JAKARTA - The head of the United Nations (UN) Human Rights (UN) on Tuesday expressed his surprise at the "increased violence by security forces" against anti-government demonstrators in Iran.
In a statement, Volker Turk urged Iranian authorities to "immediately cease all forms of violence and repression against peaceful demonstrators, restore full access to the internet and telecommunications services, and ensure accountability for serious human rights violations."
"The killing of peaceful demonstrators must stop, and labeling demonstrators as 'terrorists' to justify violence against them is unacceptable," Turk said, quoted by Anadolu (14/1).
Referring to previous national protests, he said: "As we have seen recently in 2022, the majority of the Iranian population has taken to the streets, demanding fundamental changes in their country's government." "Once again, the authorities' reaction is to use brutal violence to suppress legitimate demands for change," he added.
Turk warned, "this terrible cycle of violence cannot continue."
"The Iranian people and their demands for justice, equality, and truth must be heard," he said, calling for all killings and violations to be investigated in accordance with international human rights norms, and those responsible to be held accountable.
According to the statement, several hospitals were reportedly overwhelmed by the number of victims, including children, while internet and telecommunications outages across the country had hampered verification efforts. There were also reports that members of the security forces had been killed, he added.
"The Iranian people have the right to demonstrate peacefully," Turk said.
"Their complaints need to be heard and handled, and not exploited by anyone," he said.
Iran has been experiencing widespread anti-government protests since last month, driven by a worsening economy and the historic collapse of the national currency.
Iranian authorities have accused the US and Israel of supporting what they call "armed rioters" in the country.
Although the official death toll has not been released, the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) estimates that at least 646 people have died, including security forces and demonstrators, with more than 1,000 injured.
HRANA also reported that at least 10,721 people had been detained in 585 demonstration locations across the country, which included 187 cities in all 31 provinces.
Yesterday, an Iranian official told Reuters that about 2,000 people had died, including security personnel, in protests that had evolved into riots in Iran, the first time local authorities had given a death toll in the two-week-old protests.
The official said the so-called terrorists were behind the deaths of the protesters and security personnel, though he did not provide details on who was killed.
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language. (system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
