A group of those harmed during the government response amid the 2022 demonstrations for "Women, Life, Freedom" has initiated a first-of-its-kind legal case naming numerous named Iranian figures of alleged human rights violations.
Legal Action Initiated in Argentina
The formal request for a legal inquiry to be opened was filed within the Argentinian judicial framework. This step was taken by a collective of Iranian nationals aided by a human rights advocacy organization. Argentina's legal framework are particularly open to accepting international law complaints.
The document alleges that the response from Iranian authorities to the protests entailed "firing bullets, marker guns, harmful pellets not intended for close-range use, and additional ammunition at demonstrators." The filing further states mass arrests, torture in detention, and death sentences of protesters that are said to carry on to this day.
Identities Withheld
Certain agents across the various branches of Iran's law enforcement have been named in the legal documents, but their names are currently being withheld from the public.
Victim Testimonies Motivate the Legal Action
One of the individuals behind the case, residing in the United Kingdom Mahsa Piraei, commented that the purpose "goes beyond revenge in a personal sense, but accountability and transparency." Her parent, Minoo Majidi, aged 62, was shot dead in September 2022. Forensic analysis revealed over 167 metal pellets had been fired into her back at extremely close proximity. She had been attending a gathering regarding the death of Mahsa Amini, a youthful Kurdish woman who died after arrest.
Piraei, a member of Majidi's three offspring, was based abroad at the moment of her parent's brutal death. She returned to Iran at significant personal danger to see the gravesite. Her sibling Roya published a picture of herself by their parent's burial site with her head shorn on a personal social media account. A contact circulated the image, which went viral, eventually leading Roya to seek exile for Turkey.
Piraei added: "Through court documents and documentation the goal is to preserve evidence, name crimes and prevent erasure." She said her mother's death as "systematic in nature but part of a common procedure."
Other Litigants Are Individuals Who Lost Sight
The remaining claimants who can be identified are Kowsar Eftekhari and Mersedeh Shahinkar, both survivors of eye injuries at close range by marker guns.
Eftekhari, a young student, was struck in the face in October 2022. She had been demonstrating for weeks, observing fellow protesters being struck by live ammunition and being struck herself with shock weapons. During a protest on a day in October, she was at a protest near a university when a plainclothes officer fired at her with numerous projectiles from a range of about a meter. He then reportedly shot her her face when she did not respond to his demand to scatter. A video of the incident depicting injuries from her eye went viral, and she was later granted asylum in Germany.
Shahinkar, in her late thirties when injured on October 18th, only realized what had transpired when she noticed something warm on her eye. Fellow demonstrators advised her not to enter an ambulance for fear of being delivered to a detention center. When she eventually arrived at a treatment facility, a staff member told her to go away because they would not treat protesters. A physician saw her and sent her to a hospital, where Shahinkar said a rock had accidentally damaged her vision so she would not be turned away. She shared photos of her condition online, and in early 2023, individuals approached her, causing her to leave the country. She later collected a prestigious international award as a symbol of the movement.
Universal Jurisdiction Provides Basis for Complaint
The collective initiating the legal probe say that the complaint is not considered just as a paper exercise with slim prospect of a practical outcome. Universal jurisdiction enables cases to be probed in a third country even if the offence did not take place in that country and the accused is not resident there. Argentina has notably open laws on such claims in the world.
The doctrine of universal jurisdiction has in the past resulted in multiple sentences and the initiation of cases involving crimes perpetrated in many nations. Cases are at this time being handled in several nations worldwide.
As the petition is solely for a criminal investigation, and this is not a civil lawsuit, there is no request by the complainants for money damages. This complaint would not constitute the first case against Iranian authorities pursued in Argentina.
