A collective of individuals affected by the state-led suppression amid the 2022 "Women, Life, Freedom" protests has initiated a first-of-its-kind criminal complaint targeting forty named Iranian officials of purported human rights violations.
Case Filing Launched in Argentina
The petition for a judicial probe to be commenced was filed within the Argentine judicial framework. This step was made by a collective of Iranian nationals with support from a non-profit legal group. The Argentinian judicial system are recognized for hearing universal jurisdiction claims.
The document alleges that the actions from Iran's security forces to the protests included "discharging live ammunition, paintball guns, metal pellets not intended for close-range use, and other projectiles at protesters." The filing further states mass arrests, custodial torture, and death sentences of participants that allegedly carry on to this day.
Officials Named Anonymously
Named individuals representing the spectrum of Iran's law enforcement have been identified in the complaint, but their personal details are currently being kept confidential.
Individual Accounts Fuel the Case
One of the individuals behind the case, UK-based Mahsa Piraei, commented that the objective "is not revenge in a private capacity, but accountability and fact-finding." Her mother, Minoo Majidi, aged 62, was shot dead in late 2022. Medical examinations revealed more than 167 harmful shots had been shot at her body at near-contact distance. She had been attending a street protest over the killing of Mahsa Amini, a youthful Kurdish woman who lost her life in custody.
Piraei, one of Majidi's three children, was residing abroad at the time of her mother's brutal death. She returned to Iran at considerable peril to visit her grave. Her sibling Roya posted a photograph of herself by their parent's burial site with her hair shaved on a private social media account. A contact circulated the photograph, which spread widely, eventually forcing Roya to leave for Turkey.
Piraei stated: "Through legal filings and documentation the goal is to maintain records, name crimes and prevent erasure." She said her mother's death as "not an isolated incident but part of a systematic practice."
Other Litigants Consist of Those Shot in the Eye
The additional claimants who are named are Kowsar Eftekhari and Mersedeh Shahinkar, both individuals who suffered blinding at close range by marker guns.
Eftekhari, a 23-year-old scholar, was struck in the eye in October 2022. She had been demonstrating for weeks, witnessing fellow protesters being hit by live ammunition and being beaten herself with stun devices. During a gathering on a day in October, she was at a demonstration near a educational institution when a plainclothes officer struck her with several paintballs from a range of about a metre. He then reportedly targeted her face when she did not obey his demand to scatter. A video of the attack showing blood flowing from her face spread online, and she was eventually offered protection in Germany.
Shahinkar, 38 at the time when assaulted on October 18th, only became aware what had occurred when she felt something unusual on her cheek. Fellow protesters advised her not to get into an ambulance for fear of being taken to a detention center. When she later reached a medical clinic, a worker instructed her to depart because they refused to assist demonstrators. A medical professional assessed her and referred her to a hospital, where Shahinkar pretended a rock had inadvertently injured her eye so she would not be turned away. She posted details of her injuries online, and in the new year, undercover agents approached her, leading her to go into exile. She later was awarded a prestigious human rights prize as a symbol of the protest cause.
Universal Jurisdiction Offers Foundation for Action
The collective pursuing the legal probe assert that the filing is not viewed just as a paper exercise with slim prospect of a practical outcome. This legal principle allows cases to be investigated in a third country even if the crime did not take place in that country and the suspect is not located there. The Argentinian system has particularly permissive rules on such matters in the world.
The principle of universal jurisdiction has historically facilitated numerous guilty verdicts and the launch of prosecutions regarding violations committed in dozens of nations. Legal actions are at this time being pursued in various nations worldwide.
As the application is only for a criminal investigation, and this is not a case for damages, there is no demand by the litigants for money damages. This complaint would not be the first case against Iranian officials pursued in Argentina.
