U.S. State Department Spokesperson Tammy Bruce has condemned the Islamic Republic’s human rights record, and called the Islamic Republic “one of the world’s worst violators of human rights.”
“The regime is one of the world’s worst violators of human rights, oppressing the Iranian people to maintain its grip on power and curtailing their exercise of fundamental freedoms,” she said at a March 28 press briefing. “In Iran, the freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, and religion are completely ignored. The regime unjustly executes more people than any other country, persecutes members of religious and ethnic minority groups, and uses tactics like arbitrary arrest and torture and other violations to intimidate political opponents and squash dissent.”
“We will continue to support and defend the human rights of the people of Iran against the regime’s continued human rights abuses and authoritarian repression,” Bruce added.
This is the first time since President Donald Trump took office that his administration has admonished the Islamic Republic on its human rights record.
During a human rights review held at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on Jan. 24 in Geneva, the U.S. had, for the first time, withheld criticism of the Iranian regime.
Human Rights Concerns in Iran Are ‘Extensive and Complex,’ Says UN Report
Bruce expressed the State Department’s disapproval in an answer to a question about the recent spate of arrests against civilians in Iranian Kurdistan for participating in the Persian New Year (Nowruz) celebrations late last month.
Nowruz, a 13-day celebration for Iranians, began this year on March 20 and ends this week.
Iranian authorities have arrested at least 21 Kurdish activists as part of a crackdown on Nowruz celebrations in Kurdish cities. Several detainees have been taken to undisclosed locations, according to the Kurdistan Human Rights organization.
People across Iran held Nowruz celebrations at historic sites, which included demonstrations marked by anti-government slogans and chants of support for the Pahlavi monarchy. The protests sparked a government crackdown on the celebrations.
Nationwide protests erupted in Iran in September 2022 following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while in police custody for alleged violations of hijab laws. The regime responded to the protests with extreme force, full-scale internet blackouts and the arrests of dozens of journalists. The government’s crackdown culminated in more than 20,000 detentions and the deaths of more than 500 people, including at least 60 children.
The regime’s actions during the demonstrations led to an investigation by the United Nations independent international fact-finding mission on the Islamic Republic of Iran. The mission found that Iran’s government had committed serious human rights violations against protesters and others, including on the use of force, arrests and detentions, maltreatment in detention, and legal proceedings related to the protests. It also found that many of the violations amounted to crimes against humanity. In its final report, published on March 14, the mission said human rights violations in the country continued to be “extensive and complex” and reiterated its original findings.
Iran’s government has launched its own investigation into the protests by creating a body called the Special Committee to Investigate the Unrest of
“No impact or trauma was inflicted upon Ms. Amini’s head or vital organs,” the report said. “The Special Committee’s findings reaffirm the conclusion of the Legal Medicine Organization that Ms. Amini’s death was not caused by any impact to the head or vital organs.”
The report did not provide an alternative cause of death.
The committee also blamed foreign actors and outside influences for the protests, who were accused of using news agencies such as BBC Persian and the Voice of America (VOA) to disseminate “propaganda.”
“Numerous hostile and subversive domestic elements, as well as a significant number of foreign agents—for which extensive evidence and documentation exist—exploited the protest environment out of opposition to the Islamic Republic and with the intent to incite riots and overthrow the State,” the report said. “Using the death of Ms. Mahsa Amini, the Guidance Patrol, and the hijab issue as pretexts, they played a significant role in escalating protests.”
The report added that there had been 281 deaths during the protests, a significantly lower number than the more than 500 deaths recorded by groups such as Iran Human Rights. The report held that over 90 percent of the 6,308 injuries were sustained by security forces. No figures for child deaths were included in the report.
PPI Survey Indicates Most Iranians Want Regime Change, Secular Government
