Iran Alleged to Have Sexually Assaulted Teen Protesters

Reports of Brutal Assaults in Iran’s Ongoing Crackdown

The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), an opposition group operating from abroad, reported on Wednesday that it received disturbing accounts of sexual assault involving a teenage protester who was captured during the regime’s harsh crackdown on recent demonstrations.

Protests began across Iran in late December as the economy plunged and the currency sharply declined. The regime’s response has been marked by extreme violence, cloaked in an ostensibly noble cause. Amid widespread internet outages, current estimates suggest around 5,000 people have died, with over 26,000 arrests. Human rights advocates believe the actual death toll could be significantly higher, potentially tripling the confirmed numbers.

NCRI mentioned that witnesses claimed “multiple young women and men were detained by regime security forces and forced to undress, supposedly to check for bullet wounds.”

Reports from international media indicated that regime operatives used pellet guns on demonstrators, resulting in typical injuries and “tagging” them for future arrests. Iranian medical professionals have treated countless individuals suffering from severe eye injuries caused by these pellet guns.

The Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN), based in France, stated that at least two individuals, including a 16-year-old, faced sexual assault by Iranian security in Kermanshah.

According to KHRN, “During transfers, security forces struck detainees with batons, hitting them in sensitive areas.”

Reports highlighted that many detainees described experiences of “rape, beatings, and torture” amid the violent suppression of the 2022 Women, Life and Freedom movement. Disturbingly, updates on torture during the latest crackdown are coming through despite an ongoing internet blackout.

One protester, Solan Feijizadeh, was reportedly tortured to death on January 7, with his family not notified of his passing for two days. They were subsequently demanded a ransom to reclaim his body, which was said to be “almost unrecognizable” due to severe injuries.

Abdrahman Bormand of the Iranian Center for Human Rights, a U.S.-based organization, raised concerns over a significant number of detainees being transferred to prisons where abuses like “beatings, floggings, and sexual assaults” were documented.

Both NCRI and KHRN reported that families were charged exorbitant fees — up to 10 billion rials (nearly $10,000) — for the return of their loved ones’ remains, with many bodies allegedly burned to hide evidence of the killings.

Opposition groups claimed families were coerced into conducting funerals under heavy surveillance and were forced to publicly blame protesters for the violence.

Anti-government news outlet Iran International reported on Wednesday that “fragments” of the truth surrounding the two-week crackdown started to emerge, revealing previously undocumented killings, including that of a shopkeeper in Shiraz who was executed for sheltering protesters.

The outlet noted increased reports of snipers targeting protesters from rooftops and described the regime’s intensified efforts to conceal the true scale of its atrocities by destroying corpses and intimidating medical workers.