Human Rights Watch accused Iran on Wednesday of “deliberately covering up” deaths and arrests during a crackdown on demonstrations this month.
Protests broke out across sanctions-hit Iran on November 15, hours after a sharp fuel price hike was announced.
Reports of deaths and arrests emerged, as security forces were deployed to rein in demonstrations which had turned violent in some areas, with dozens of banks, petrol pumps, and police stations torched.
Iranian officials have blamed the street violence on the intervention of “thugs” backed by royalists and Iran’s arch-enemies — the United States, Israel, and Saudi Arabia.
Iranian protesters gather around a fire during a demonstration against an increase in gasoline prices in the capital Tehran, on November 16, 2019. (AFP)
The extent of the crackdown remains unclear, however, primarily due to an internet outage that was imposed during the unrest.
HRW charged that Iranian authorities were “deliberately covering up the scale of the mass crackdown against protesters” and called on them to “immediately announce the number of deaths, arrests and detentions.”
The group’s deputy Middle East director, Michael Page, criticized Iran for so far having “refused to provide an accurate death toll and instead threatened detainees with death.”
— AFP
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