Iran orders probe into alleged police brutality

Paris, France (AFP):

Iranian authorities have ordered an investigation into a video showing officers savagely beating a protester that rights groups said exposed the brutality of the crackdown on demonstrations sparked by Mahsa Amini’s death.

The Islamic republic has been rocked by over six weeks of unrest following the death of Amini, 22, who had been arrested by Tehran’s morality police for failing to subscribe to the prescribed conservative dress code.

The movement is now being seen as the biggest challenge to the country’s leaders since the 1979 revolution.

Activists say dozens have been killed and thousands arrested nationwide in a crackdown by the security forces, who have been accused of firing on protesters at close range, bludgeoning them with batons and of other abuses.

Footage had been circulating on social media, shot at night on a mobile phone purportedly in a district of Tehran, showing a squad of around a dozen policemen in an alley kicking and beating a man with their batons, as other officers on motorbikes looked on.

The man initially tries to cover his head with his hands, before the sound of a gunshot is heard and he is run over by a police motorbike. His motionless body is then abandoned.

“This shocking video sent from Tehran is another horrific reminder that the cruelty of Iran’s security forces knows no bounds,” Amnesty International said, adding that police appeared to have a “free rein” to use violence.

Iran’s police force announced in a statement that an order had been issued to “investigate the exact time and place of the incident and identify the offenders”.

“The police absolutely do not approve of violent and unconventional behaviour and will deal with the offenders according to the rules,” added the statement.

Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has accused the United States of seeking to manipulate Iranians by supporting the demonstrations.

Thousands have been arrested nationwide, rights activists say, while Iran’s judiciary has said 1,000 people had already been charged over the riots.

Activists have also protested against a forced confession video published by state-run Iranian media of Toomaj Salehi, a prominent rapper arrested at the weekend after backing the protests.

Amini’s family says her death was caused by a blow to the head while in custody. Iranian authorities contest this explanation. Official medical reports have also suggested that Amini suffered from a pre-existing medical condition.

The protests have become a rallying point for popular anger against the regime that has ruled Iran since the fall of the Shah in 1979.

On Wednesday, US Vice President Kamala Harris saluted the “bravery” of the women-led protests. She said Washington would work to remove Iran from the UN Commission on the Status of Women.

“Iran has demonstrated through its denial of women’s rights and brutal crackdown on its own people that it is unfit to serve on this Commission,” Harris said.