Index on Censorship weekly round-up
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Friday, 15 September 2023
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Protests following the death in custody of Jina (Mahsa) Amini. Photo: Taymaz Valley, CC BY 2.0
In a week in which we learned that Graham Smith of Republic is to sue the Met Police ([link removed]) over their handling of the anti-monarchy group’s peaceful protests at King Charles III’s coronation on 6 May this year, it is sobering to consider what is happening to protesters everywhere, and none more so than those in Iran.
Tomorrow marks the first anniversary of the death at the hands of Iran’s so-called “morality police” of 22-year-old Jina (Mahsa) Amini ([link removed]) for being “improperly dressed”.
Protests erupted across Iran in the wake of her murder. Protesters united under the slogan Zan Zendegi Azadi in Farsi – Woman Life Freedom. Many felt that both the scale of the demonstrations and the fact that men, women and children from across the country were involved signalled that change was inevitable. In the event, what has proven inevitable is the Iranian government’s lethal response.
The annual report ([link removed]) of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the country says that since Amini’s death, the security forces have “intentionally used disproportionate force, including lethal force, against protesters” using tear gas, batons and live ammunition. The report also reveals the inhumanity of the response - “shots to the eyes of women, men and children by security forces were particularly common during protests, resulting in the loss of sight”.
The deadliest incident came on 30 September 2022 in the city of Zahedan in Sistan and Baluchestan, where “security forces reportedly fired live ammunition, tear gas and metal pellets at protesters after Friday prayers killing dozens, including 15 children, and injuring hundreds”.
In February, Iran’s leader Ali Khamenei announced a pardon or reduction in prison sentences for some of those involved in the protests. Inadvertently, his statement revealed that the number of protesters who had been detained amounted to “tens of thousands”.
There have been other sinister consequences of being involved in the protests. In March 2023, UN experts denounced the deliberate poisoning of thousands of Iranian schoolgirls who had been involved. Iran’s interior minister Ahmad Vahidi dismissed the allegations, saying that 90% of reported cases could be attributed to “stress”.
The Iranian government has also been accused of weaponising the use of the death sentence to quell protests. UN Human Rights chief Volker Türk said in January, “The weaponisation of criminal procedures to punish people for exercising their basic rights – such as those participating in or organising demonstrations - amounts to state sanctioned killing.”
The first execution linked to the protests following Amini’s death - that of Mohsen Shekari – took place on 8 December 2022. Since then, there have been six further protest-linked executions, those of Majidreza Rahnavard, Mohammad Mehdi Karami, Seyyed Mohammad Hosseini, Saleh Mirhashemi, Majid Kazemi and Saeed Yaghoo.
Iran Human Rights says that in all cases “families were threatened to stay quiet while defendants were systematically tortured to force confessions, denied access to lawyers and any semblance of due process and fair trial rights in the Revolutionary Courts”. In some cases, forced confessions were aired on state television before legal proceedings began.
The death penalty is used indiscriminately in Iran. According to Iran Human Rights, 501 people have been executed so far in 2023, compared to 582 in the whole of 2022, which was already 75% higher than 2021. Iran’s ethnic minorities bear the brunt of this. In 2022, the Baluch represented almost a third of all executions, even though they represent just two to six percent of the population.
So where are we a year on from Amini’s death?
Iran’s lethal response has largely quelled the protests. Meanwhile, Iran Human Rights says that ten protesters remain under death sentences and 82 are facing death penalty charges or sentences. Iran’s weaponisation of the death penalty is working. It is also keeping a tight grip on internet access to silence people.
Index will not be silenced. We will continue to condemn the actions of the Iranian authorities and call for an international response to its crimes.
You can also show your support on 4 October when writer Malu Halasa and journalist Ramita Navai join Index on Censorship editor-in-chief Jemimah Steinfeld for an event to mark the publication of Woman Life Freedom ([link removed]) , by Saqi Books. Halasa’s book brings together first-person accounts from the protests.
The Iranian people’s sacrifices should not be forgotten.
Index on Censorship
** 50 years on wounds still raw from Chile coup
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The launch of a new Chilean constitution following the 1973 coup. Photo: Biblioteca del Congreso Nacional de Chile
This week marked the 50th anniversary of the coup that brought the right-wing dictator General Augusto Pinochet to power in Chile. The country remains deeply divided over Pinochet’s legacy and marches to pay tribute to the thousands of “disappeared” opponents of the regime this weekend ended in violence. Chile’s left-wing President Gabriel Boric attempted to use the anniversary as a moment of national unity, calling on all political parties to condemn the coup and celebrate democracy. He has failed to reach even this most basic consensus. Read what Martin Bright has to say on the anniversary here ([link removed]) .
** Parliament’s China spying scandal breaks the bond of trust
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This week it emerged that a British parliamentary researcher who worked closely with senior MPs, working on UK security issues, had been arrested for espionage on behalf of the Chinese state. While the allegations have been denied, the focus of the coverage this week has been largely on the implications for UK security and the acknowledgement of the threats of Chinese spying on UK institutions. However, it has worrying implications for Chinese dissidents and their families, writes our CEO Ruth Anderson ([link removed]) .
** ‘There simply is no moral high ground anymore’ – Stella Assange
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Julian Assange has exhausted most remaining options in his fight against extradition. Photo: Randy Credico
WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange’s fight against extradition to the USA is entering its final stages. Speaking to Index on Censorship, Assange’s wife Stella says that “this really is the endgame”.
Her concern that time is running out follows the June decision by British High Court judge Jonathan Swift that her husband’s case should not be allowed to go to appeal, a decision she calls extraordinary.
Read our interview here ([link removed]) .
** Send a postcard of support to Jimmy Lai
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Left: Painting by Lumli Lumlong. Right: Messages 1..." (2015) by the Hong Kong visual artist, curator and writer, Mei Yuk Wong
Jimmy Lai is a 75-year-old businessman and founder and publisher of Apple Daily, a Hong Kong newspaper that was forced to close in 2021 after the Chinese Communist Party's crackdown on pro-democracy protests in the city. A longtime critic of the party, Lai is one of the most high-profile pro-democracy campaigners to have been arrested in Hong Kong since the Chinese government enacted the National Security Law in June 2020. Lai was charged with violating the National Security Law in August 2020. His trial for that case is scheduled for later this year, but since his arrest he has been convicted on separate charges of fraud and organising illegal protests.
Index is now launching a campaign to allow Jimmy's well-wishers to send him postcards containing messages of support which we will forward to him in prison. Find out how to take part here ([link removed]) .
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** From the archive
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** Smashed Hits
by Julian Petley
June 1998
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It is now 50 years since the state-sanctioned torture and murder of Chilean folk singer Victor
Jara. In this article, Julian Petley looks at why dictators are so afraid of the power of music ([link removed])
and seek to silence it and its creators.
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Index on Censorship defends people's freedom to express themselves without fear of harm or persecution. We publish censored writers and artists, monitor and campaign against censorship, and encourage debate.
We rely on donations from readers and supporters. By donating ([link removed]) to Index you help us to protect freedom of expression and to support those who are denied that right.
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