A coalition of those harmed during the government suppression amid the 2022 "Women, Life, Freedom" protests has filed a pioneering criminal complaint accusing forty identified Iranian officials of alleged human rights violations.
Judicial Move Launched in the Argentinian System
The petition for a criminal investigation to be initiated was submitted within the Argentine legal system. This action was made by a collective of Iranian nationals assisted by a human rights documentation center. The Argentinian courts are noted for hearing international law complaints.
The complaint claims that the response from Iranian authorities to the demonstrations entailed "discharging lethal rounds, non-lethal projectiles, metal pellets improperly used for short distances, and other projectiles at demonstrators." The filing further states widespread detentions, torture in detention, and executions of protesters that allegedly carry on to this day.
Officials Named Anonymously
Certain agents across the range of Iran's intelligence apparatus have been named in the filing, but their personal details are currently being maintained under seal.
Personal Stories Motivate the Legal Action
One of the individuals behind the case, UK-based Mahsa Piraei, commented that the aim "is far from personal vengeance in a personal sense, but accountability and fact-finding." Her parent, Minoo Majidi, 62 years old, was killed by gunfire in late 2022. Medical examinations showed over 167 steel projectiles had been shot at her back at extremely close proximity. She had been on a gathering regarding the death of Mahsa Amini, a young Kurdish woman who lost her life after arrest.
Piraei, a member of Majidi's three children, was based abroad at the moment of her mother's tragic killing. She traveled back to Iran at considerable peril to visit her grave. Her sibling Roya published a photograph of herself by their mother's grave with her head shorn on a personal social media account. A acquaintance shared the photograph, which spread widely, eventually forcing Roya to flee for Turkey.
Piraei stated: "Through official complaints and evidence the intention is to safeguard proof, name crimes and prevent erasure." She characterized her parent's killing as "part of a pattern but part of a widespread tactic."
Other Litigants Include Victims of Blinding
The remaining claimants who have come forward are Kowsar Eftekhari and Mersedeh Shahinkar, both individuals who suffered eye injuries at close range by paintball guns.
Eftekhari, a university-aged scholar, was shot in the face in autumn 2022. She had been in the streets for weeks, observing fellow protesters being shot with live ammunition and being beaten herself with electronic batons. During a protest on a day in October, she was at a protest near a educational institution when a undercover agent shot her with multiple projectiles from a distance of about a metre. He then is said to have fired at her eye when she did not comply with his order to disperse. A recording of the incident depicting injuries from her face went viral, and she was subsequently offered protection in Germany.
Shahinkar, aged 38 when assaulted on 18 October, only understood what had happened when she sensed something warm on her cheek. Fellow demonstrators advised her not to get into an ambulance for fear of being taken to a authority holding area. When she later arrived at a health center, a worker ordered her to go away because they refused to assist protesters. A medical professional assessed her and sent her to a hospital, where Shahinkar said a object had accidentally injured her eye so she would not be denied treatment. She published details of her injuries online, and in the new year, individuals approached her, prompting her to leave the country. She later was awarded a notable human rights prize as a representative of the movement.
International Law Principle Provides Basis for Complaint
The individuals initiating the criminal investigation assert that the filing is not viewed just as a legal complaint with slim prospect of a concrete result. Universal jurisdiction allows complaints to be probed in a third country even if the crime did not occur in that nation and the suspect is not located there. The Argentinian system has particularly permissive regulations on such claims in the world.
The principle of universal jurisdiction has previously led to multiple guilty verdicts and the opening of prosecutions covering offenses carried out in many countries. Proceedings are currently being pursued in multiple different countries.
As the request is exclusively for a criminal investigation, and this is not a civil lawsuit, there is no demand by the litigants for money damages. This filing would not represent the first case against Iranian authorities brought in Argentina.
