Raisi assigns special committee to deeply investigate 2022 riots

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
7 May 2023 20:44

The committee will be responsible for detailed technical investigations into the 2022 riots.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi speaks during a meeting with the cabinet in Tehran, on January 19, 2023. (Reuters)

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi establishes a special investigative committee to look into the riots and security events that took place in the country toward the end of 2022, Iranian news agency IRNA said on Sunday.

The committee, led by a member of Iran's Expediency Council Hossein Mozaffar, will carry out technical investigations into the events, including reviewing reports by other agencies.

According to the news outlet, other members included: Kazem Gharibabadi, secretary of the High Council for Human Rights and deputy head of the Iranian judiciary, Sakineh Sadat Paad, a presidential aid on social rights and freedom, Zohreh Elahian, head of the Parliament's Human Rights Committee, and Hassan Safadoust, chief if Iran Central Bar Association.

The special committee will ensure that citizens who suffered "spiritual injuries" or material damage will be compensated.

Some legal cases against personnel living abroad and that partook in the unrest will be presented at the international level.

Most importantly, the committee will look into loopholes in laws and regulations that govern the freedom of peaceful assembly and propose changes based on opinions from law experts and academics.

Iran’s High Council for Human Rights (HCHR) published a report in March that detailed various instances of violence against Iranian security forces during the riots period last year.

The report highlights the role Western countries, their agents, and collaborators had in orchestrating and directing the riots through the promotion of propaganda campaigns that took advantage of Mahsa Amini’s death in September 2022.

According to the report, rioters employed tactics of extreme violence against Iranian civilians and security forces. For instance, two students were stabbed to death by rioters in the city of Mashhad. In addition, 7,000 officers were injured in the line of duty during the riots, including some who were brutally murdered.

The report stresses the fact that security forces were instructed not to carry any deadly weapons or firearms, in an attempt to curb further agitation and provocation against the Islamic Republic. This opened the door for rioters to brutally torture and murder some security officers.

The Council revealed that the security forces were able to recover and confiscate 8314 weapons from rioters, including 6314 firearms.