The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), an opposition group headquartered overseas, said on Wednesday it has received reports of sexual assault against teenage protesters taken prisoner during the regime’s brutal crackdown on demonstrations this month.
Protests erupted across Iran in late December after the economy collapsed and the value of Iranian currency evaporated. The regime responded with horrifying levels of violence under the cover of an Internet blackout, racking up almost 5,000 confirmed deaths and over 26,000 arrests. Human rights groups believe the full tally of killings could be triple the deaths confirmed so far, or even higher.
NCRI cited eyewitness reports that “several young women and men were forced to undress” after they were taken into custody by regime security forces, ostensibly “so the military could see whether they had pellet wounds.”
