Iranian official admits that student protesters are being taken to psychiatric institutions
Thousands of students marched in Tehran to protest the ongoing political crackdown in the country after Wednesday, when the government issued a decree barring protests.
The demonstrations were to continue until the government lifted the decree and allow protests. But after being banned for 12 hours on Thursday, it was announced that demonstrations will continue for another day until the government lifts the ban.
Iranian authorities have not responded to calls to release and apologize for the student protesters arrested over the last two months. These protests have taken place as part of the ongoing political reform movement in the country. However, Iranian authorities have been unable to arrest student protesters and have instead turned to the psychiatric clinics to detain them.
On the 20th of April, four hundred and fifty-five students were arrested in the streets of Iran. Two hundred and fifty of them were detained at the Shahid Faraj Hospital.
In an interview conducted by Iran’s state TV, Hassan Naghavi, the acting attorney-general, confirmed that the demonstrators had taken to psychiatric hospitals after being arrested.
The Shahid Faraji Hospital has become the main place where protesters are being detained after being protesting the policies of the Iranian government and the country’s recent domestic and international economic sanctions.
“These demonstrators have been taking to the psychiatric institutions. They are under treatment,” Naghavi said. “They have been taking to the psychiatric institutions for years now.”
The Iranian authorities initially claimed that the students had taken to the streets of Iran in protest of the death of a fellow student in an accident and that the student protest had turned violent. However, the student had been arrested for “hurting the security of the country,” which is a criminal offense, not a political crime. The Iranian government even released a video showing the man being arrested, although the footage was later found to have been taken with a fake camera and the man was never seen.
According to Naghavi, after the students were released from the Shahid Faraji hospital, they returned to the streets of Tehran, where they again began protesting and clashed with the police. After protesting for four days, the students returned to the Shahid Faraji Hospital and again took to the street.
Hassan Nagh