Justice and accountability: Woman, Life, Freedom protests

Maryam* was forced to record a message while in detention to her parents before she was subjected to a mock execution. Her crime was protesting with thousands of other women, men, girls and boys against deep-rooted institutionalized discrimination against women and girls that prevails in Iran. She held her head high as she knelt before a police officer in Gillan province, northern Iran.

“I am terrified,” Maryam said in the video message. Then she added: “Hold your head up high. At least I will die with a purpose.”

Two and a half years since the protests began, women and girls in Iran continue to face persecution and discrimination. A new UN Human Rights report by an independent investigation team has found that Iranian authorities persist in implementing new restrictions to curb the fundamental rights of women and girls, while intensifying crackdowns on others who supported the "Woman, Life, Freedom" movement.

The investigation team made a similar conclusion to its first report that “gross human rights violations and crimes against humanity” were committed in the context of the 2022 Iran protests.

The report was presented at the 58th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland.

The “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests in 2022 broke out following the death of Jina Mahsa Amini (shown above), a 22-year-old Kurdish woman, arrested by the “Morality Police”for allegedly violating the mandatory hijab laws. This led to months of nationwide demonstrations.

The investigation found a pattern of mock executions of detained protestors by the Criminal Investigation Unit of the FARAJA (Agahi), the IRGC and the Ministry of Intelligence, in acts amounting to torture. Two women faced mock executionsat gun point, including one by a firing squad.

Torture, cruel or degrading treatment of people in custody is prohibited under international human rights law and customary law.

The report, by the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Islamic Republic of Iran, described digital surveillance of women as State-sponsored “vigilantism.” The investigators heard how businesses and private individuals were compelled to enforce mandatory hijab rules — shown as a civic responsibility.

This is the second mandated report of the Fact-Finding Mission to the Human Rights Council.

The investigators also examined protester deaths, which were presented as “suicides” and carrying out of “mock executions.”

The Fact-Finding team, comprising three human rights experts acting in an independent capacity, supported by a team of investigators, legal, gender, child rights and other experts, investigated cases of women and girls, like Maryam, as well as others who stood in solidarity with them, and who were subjected to physical and psychological violence during arrests and in detention for supporting or participating in the protests.

The team carried out investigations for two years in support of truth, accountability, justice and reparations. They heard from close to 300 people, collecting and verifying over 38,000 pieces of evidence including medical and forensic reports, information provided from credible human rights organizations, and hundreds of secondary sources including government documents.

“These reaffirm that in repressing the 2022 nation-wide protests, State authorities committed gross human rights violations, some of which the Mission found to have amounted to crimes against humanity,” said Sara Hossain the chairperson of the Fact-Finding Mission, in a press statement.

“This includes evidence in relation to the unlawful use of force, torture and ill-treatment, arbitrary arrest and detention, sexual and gender-based violence, including rape, and serious fair trial violations,” according to the Fact-Finding Mission press statement. The statement added the mission's findings on killings and life-altering injuries, including blindness.

The report emphasizes the need for accountability for those responsible for gross violations and international crimes. It urges measures to support victims and survivors both within Iran and internationally, including through access to medical and trauma care, initiatives for memorialization and truth-telling, the creation of a victims’ compensation fund, potentially using frozen assets of certain individuals, and other forms of redress.

The Fact-Finding Mission recommended inclusive legal reforms that provide for equal participation of women in public life, and that will guarantee all rights for all women and girls.

Meanwhile, UN investigators urged the Iranian government to release all individuals arbitrarily detained for exercising their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. They also called for an end to the use of the death penalty against protesters and human rights defenders.