Mass protests began in Iran on September 16, over the death of 22-year-old Mahsha Amini, who was allegedly beaten by morality police for improperly wearing her hijab (Islamic headscarf).
Now, a new horror is being imposed on Iran’s protesters, who for weeks have continued their struggle amid brutal repression by Tehran’s Islamic forces, Australian website MamaMia notes, citing related articles from 2009.
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Death penalty for “riots”
More than 14,000 Iranians have been arrested in connection with protests across the country, while the country’s parliament voted overwhelmingly last week in favor of the death penalty.
Lawmakers believe this will teach those arrested a “good lesson” and deter others from participating. The protests involve thousands of women, throwing away their obligatory headscarves and burning them in public, cutting their hair and holding placards with slogans for their human rights.
Minors are arrested
Among those arrested are hundreds of children – young girls fighting for their future, while it is worth noting that Iran is one of the last countries in the world to execute “juvenile offenders”, with 9 being the age of criminal responsibility for girls, compared to 15 for boys.
But according to Iranian law, you cannot execute a minor if she is a virgin!
They rape the virgins before executing them
This “obstacle” has been solved in the past, by marrying the girls off to prison guards, only to be raped the night before their murder – a practice documented over the past decades by journalists, families, activists , even by a former leader of the country.
In 2014, the organization Justice For Iran published a report on the organized rape of virgin girls awaiting execution in the country’s prisons, focusing specifically on the 1980s.
It detailed that the practice was systemic and likely approved by senior government officials.
The leader of the Islamic Republic, Hussein-Ali Montazeri, tried to speak out against the executions, conversations he described in detail in his 2000 memoir.
“I told the judges not to write death sentences for girls. This is what I said. But they twisted my words and reported that I said: ‘Don’t execute girls. First marry them for one night and then execute them,’” he wrote.
They fear the wedding night more than the execution
In 2009, a member of the Basiji paramilitary militia told the Jerusalem Post that he was forced to participate in such rapes.
“At 18 I was given the ‘honour’ of temporarily marrying young girls, before they were sentenced to death… I regret that, even though the marriages were legal. I could understand that the girls were more afraid on their wedding night than the execution that awaited them in the morning,” he said.
“In the morning the girls had a blank expression – they looked like they were ready or wanted to die,” he added.
Activists and family members report that this is still happening now, in 2022, along with torture, beatings and horrific sexual abuse.
The Daily Dot also reports that imprisoned women are asking their lawyers for access to abortions and morning-after pills as they suffer repeated rapes.
Dozens of protesters have already died, with the Iran Human Rights NGO (IHRNGO) claiming at least 326 people have been killed, including 43 children and 25 women.
Asra Panahi, 16, was reportedly killed by Iranian security services after being beaten in her classroom for refusing to sing a pro-regime song when her school was raided in October.
Iranian TikTok star Hadis Najafi, 22, was shot dead by Iranian forces in September.
Executions are already underway, with 22-year-old rapper Shaman Yasin one of the latest to be sentenced for supporting the protests on social media.
But this new government decision, signed by 227 members of Iran’s 290-member parliament, will greatly increase “routine” executions.
Among those facing possible punishment are students, lawyers, journalists, activists, brothers defending their sisters and children.
