An Iranian security agent shot Kosar Eftekhari at close range with a paintball gun in October 2022 as the government tried to suppress mass protests against the death of Mahsa Amini while in police custody. Eftekhari, who lost sight in her eye, spoke at an event Tuesday, March 19, during a session at the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland.
Courtesy of the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center
March 21, 2024
The Human Rights Center at UC Berkeley has verified for the first time that roughly 120 people lost some or all of their sight when Iranian security agents firing shotguns, paintball guns and even tear gas canisters cracked down on women’s rights protests that erupted in late 2022.
Center investigators stop short of saying that security forces broadly intended to blind the protesters. But some of the victims were shot in the face at close range, and evidence in other cases also supports that conclusion, according to analysis presented Tuesday (March 19) during a side event as the U.N. Human Rights Council met in Geneva, Switzerland.
Many of the victims were students, and the majority were 30 years old or younger, according to Berkeley’s student-led investigative team. One confirmed victim was a 5-year-old girl standing on a balcony as demonstrations took place on the street below.
“As I reviewed photos of injuries and videos of protestors being beaten and shot at, I saw people who were young, like me, and also many women, like me,” said senior Melinda Zou, a co-leader of the team.
“I saw the bravery of people our age — university students taking to the streets and putting their lives on the line — and that really resonated with me.”
Alexa Koenig, faculty co-director of the Human Rights Center, said the data presented by Berkeley and its partners eventually could serve as evidence in prosecutions to hold Iranian leaders and their agents accountable in international legal bodies.
In the meantime, Koenig added, the findings “can be used by journalists, human rights advocates and others to bring more attention to what’s happening on the ground in Iran — and to advocate for a better future for the people who really are suffering the effects of government crackdowns.”
Koenig presented the Berkeley findings by video on a panel with Sara Hossain, a Bangladeshi lawyer who chairs the
Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Islamic Republic of Iran. The investigative panel was established by the U.N. Human Rights Council in November 2022, and the council is now weighing whether to renew its mandate and to deepen its probe into Iran’s violent suppression of women’s rights campaigns.