Iran VI: More Details on Violence and Repression Available

Reports out of Iran offer more grim details of the escalating use of state force.

Human Rights Watch published a June 23 report, entitled "Iran: Violent Crackdown on Protesters Widen", which details the increase of violent repression in both its scale and character. Insight into the tactics of state security forces are offered, which have resulted in "At least 10 people [dead] in clashes between protesters and security forces on June 20, and at least 100 were wounded" and are undoubtedly a contributing factor to the smaller size and number of protests,

Special riot police officers, Revolutionary Guards, and members of the volunteer Basij paramilitary deployed in overwhelming force throughout the capital Tehran and other Iranian cities, preventing protesters from gathering, and responded with immediate violence to any attempts by protesters to mount further demonstrations. In the ensuing clashes between the security forces and unarmed demonstrators, eyewitnesses said security forces used live ammunition as well as tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse protesters.

The same report notes some known conditions to those taken prisoner,

According to relatives contacted by Human Rights Watch, many detainees are being held in incommunicado detention, without access to their lawyers or their families, and without formal charges against them, in violation of international human rights law that applies to Iran, which requires everyone arrested to be "promptly" informed of any charge against them.

More information is also becoming available to the English-speaking world regarding targeted arrests. June 24 saw some 70 university professors arrested, according to the Tehran Broadcast. Reporters without Borders reports 33 journalists have been arrested as of June 21 in an article which lists each by name and significance.

While the repression widens, the brutality of violence seems to worsen.

CBS' Iran Watch, which has maintained a number of sources inside Iran even after all foreign journalists have been requested to leave, has first hand accounts of the character of violence currently taking place,

"It turned into a blood bath ... they threw some people off the bridges ... after the Basijis came, they began to use tear gas, sticks and shooting."

The Wall Street Journal reports the families of victims of fatal shooting injuries are being charged 3,000 dollars to repay the state for the cost of the bullet before the body is released for burial.

Beyond the decrease of protests, indications that state surpression has been effective are found in Mohsen Rezaei, the second opposition candidate along with Mir-Hossein Mousavi, withdrawing his challenge to the election results, now calling them a "clear sample of religious democracy" as reported by Press TV. While Mousavi and not Rezaei has been at the center of the opposition movement, it is a clear sign that the movement is losing important friends.