How Iranian authorities are using sexual violence to quell protests. Among the victims are children as young as 12 years old
Human rights organizations document how Iranian authorities use sexual violence, including against children, to suppress protests and intimidate citizens demanding freedom and basic rights.
Sexual violence is used to discourage protests in Iran PHOTO EPA-EFE
The Iranian regime has been accused for years of using sexual violence as a tool of repression against those who oppose the authorities. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), known for its brutal methods, violently repressed anti-government protests in January, resulting in thousands of victims among demonstrators, writes the Daily Mail.
Even in this context, the scale and severity of sexual abuses reported in recent months have provoked strong reactions from human rights organizations. A recent Amnesty International report shows that thousands of Iranians are at risk of sexual violence, including minors. According to the document, children as young as 14 were sexually assaulted by groups associated with the IRGC.
At the same time, two nurses in Tehran were gang-raped and tortured by security agents after treating injured protesters during the demonstrations.
The two worked at the Rajaei Cardiology, Medicine and Research Center, and the assaults were so severe that doctors had to remove their uteruses. One of the victims, aged 33, suffered severe trauma and asked doctors to let her die. She is currently bedridden under the watch of security forces to prevent self-harm.
The cases are part of a wider pattern of intimidation through sexual violence used to discourage participation in protests. According to Amnesty, girls as young as 12 were raped in an attempt to provoke “lasting physical and psychological damage”. At the same time, UN investigations show that the Iranian authorities use sexual violence alongside torture, arrests and confessions obtained under duress.
In one documented case, IRGC agents descended on the home of a 19-year-old protester, Amirhossein Ghaderzadeh. He and his two sisters, one of whom is a minor, were stripped and subjected to forced searches, followed by sexual abuse. The young man was later sentenced to death, and authorities have not released information on his condition.
Sexual violence was also reported during the 2022 protests, sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman detained by the moral police for violating the dress code. At least 45 people – men, women and children – said they were raped or otherwise sexually abused during those protests.
Amnesty International claims that security forces have committed serious acts of torture on protesters, including beatings, electric shocks and sexual violence against minors, to suppress their involvement.
Victims' testimonies describe extreme abuse. One man reported being raped in a special forces van after being beaten and subjected to electric shocks. Another victim, detained in a center of the Revolutionary Guards, said that the aggressors justified the abuses with degrading and humiliating statements. Several people stated that the trauma they suffered led them to consider suicide.
According to Amnesty, violence against children reflects a deliberate strategy to silence younger generations and discourage demands for freedom and fundamental rights. Reports also include cases where minors were subjected to electric shocks in the genital area or other forms of torture intended to cause extreme suffering.
In the context of the most recent protests, the medical staff who provided aid to the wounded became, in turn, the target of repression.
IRGC forces intervened in hospitals, shooting at patients and arresting or assaulting medical staff. Two nurses who tried to provide care were killed and others were beaten or detained. In some cases, medical personnel were forbidden to touch the bodies of the deceased, and they were left unattended.
There are also reports of detained minors who have been subjected to sexual violence in detention. International organizations warn that these abuses are part of a systematic mechanism of repression, designed to spread fear and eliminate any form of opposition.
