Teenager among Iranian protesters sexually assaulted in custody, rights group says

A 16-year-old was among protesters sexually assaulted in custody by the security forces in Iran during the nationwide uprising that has left thousands dead, according to a human rights group.Two people, one of them a child, detained in the city of Kermanshah in western Iran told the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) that they were subjected to sexual abuse by riot police during their arrest.“During the transfer, security forces touched their bodies with batons. They beat and applied pressure to the anal area with a baton through the clothing,” said Rebin Rahmani, of the KHRN, which has been in contact with sources close to the minor’s family.Due to the ongoing communication blackout in Iran, neither the rights group nor the Guardian have been able to get further information on the current conditions of the individuals.Rights groups have expressed fear about the treatment of more than 20,000 protesters estimated to have been arrested since the start of protests in late December. During nationwide protests in 2022, detainees reported rapes, beatings and torture by police, with one woman telling the Guardian she had been blindfolded and sexually assaulted by her interrogators.Since the start of the current protests in late December, 3,766 people have been killed and 8,949 other reported deaths are under investigation, according to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency.The Norway-based Kurdish human rights group Hengaw said Sholeh Sotoudeh, a pregnant woman from Langarud, was killed along with her unborn child after forces opened fire on protesters in north-west Iran on 10 January.In the latest unrest, at least one protester, 40-year-old Soran Feyzizadeh, has died as a result of torture while being held in custody, according to Hengaw. It said Feyzizadeh was detained during protests on 7 January and that his family was informed of his death two days later.Soran Feyzizadeh, 40, died as a result of torture while being held in custody. Photograph: The Guardian“His body was barely recognisable due to the extent of injuries caused by repeated blows,” said Awyar Shekhi, of Hengaw, who added that the family had to “pay a heavy sum just to retrieve his body from the authorities”.In a message to the Guardian, a close relative of Feyzizadeh said he had been prevented from returning home to attend the funeral. “The city [Saqqez in western Iran] was militarised and movement was completely restricted,” the relative said. “I wanted to be with my family during this time but they didn’t allow it. They didn’t allow anyone to be with our family. They killed him. They killed Soran so brutally.”Rahmani said they were investigating two further reports of deaths that had allegedly occurred in the custody of the security forces. One of them is a woman from Kermanshah and the other is a man from the city of Marivan. The internet blackout has made it impossible to interview protesters inside Iran.The US-based Abdorrahman Boroumand Center for Human Rights in Iran has documented the cases of more than 549 protesters, including 51 women, who have been transferred to Yazd central prison, and it expressed extreme concern over the lives of detainees.“As street protests wind down, arbitrary arrests have increased as has the risk of torture for detainees,” said Roya Boroumand, the centre’s executive director. “Over the past decades we have documented numerous cases of death in custody alongside severe physical and psychological torture, including beating, flogging and sexual assault.”