At least 23 children killed in Iran protests in September, rights group says
Human Rights Watch (HRW) says at least 23 people have been killed in the largest protests since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
HRW says there are at least 150 protesters dead across Iran, with around 300 wounded, and many demonstrators have been arrested.
The group says the protests are being orchestrated in cities along the Iranian border and in Tehran, and it says many of the demonstrators are children.
The Iran government has said the rallies are ‘mobs’ and that ‘the protests will go on.’
‘The protests in Iran are being conducted by a small group of violent anti-government extremists who want to topple the regime,’ said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at HRW.
The United States has offered to put $200 million on hold for Iran to avoid any major conflict.
‘We call on the United States to stop supporting the Iranian government’s policy of repression,’ said Whitson.
But the White House has declined to comment on the matter.
The protests are expected to be the largest since the 1979 revolution, which established an Islamic theocracy in Iran.
Last week, two students were shot and another was set on fire while protesting in Tehran, Iran.
The country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, also warned on Tuesday that the protests were a ‘dangerous and dangerous’ demonstration for the country.
HRW says it has heard of children being sent as young as one year old to participate in the protests.
‘The people in Iran were calling for justice and freedom, so it was not surprising that this peaceful movement would lead to the use of force,’ says Whitson.
The group is providing medical support to protesters, including doctors and health workers.
‘We are doing everything we can to be of support to the injured and to those who have been arrested or are injured that we have information about,’ says Whitson.
A top Iranian official said earlier this week on