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Iran: Security forces kill Kurdish protestors
11.8.2005
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(New York, August 11,
2005) - The Iranian government must investigate
the deaths of at least 17 people at the hands of
security forces in the western province of Kurdistan
over the past two weeks, Human Rights Watch said
today. Security forces reportedly also wounded
hundreds when they opened fire on demonstrators
protesting the killing of a young Kurdish man,
Shivan Qaderi, on July 9.
In addition, the government forces arrested hundreds
of people throughout the province, including Roya
Toloui, a women's rights activist, and several other
leading human rights defenders and journalists.
On July 9, security forces shot and killed Shivan
Qaderi in Mahabad. Kurdish groups, quoting Qaderi's
brother, said that Qaderi was approached by the
security forces in public, shot three times, and
then tied to a military vehicle and dragged around
the city. According to these reports, Qaderi was a
social and political activist, but government
authorities have accused him of "moral and financial
violations."
In the wake of Qaderi's murder, protests erupted in
several cities and towns in Kurdistan. Protestors
demanded that the government apprehend Qaderi's
killers and put them on trial. Some of the protests
reportedly involved attacks on government buildings
and offices. Human Rights Watch obtained a list of
17 protestors killed by the security forces,
including three people shot dead in Oshnavieh on
July 26, two people shot dead in Baneh on July 30,
one person shot dead in Sardasht on August 2, and 11
people shot dead in Saqqez on August 3.
"The Iranian government needs to conduct a full and
impartial investigation into the violent response to
the recent protests in Kurdistan," said Hadi Ghaemi,
Iran researcher for Human Rights Watch. "Officials
who are responsible for any excessive use of lethal
force must be prosecuted."
On August 7, officials of the Interior Ministry said
that two men died in Saqqez on August 3, but they
denied that government forces had fired on
protestors. However, two residents of Saqqez told
Human Rights Watch that Special Units (Yiganhay-e
Vizhe) of the Revolutionary Guards fired
indiscriminately in an effort to disperse the
crowds.
"The security forces moved towards the protestors
while shooting directly at them," one eyewitness
told Human Rights Watch. Eyewitnesses also told
Human Rights Watch that one of the dead in Saqqez,
Mohammad Shariati, was shot in the head.
"As his family tried to retrieve his body, the
security forces pointed their guns at them and
threatened to shoot them. Then they started beating
his family with batons," said an eyewitness who told
Human Rights Watch that she saw Shariati fall to the
ground.
In addition, eyewitnesses said that the security
forces in Saqqez flew helicopters quite low in an
effort to disperse the demonstrators, who numbered
in the hundreds.
According to local residents, major cities in
Kurdistan remain surrounded by units of the
Revolutionary Guard and that an undeclared martial
law is effectively in place throughout the region.
Iranian authorities blamed the unrest on "hooligan
and criminal elements" and charged that "public and
state-owned buildings, including banks, were
damaged." Human Rights Watch recognizes the
responsibility of the government to take steps to
deal with threats to public safety and property.
However, the government's response must be lawful
and governed by the standards set out in the U.N.
Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials and
the U.N. Basic Principles on the Use of Force and
Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials. These
principles state that "intentional lethal use of
firearms may only be made when strictly unavoidable
in order to protect life."
On August 2, the government shut down Ashti
newspaper and the weekly Asu in Kurdistan.
Authorities detained Roya Toloui, a leading women's
rights activist, at her home in Sanandaj for
"disturbing the peace" and "acting against national
security."
On the same day, security forces detained other
prominent journalists and human rights defenders at
their homes and offices including Azad Zamani, a
member of the Association for the Defense of
Children's Rights; Mohammad Sadeq Kabudvand,
journalist and co-founder of Kurdistan Human Rights
Organization; Jalal Qavami, editor of the journal
Payam-e Mardom; and Mahmoud Salehi, the spokesman
for the Organizational Committee to Establish Trade
Unions.
Human Rights Watch called on the Iranian government
to immediately and unconditionally release detained
journalists, human rights defenders and activists.
www.hrw.org
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