Voice of America Investigative Report | Sexual Assault of at Least 11 Detained Boys and Girls During the 2022 Protests in Mazandaran - Part Two

The Persian section of Voice of America has uncovered evidence regarding the sexual assault, rape, and abuse of several detained women and men during the 2022 protests in detention centers and prisons of the Islamic Republic in various northern cities of Iran. Part two of the exclusive report focuses on incidents that occurred in Babol. According to Voice of America's investigations, at least 11 cases of sexual assault, rape, and abuse have been verified in the cities of Sari, Babol, and Amol. However, it is estimated that the actual numbers related to these incidents in the detention centers and prisons of the Islamic Republic are much higher; especially since typically, disclosing such incidents poses difficulties for whistleblowers due to security reasons and the sensitivity of the security and intelligence apparatus of the Islamic Republic, as was recently the case with Dina Qalibaf, a journalist, after she disclosed her sexual assault during her detention in April of this year. A young girl who was severely beaten and then arrested by two armed motorcycle groups in Babol during the early days of the protests stated: "I was transferred to Police Station 11, where I was beaten again along with other detainees." After that, the detained protesters were divided into two groups of girls and boys by several plainclothes agents and were later transferred to the headquarters of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). She added: "There, after we were taken out of the car, we were again beaten by several young men in military uniforms and then blindfolded and taken to a large room where several other girls were also present. All I know is that this room was in the basement, and I was led blindfolded down the stairs to this room." A detained girl recounted: "No matter how much I screamed and struggled, I couldn't stop them. They kept repeating that if I resisted, more people would enter the room. After that, I was raped by them." According to this detained protester, the interrogation began with the most insulting sexual language, and the interrogator threatened her with gang rape by several delinquent men who, according to the interrogator, were waiting outside the room for his order to enter for the assault. This young girl said: "The interrogator ordered me to take off my clothes. I was wearing the same clothes I had on at the time of my arrest. They had only taken my scarf and the decorative belt of my pants. I resisted. The interrogator left the room after hitting me and slapping me several times and kicking my sides." A few minutes after the interrogator left the room, according to this young girl, three men entered the room and told her to quickly take off her clothes so they could start their work. No matter how much I screamed and struggled, I couldn't stop them. They kept repeating that if I resisted, more people would enter the room. After that, I was raped by them. Torture, threats, and rape at the Babol Intelligence Office. One protester who was arrested in the middle of the night one of the days in mid-Aban 1401 in Babol said: "Motorcycle officers with several plainclothes agents stormed the sidewalk and beat me. I remember that one or two middle-aged women tried to save me from the agents, but they couldn't." This young man, about 20 years old, added: "They threw me into a private car and shortly after handed me over to several other agents who took me to the Babol Intelligence Office. Inside the car, right in front of the Intelligence Office building, they blindfolded me." According to him, "From there, after going through some stages, I was taken into a cell in the basement that smelled strongly of decay and rot. The day after my arrest, I was taken to the interrogation room where I was severely beaten without any questions while my hands were tied and my eyes blindfolded." This young protester noted that "this situation continued for a day or two," adding: "Without any questions, they would just take me to the interrogation room and beat me there. Several times they kicked my testicles and at the same time threatened me with rape using wooden and glass objects. During one of the times I was taken from my cell to the interrogation room, someone told me to take off my clothes to see if I was a sexual object or not." This young man mentioned: "When I resisted, two of them forcibly took my clothes off and left me completely naked, asking me to crawl on all fours and bark like a dog. They claimed they were taking pictures and videos of me in that state to later publish them if I acted against the country again and send them to my family." Another detained man said: "Two of them forcibly took my clothes off and left me completely naked, asking me to crawl on all fours and bark like a dog. At the same time, these torturers used the most severe and vulgar sexual language against this detained protester and his family, threatening that they would identify his girlfriend and rape her after arresting her. He added: "They repeated several times that no one from anywhere could help me and that no one even knew I was currently in their custody in this place." This young man further stated: "During one of these so-called interrogation sessions, suddenly two of them attacked me, and while they had me lying on the ground, they took my clothes off, and a third person raped me with a plastic or wooden object." After this rape, he was transferred to solitary confinement and was given only food and water for several days with no one checking on him. According to this young man, "After a while, I was transferred to the central prison of Babol (Mati Kala). There, I realized that several others had also been raped by the agents of the Islamic Republic at the IRGC and Intelligence headquarters." Beating at the Babol Police Command Center and rape at the Intelligence Office. Another man, who is about 20 years old, was arrested in the first week of Mehr 1401. His arresters were "from the police forces and were wearing military uniforms and equipment." He said: "During the arrest, I was beaten, which severely injured my back." He added: "Two of them handcuffed me, put me on a motorcycle where I was in the middle of them. They took me to the Babol Police Command Center, which was near where I was arrested, and handed me over to the officers there." According to the report, this young man was beaten again inside the yard of the Babol Police Command Center. He said: "I told them my back was injured, but they didn't pay attention. After that, they guided me to a large room where more than six other prisoners were present. All of them were young like me, aged between 20 and 37, and had been arrested by the officers while protesting." This was not the end of the ordeal for this detained protester. A few hours later, someone issued an order to transfer him to the Babol Intelligence Office after receiving his identity details. A young man: Two of them attacked me and forcibly took my clothes off. After I was naked, they asked me to "sit and stand" and at the same time bark like a dog or to utter vulgar sexual insults against my family and repeat them loudly. After that, two of the torturers raped me. This young man said: "At the Babol Intelligence Office, I was taken to a solitary cell, and until the next day when I was taken out for the first interrogation, I was not given any food or water," adding: "In the interrogation room, they showed me several photos and videos in which it was clear that I was chanting slogans and resisting the agents during the street protests. After the interrogator left the room, he returned with two others and ordered me to take off my clothes. After I resisted, two of them attacked me and forcibly took my clothes off. After I was naked, they asked me to sit and stand and bark like a dog or to utter vulgar sexual insults against my family and repeat them loudly. After that, two of the torturers raped me. This young man stated that he was raped again at the same Babol Intelligence Office with a foreign object. Beating in the yard of Police Station 13 with a cable and rape in the IRGC building. A protesting girl who was arrested in the second week of the protests by several Basij forces said: "Two of them took me to Police Station 13 after my arrest, and in the yard there, I saw several boys and another girl who had been severely beaten. Then a person who was not in military uniform, supposedly a plainclothes agent, along with two others, started beating me with a cable and a stick in front of others." She noted that "the plainclothes agent was more of a spectator," adding: "The two were beating me on the ground and simultaneously shouting vulgar sexual insults at me and my family, calling me and my mother whores and prostitutes." A few hours later, this young girl, along with several other girls, was transferred to the IRGC headquarters on Ayatollah Taleghani Boulevard in Babol, and when they got out of the car in the yard of the building, they were immediately beaten. She pointed out that "most of the assailants were young, their faces were visible, and they were wearing military uniforms" and added: "I was blindfolded and taken to a cell that smelled strongly of decay and urine. I was alone there, and occasionally someone I couldn't see from outside would hit the cell door hard with a wooden or metal object, curse, and threaten to rape and kill me." A few days later, she was stripped naked in the interrogation room. This young girl said: "The interrogator ordered me to take off my clothes, and when I resisted, two women came into the room (from their voice and behavior, I understood they were women), stripped me naked, and left the room. I don't know, but I suspect I sat there naked in the room with a blindfold for several hours." She added: "After that, the door opened, and I felt that two people had entered the room. They said that if I resisted, they would bring my younger sister, who is a student, here and strip her naked as well. After several questions and answers, they approached me and started touching my body, using words I cannot express. They made sexual comments about my sister and mother until one of them finally raped me." This young girl noted that in the following days, before being transferred to Mati Kala Prison (the central prison of Babol), she was not raped again, saying: "But they continued to make sexual threats and vulgar insults against me and my family, saying they had pictures and videos of my naked body, and if I mentioned these incidents anywhere or went back to the streets to protest, in addition to publishing my naked photos online, they would also rape my sister." Arrested while returning from work, beaten at Police Station 11 and raped at the IRGC. A girl who was not yet 20 at the time of her arrest said: "I was arrested on the street. I was returning home from work when the streets became crowded. It was around 8 PM. Several plainclothes agents surrounded me, and after kicking me in the stomach and dragging me on the ground, they threw me into a van." She added: "I was alone in the van, but shortly after, two other boys were brought in. One of them had a broken nose and was bleeding heavily from his face. The other was almost unconscious, completely motionless, and was just moaning." The three were taken to Police Station 11, and in the yard there, this young girl saw dozens of boys and girls, "some of whom had been severely beaten and were moaning. Several police officers and soldiers were standing by, watching, and occasionally cursing at us." She added: "A few hours later, someone who said he was the on-duty judge came and ordered that I be transferred to another place; I was taken to the IRGC headquarters on Ayatollah Taleghani Boulevard. There, I had to go down the stairs blindfolded to a cell where four other girls were present." This young girl noted that "our cell was too small to lie down in," but we were so tired and scared that we squeezed together as best we could. After several interrogations, one night in the interrogation room, her clothes were taken off her by two people: "Immediately, someone I don't know who it was, but who smelled very bad, raped me. My eyes were blindfolded. I think I screamed so much that I passed out. I don't know! I just...