We support Amnesty International's Request to Investigate the November 2019 Protests!
Based on its research and relying on its own documents, Amnesty International confirms the intentional murder of at least 304 victims of the regime repression and believes that the "vast majority" of these individuals were killed illegally and directly by security and law enforcement forces. None of the victims were armed and no one noticed death threats from them.
We support Amnesty International's Request to Investigate the November 2019 Protests!
Amnesty International has issued a statement on May 21, 2020 urging the United Nations (UN) to investigate the killing of protesters by the Islamic Republic's (IR) security, law enforcement and military forces in November 2019. Amnesty International has rightly stated that six months after the November protests, the IR has not yet announced the actual number of killings during four days of protests from November 16 to 19 and that the families of those killed who are fighting for truth and justice are still under pressure and harassment by the regime institutions.
Based on its research and relying on its own documents, Amnesty International confirms the intentional murder of at least 304 victims of the regime repression and believes that the "vast majority" of these individuals were killed illegally and directly by security and law enforcement forces. None of the victims were armed and no one noticed death threats from them. Amnesty International's spokesperson confirmed that "in all but four cases, protesters have been killed by bullets fired by the regime security forces, including members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the Basij and the security forces, who fired shots at the protesters on the head or upper body. This shows that they were shooting to kill." Based on its investigation, Amnesty International has confirmed the extent of the killings.
Amnesty International has also confirmed that the fate of the thousands detained across the country is still unclear, and that most of them are in complete isolation and are being persecuted by prison guards. It is not a secret that thousands of people are being held in prisons across the country with uncertain situation, and from time to time news of the sentencing of a number of them is published, without clarifying how many they are and on what charges they are arrested and where they are imprisoned.
The fact is that the extent of the arrests and the actual number of killings that took place during the November 2019 protests are still unclear. The IR has refused to accept responsibility for its crimes. Under current law, in protests and riots, law enforcement and military personnel are not allowed to fire directly from the waist up. They must carry out alert and fire into the air and at lower body in unavoidable situation. Thus, in accordance with both international and national laws, the senior officials of the IR, from the Supreme Leader to Hassan Rouhani have committed major violations and must be held accountable.
Several sources, according to Reuters, have put the death toll at between 350 and 1,500. But so far, the IR has not announced the actual number of killings, nor has it claimed responsibility for the killings. The regime officials have used a number of incidents, including the killing of Qassem Soleimani, the firing on a passenger plane by the IRGC and the Corona crisis as their pretext to repudiate from being held accountable for the November 2019 crackdown.
We, the four secular and democratic political parties and organizations, support the Amnesty International call for the UN investigation into the IR November 2019 crackdown. We call for the establishment of a fact-finding commission on the suppression of people protests, with a combination of the families of those killed and members of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), and the publication of the results of the investigation. We call on human rights organizations and institutions to support the call from Amnesty International in protest of repression and killings, detention and torture in the IR prisons and the issuance of cruel sentences against civil society activists. The November 2019 detainees should be released immediately and the harassment of the families of the victims should be stopped. We call on our fellow Iranians to work for international investigation into the November 2019 organized massacre of protesters.
Political-Executive Boards of:
United Republicans of Iran
The Left Party of Iran (People’s Fadaian)
Iran National Front Organizations Abroad
Union for Secular Republic and Human Rights in Iran (USRHR)
May 23, 2020
