Iran orders probe into ‘shocking’ police brutality video

Iranian authorities order an investigation into a video showing officers savagely beating a protester that rights groups said exposed the sheer brutality of the police repression against protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini.

Iran has been rocked by over six weeks of protests following the death of Amini who had been arrested by the notorious morality police in Tehran, with the movement now seen as the biggest challenge to the Islamic Republic’s leadership since the 1979 revolution.

Activists say dozens have been killed and thousands arrested in a crackdown by the security forces who have been accused of firing on protesters at close range, bludgeoning them with batons and other abuses.

A video that appeared late Tuesday on social media, shot at night on a mobile phone purportedly in a district of Tehran, showed a squad of around a dozen policemen in an alley kicking and beating a man with their batons, as other officers on motorbikes looked on.

A video shared by Iranian activist @AlinejadMasih, reportedly filmed in Tehran's Naziabad neighborhood, shows security forces brutally beating a protester, running over his body with motorcycle, and shooting at him directly. pic.twitter.com/A3rUoYPEnb

— Iran International English (@IranIntl_En) November 1, 2022

The man initially tried to cover his head with his hands, before the sound of a gunshot is heard and he is run over by a police motorbike. His motionless body is then abandoned.

Iran’s police force announce in a statement published by state news agency IRNA that an order had been issued to “investigate the exact time and place of the incident and identify the offenders.”

“The police absolutely do not approve of violent and unconventional behavior and will deal with the offenders according to the rules,” the statement add.