People wear carnival masks with the writing “Women Life Freedom” to protest in solidarity with Iranian people in Venice, Italy. Reuters
Tehran: Iranian state prosecutors have been accused of covering up the rapes of two women protestors by officials of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), a leaked internal judicial document shows.
The document, which was first leaked to Iran International, suggests that the two women, aged 18 and 23, were allegedly raped in a van in Tehran last year in September.
The victims were detained during the anti-regime protests that were sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini who was arrested for not wearing her hijab “properly”.
The two women were accused of “acting suspiciously” and following the arrest, their phones were also examined for potential evidence to suggest that they were part of the protests.
According to Arab News, this is the first time an internal document pertaining to a case of this kind has surfaced although activists have always been suspicious of sexual assault of women at the hands of security officials.
What has the document revealed?
The document dated October 2022 was written by Mohammad Shahriari, the deputy prosecutor and the head of the prosecutor’s office in Tehran.
Based on a collection of witness statements, the document states that the two women were sexually by two male security officials.
The case came to light after one of the IRGC called one of the victims after the assault. The victim recorded the conversation based on which she filed a complaint.
Initially, the official rejected the claims but later changed his story by saying that the woman had consented to sex. He was later detained at his home in Tehran along with his father.
The other official was arrested separately.
The two men eventually confessed to having intercourse with the women, an incident which has been designated as rape in the document.
One of the two officers admitted to taking the women to the Revolutionary Guard’s headquarters but soon left after they were informed that it was not possible to process the women there.
“Considering the problematic nature of the case, the possibility of the leaking of this information into social media and its misrepresentation by enemy groups, it is recommended that the necessary order (is) issued for it to be filed top secret,” the document read.
It added, “Since no complaint has been registered and the defendants have been dismissed, the accused should be dismissed without mentioning their names.”
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