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Iran's highest military body has ordered the commanders of the armed forces in all provinces to "treat demonstrators with all severity", Amnesty International said today. The organization had received leaked official documents that revealed the authorities' plan to systematically crack down on the protests at all costs.
In a published today detailed analysis gives Amnesty International evidence of the Iranian authorities' plan to brutally crack down on the demonstrations.
The organization also shares evidence of the widespread use of deadly force and firearms by Iranian security forces, who either intended to kill protesters or should have known with reasonable certainty that their use of firearms would result in fatalities.
The violent repression of the protests has so far left at least 52 dead and hundreds injured. Based on eyewitness accounts and audiovisual evidence, Amnesty International was able to determine that none of the 52 identified victims posed an imminent threat to life or limb that would justify the use of firearms against them.
“The Iranian authorities knowingly chose to injure or kill people who took to the streets to express their anger at decades of oppression and injustice. In the latest round of bloodshed, dozens of men, women and children have been unlawfully killed amid an epidemic of systematic impunity that has long reigned in Iran,” said Agnes Callamard, Secretary-General of Amnesty International.
“Without determined collective action by the international community, which must go beyond mere condemnation, countless more people risk being killed, maimed, tortured, sexually abused or imprisoned for simply taking part in the protests. The documents analyzed by Amnesty International make it clear that an international, independent investigative and accountability mechanism is needed.”
Photo / Video: Amnesty.
