A collective of individuals affected by the government crackdown amid the 2022 "Women, Life, Freedom" protests has launched a first-of-its-kind judicial filing accusing forty identified Iranian authorities of alleged international crimes.
Legal Action Launched in Argentina
The formal request for a legal inquiry to be initiated was lodged within the Argentine legal system. This action was made by a group of Iranians assisted by a non-governmental advocacy organization. Argentina's courts are recognized for accommodating universal jurisdiction claims.
The document claims that the reaction from state security apparatus to the unrest involved "shooting bullets, marker guns, harmful pellets improperly used for short distances, and additional ammunition at demonstrators." The filing further describes mass arrests, torture in detention, and executions of participants that are said to carry on to this day.
Officials Named Anonymously
Certain agents representing the spectrum of Iran's security services have been named in the legal documents, but their names are currently being maintained under seal.
Personal Stories Drive the Case
One of the complainants, UK-based Mahsa Piraei, stated that the objective "is far from retribution in a personal sense, but responsibility and truth." Her mother, Minoo Majidi, 62 years old, was shot dead in the autumn of 2022. Autopsy reports showed over 167 metal pellets had been shot at her back at near-contact distance. She had been attending a gathering concerning the death of Mahsa Amini, a young Kurdish woman who was killed while detained.
Piraei, one of Majidi's three offspring, was based abroad at the time of her mother's tragic killing. She went back to Iran at considerable peril to see the gravesite. Her sister Roya published a photograph of herself by their resting place with her head shorn on a private social media account. A contact published the photograph, which spread widely, ultimately leading Roya to seek exile for Turkey.
Piraei stated: "By means of legal filings and record-keeping the goal is to preserve evidence, identify offenses and prevent erasure." She said her loss as "systematic in nature but part of a systematic practice."
Further Claimants Are Individuals Who Lost Sight
The additional claimants who are named are Kowsar Eftekhari and Mersedeh Shahinkar, both individuals who suffered loss of sight at short distance by marker guns.
Eftekhari, a young scholar, was hit in the face in autumn 2022. She had been demonstrating for weeks, witnessing fellow demonstrators being shot with bullets and being beaten herself with shock weapons. During a gathering on a day in October, she was at a rally near a educational institution when a plainclothes officer fired at her with multiple paintballs from a range of about a metre. He then reportedly fired at her eye when she did not obey his order to leave. A footage of the attack showing injuries from her face circulated widely, and she was subsequently offered protection in Germany.
Shahinkar, 38 at the time when assaulted on October 18th, only realized what had transpired when she felt something wet on her face. Fellow protesters warned her not to board an emergency vehicle for fear of being transported to a police station. When she later reached a health center, a staff member instructed her to depart because they did not help protesters. A medical professional examined her and directed her to a hospital, where Shahinkar said a rock had inadvertently damaged her eye so she would not be denied treatment. She shared images of her injuries online, and in early 2023, plainclothes officers confronted her, leading her to flee Iran. She later collected a prestigious international award as a figure of the movement.
Global Legal Concept Offers Foundation for Case
The collective initiating the legal probe assert that the case is not seen just as a paper exercise with no hope of a concrete result. Universal jurisdiction permits complaints to be probed in a third country even if the crime did not occur in that jurisdiction and the suspect is not located there. The Argentinian system has notably open regulations on such matters in the world.
The doctrine of universal jurisdiction has in the past led to multiple guilty verdicts and the initiation of prosecutions regarding crimes committed in many states. Cases are at this time being handled in several nations worldwide.
As the petition is exclusively for a judicial probe, and this is not a civil lawsuit, there is no request by the complainants for money damages. This complaint would not represent the initial legal action against Iranian authorities pursued in Argentina.
