GENEVA, Oct 28 – The U.N. human rights office on Friday expressed concern over Iran’s treatment of detained protesters, saying authorities were refusing to hand over some of the bodies of those killed.
The death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody last month sparked protests in one of the boldest challenges to Iran’s clerical leadership since the 1979 revolution.
Rights groups said at least 250 protesters were killed and thousands arrested. Many are missing, citizens suspect government has secretly detained them.
“We have seen a lot of mistreatment … but also harassment of the protestors’ families,” Ravina Shamdasani, a spokeswoman for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, said at a press briefing in Geneva, citing several sources.
“The information that the authorities are moving wounded protesters from hospitals to detention facilities and refusing to release the bodies of those killed to their families is particularly disturbing,” she said.
Shamdasani added that in some cases, authorities put conditions on the release of bodies, asking families not to hold a funeral or speak to the media. Detained protesters were also sometimes denied medical treatment, she said.