ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - At least 27 people, including five children, have been killed during nationwide protests in Iran, which entered their tenth day on Wednesday, according to Europe-based rights monitors, who blamed the deaths on a “war-like” crackdown by Iranian security forces.
In a Wednesday report, the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights relayed that “at least 27 citizens - including five children under the age of 18 - have been killed” during the demonstrations, adding that the identities of all 27 individuals, “killed by direct fire from government repressive forces during the protests,” have been confirmed by its statistics and documentation center.
The Oslo-based watchdog further reported that at least five of those killed were minors, including two children, and that 12 of the victims were from the Lur community while 11 were Kurds. Hengaw added that more than 1,500 people have been arrested nationwide, with the identities of 546 detainees confirmed - “51 of whom are children … 57 are women, and 220 are Kurdish citizens.'"
The rights monitor said Iranian security forces have used “firearms, pellet guns, and water cannons” to suppress the protests, in some cases “attempting to fire directly at demonstrators.” Hengaw censured the “war-like approach,” citing “shocking scenes” in some Kurdish cities that “could be characterized as war crimes against the civilian population” and urging the international community to take “decisive and serious action.”
Separately, the Iran Human Rights (IHR) organization reported Tuesday that “27 protesters have been killed by gunfire or other forms of violence carried out by security forces in eight provinces,” including “five children.”
The Norway-based monitor accused Iranian security forces of killing at least six people in a single incident, when they opened fire on protesters in Malekshahi district in the western Ilam province on Saturday, and later raided a hospital in Ilam to arrest wounded demonstrators.