JINA MAHSA AMINI
The face of Iran's protests. Her life, her dreams and her death.
In memory of Jina 'Mahsa' Amini, the cornerstone of the 'Zan. Zendagi. Azadi revolution.
16 February 2023 | By Gino d'Artali
And also
Read all about the assasination of the 22 year young Jhina Mahsa Amini or Zhina Mahsa Amini (Kurdistan-Iran) and the start of the Zan, Zendagi, Azadi (Women, life, freedom) revolution in Iran  2022
and the latest news about the 'Women Live Freedom' Revolution per month in 2023:  June 30 - 15--June 15-1--May 31 -16-- May 15-1--April--March--Feb--Jan
And
For all topics below that may hopefully interest you click on the image:
all updates 16 June, 2023

<Persian social media is full of young people who say they were shot in the eye by security forces>

Below is an update untill 31 May, 2023 but below that and in case you missed it more news about these heinous crimes by the basij or irgc untill May 8, 2023

Iranwire - May 31, 2023 - By AIDA GHAJAR
<<Blinding as a Weapon (41): Tormented Victim Wants <Retribution and Only Retribution>
As IranWire has reported, hundreds of Iranians have sustained severe eye injuries after being hit by pellets, tear gas canisters, paintball bullets or other projectiles used by security forces amid a bloody crackdown on mainly peaceful demonstrations. Doctors say that, as of now, at least 580 protesters have lost one or both eyes in Tehran and in Kurdistan alone. But the actual numbers across the country are much higher. The report concluded that such actions by the security forces could constitute a <crime against humanity,> as defined by Article 7 of the Rome Statute.
....
In the series of reports <Blinding as a Weapon,> IranWire presents the victims' stories told in their own words. Some have posted their stories, along with their names and pictures, on social media. Others, whose real names shall not be disclosed to protect their safety, have told their stories to IranWire, which can make their identities and medical records available to international legal authorities and the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
This is the story of Hassin Abedini, a 20-year-old protester who not only was shot in the eye by government forces, but was also expelled from university, beaten in the street and thrown in jail. The young man wrote on Instagram about himself and other victims like Hossein Naderbeigi, a bystander who lost both eyes during the protests. He said he wants <retribution and only retribution> for what the security forces inflicted on him.
***
It was 8:30 p.m. on September 21, 2022, when Hassin Abedini and friends joined other protesters in a Tehran neighborhood to shout anti-government slogans. As the crowd grew bigger and the shouting of slogans got louder, riot police arrived and started firing teargas at the protesters. After the third teargas canister was fired, Abedini and many other men, women and children set out to take shelter in alleyways. When Abedini returned to the street, a riot policeman sitting on the backseat of a motorcycle fired his pellet gun at the young man. Three pellets hit his left eye.
Two of the pellets tore through his left eyeball and destroyed the retina. The third pellet struck his eyelid. He had one pellet in his forehead, two in his neck, three in his shoulder blade and two in his lower arm. When he got home, his clothes, face and hair were covered in blood. His mother fainted when she saw him. His father beat himself on the head and cried. <They put a hole in my son's eye!> he lamented. Abedini's parents brought him to Treata Hospital but the doctors there refused to treat the wounded. As his parents were searching for a way to save their son, he was vomiting and screaming because of the pain. Finally, around 9:30 p.m., they reached Farabi Hospital. Abedini was put on a wheelchair and taken to the emergency room that was filled with protesters who had been injured in the eye the same night.
Treatment
The doctors first said that his left eye was completely blind and the retina had been destroyed. The following day, Abedini underwent surgery. The second surgery was planned for September 25 but it was postponed twice because of the high number of people who had been shot in the eyes and because the operating room was not available. Finally, Hassin went under surgery for six hours. A month later, the injured eye lost its sight
completely. The third surgery was conducted on November 1. The doctors had diagnosed that the retina had been detached so, for a second time, they injected silicone oil into his eye to keep the retina in place. However, after this surgery, the doctors gave up hope that the sight in his left eye would ever return. The lens has become almost white and cloudy. The veins in the eye are inflated as well.
Family Harassed, Abedini Arrested
To continue treatment, Abedini went to the doctor and it was there that he met Hossein Naderbeigi. At the time, nobody knew that this young man had lost both eyes but Abedini wrote about him on his Instagram page. This attracted the attention of security forces. In the past several months, IranWire has learned, a number of those who have been injured in the eyes have been harassed and arrested by security agencies. The harassment of Abedini and his family started after his Instagram post. Hassin left his home to live somewhere else, but the security agents raided his father's workplace and questioned and threatened him. On November 15, two weeks after his last surgery, Abedini, who was wearing an eyepatch, went to various pharmacies to find the eye drops he needed. As it has been reported, there was a shortage of medications. He finally succeeded in finding a pharmacy that had his eye drops. However, it was located in Tehran's Sadeghieh Circle which, at that time, was the scene of protests. After Abedini bought the eye drops, he was beaten by four plainclothesmen on motorcycles, thrown into a van and taken to the Greater Tehran penitentiary, known as Fashafuyeh Prison, where he was beaten again. IranWire has learned that Abedini had been charged with <acting against national security,> <propaganda against the regime> and <leading rioters.> It took a few days for his parents to find him and secure his release after posting a bail for 200 million tomans and signing many pledges, including a pledge to remain silent.
Expelled from University
After his release from Fashafuyeh Prison, Abedini was expelled from university as well. Abedini was a third-semester student of management at Azad University, next to a base of the Revolutionary Guards, who told him he must prepare himself to <quit.> The second of three children, Abedini was born in Tehran in 2003. While going to college, he was active in modeling and was a stylist. He also played futsal.
A friend of Abedini tells IranWire that the young man is tormented all the time.
<Sometimes he says that nobody will remember him in a couple of years. He believes that he's responsible for the suffering of his parents. Perhaps that's why he repeatedly says that if the shooter is found he wants retribution and only retribution.> >>
Source:
https://iranwire.com/en/blinding-as-a-weapon/117074-blinding-as-a-weapon-41-tormented-victim-wants-retribution-and-only-retribution/

 Iranwire - May 23, 2023 - By AIDA GHAJAR
<<....
In the series of reports <Blinding as a Weapon,> IranWire presents the victims' stories told in their own words. Some have posted their stories, along with their names and pictures, on social media. Others, whose real names shall not be disclosed to protect their safety, have told their stories to IranWire, which can make their identities and medical records available to international legal authorities and the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran. This is the story of Vahid Abbasi Piani, a resident of Izeh in the southwestern province of Khuzestan. He was arrested while in hospital four days after he sustained serious eye injuries during protests. It took a month for his family to find out he had been transferred to the central prison of Ahvaz, the provincial capital. While in detention, Abbasi Piani has not received any treatment for his injured eye and has been subjected to beatings and torture. He has been told that he is facing the charge of <waging war against God>, which can carry a death sentence. <My brother's life is in danger and he is charged with moharebeh. Whenever my brother asks for his eye be treated, they tell him, 'You'll get a death sentence, why do you want the eye?'> Abbasi Piani's brother said on Instagram. According to him, Vahid's eye was shot on November 15, 2022, and the man was abducted from the hospital on November 19. A month later, his family found out that he was incarcerated in the central prison of Ahvaz, where he has been tortured both mentally and physically to give forced <confessions.> His teeth were broken and his jailers have not allow his injured eye to be treated.
Brutally Arrested, Beaten
On November 15, the streets of Izeh were the scene of protests. Many pictures and videos of that night have been posted on social media, showing fires, smoke and protesters shouting anti-regime slogans. After finishing work, Abbasi Piani went into a store to do some shopping. Protesters were outside the shop when security forces opened fire at them. Abbasi Piani's eye was shot as he was returning home. He managed to get home. His injured eye was red and he could not open it. As protests and clashes continued, Abbasi Piani decided to stay home but, with each passing day, the condition of his injured eye deteriorated. His friends finally took him to Imam Hospital in Ahvaz. A few minutes after he arrived there, at least 15 security agents entered the facility. Abbasi Piani and two of his friends were arrested. According to one of them, the security agents belonged to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp (IRGC). Pouria Rahmani, one of the detainees, was released a short while later, but Abbasi Piani was remanded behind bars. Abbasi Piani and his friends were beaten during their arrest. The security agents pulled sacks over their heads and took them to an unknown location, where interrogations started and beatings resumed. Abbasi Piani was told that he must confess to whatever the interrogators told him. His teeth were broken. A month after the arrest, Abbasi Piani's family learned that he was in Sheyban Prison, the central prison of Ahvaz. They managed to visit their loved one there and sometimes they are allowed to talk with him on the phone.
<Why Do You Need the Eye?>
According to a person close to Abbasi Piani, he has refused to confess to the charges against him. He has been reportedly accused of <throwing stones> at security forces and <serving coffee to mercenaries.> The case has not yet been sent for trial. Judiciary officials are not giving any information about the case to Abbasi Piani's family. Physically and mentally, Abbasi Piani is in a bad shape. A relative tells IranWire, <They beat him and broke his teeth even though his eye was injured. Vahid says that when they take him to the clinic, they tell him...that he needs no treatment because he's going to be sentenced to death. 'Why do you need the eye?' they say.> Abbasi Piani's eyesight is deteriorating. His injured eye is only able to vaguely distinguish between light and dark. Eye surgeons tell IranWire that a damaged eye must be treated as quickly as possible and any delay in treatment can have irreparable consequences. Preventing Abbasi Piani from receiving medical care amounts to torture, considering his physical condition and his injured eye.
<Your Silence Amounts to Supporting Tyranny>
Abbasi Piani was born in 1974. He is a successful player for Izeh's Omid Football Team. Because of financial difficulties, he could not continue his education and had to enter the workforce. He worked in a coffee shop when he was arrested, and that's most probably why he has been accused of <serving coffee to mercenaries.> He has four brothers and sisters, and the family cannot afford a lawyer. However, a lawyer in Izeh has volunteered to defend the accused. A relative tells IranWire that the family is psychologically devastated and his mother is crying day and night. Finding information about the conditions of political prisoners in towns far from Tehran, especially in border provinces, is not easy. This makes them more vulnerable to inhumane treatment by the Islamic Republic's security agencies and prison system. <We want you to be the voice of my innocent brother...Your silence amounts to supporting tyranny and injustice,> Abbasi Piani's brother wrote in his Instagram post.>>
Source:
https://iranwire.com/en/blinding-as-a-weapon/116829-blinding-as-a-weapon-40-victim-arrested-tortured-denied-treatment-faces-death-penalty/

Iranwire - May 22, 2023 - By AIDA GHAJAR
....
<<In the series of reports >>Blinding as a Weapon,> IranWire presents the victims' stories told in their own words. Some have posted their stories, along with their names and pictures, on social media. Others, whose real names shall not be disclosed to protect their safety, have told their stories to IranWire, which can make their identities and medical records available to international legal authorities and the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
This is the story of Artin, a tattoo artists who had just turned 18 when he lost an eye during mourning ceremonies held for victims of the repression. He lived in sheer isolation for several months after being shot, lost all hope and even attempted suicide. But he stood up again. <I often try to hide my feelings, but I forget that my eye reveals everything,> he wrote on an Instagram post on his 19th birthday. Artin was successful in his work as a tattoo artist, sold his own paintings, took guitar classes and prepared to take university entrance exams. But everything changed on November 17, 2022, when he lost an eye and his job, stopped studying and painting.
<Everything was going fine until they robbed me of my eyesight.>
November 17, 2022, Sanandaj
That day, Artin attended mourning ceremonies marking the 40th day since the death of three protesters -- Yahya Rahimi, Payman Manbari and Dariush Alizadeh -- at a cemetery in Sanandaj, Kurdistan province's capital. After security forces started firing teargas at the large crowds of mourners, Artin and his friends took shelter in a neighborhood behind the cemetery. After a few hours they set out to return home, but security forces riding motorcycles and wearing black uniforms and masks fired at protesters who were blocking the streets. Suddenly Artin's head and body were filled with pellets and he fell to the ground. A few minutes later he stood up and realized that his left eye had gone dark. Artin was using contact lenses. The lens in that eye broke and tore his eyeball. A pellet also lodged in that eye. A young woman of his neighborhood took him to her home where the shredded lens was taken out. Artin was then transported to a hospital.
From Sanandaj to Tehran
Artin was taken to Sanandaj's central hospital, where his eye was cleaned. Medical staff said they could not do anything else. Artin's stepfather put him in his car and took him to Tehran. Eight hours later, Artin was finally hospitalized. After tests and a CAT scan, he was sent to the operating room. The pain in his injured left eye was so excruciating that he could not open his right eye. Artin underwent three eye surgeries over a period of three days. Doctors stitched his eye, removed the pellet and injected silicon oil into it because the retina had been displaced. The young man had to sleep on his belly for some time so that the retina would not get detached. He has been living by himself for years. After his father left his family, his mother remarried, and Artin packed a bag and left at the age of 16. After the surgeries, Artin returned from Tehran and for two months slept on his belly, alone and in silence. He was in pain. The pain had lingered in his neck, his teeth and even his gums. The only thing that he could do was to sit on a chair while holding down his head and play with his mobile phone. During that time, he himself removed tens of pellets from his body.
Despair and Suicide Attempt
Before his eye was shot, Artin worked as a tattooist. A few months earlier he had bought books to prepare for university entrance exams. He wanted to continue his education in arts. Four times a week he also attended painting and guitar classes. Artin has a diploma in chiaroscuro, a style of painting that uses strong contrasts between light and dark. But when he was shot, he turned his back to everything, including himself. And Artin had to reimburse his stepfather half the cost for his treatment and hospitalization.
<Becoming blind is worse than death,> he thought.
One night, Artin took eight sheets of pills and swallowed them one by one. But at the last moment, he became terrified and called a friend. Artin survived.
Returning to Life
These days, Artin found some support in meeting with other victims who have been blinded. Sharing each other's pain has opened the doors to a new world. During this time, Artin has worked at different jobs to make a living, including as a car washer and plasterer. Artin's left eye has no sight. When he looks left, the world is black and when he looks right everything is blurred. And the eye cannot distinguish between colors. However, he has resumed his friendship with his guitar, and his love for tattooing is now stronger than the desire to go to the university. In his Instragram post written on the 100th day since losing his eye, Artin said that when he was feeling that his life had been destroyed he went to his tattoo master who introduced him to Mariusz Kedzierski, a Polish painter who was born without arms. He wrote that he practiced day and night until he succeeded in re-establishing the harmony between his nerves and his muscles. He ended his post by declaring, <Now, I'm not sorry but very content.> >>
Source:
https://iranwire.com/en/blinding-as-a-weapon/116783-blinding-as-a-weapon-39-rising-again-after-losing-all-hope-attempting-suicide/

Iranwire - May 19, 2023 -
<<Blinding as a Weapon: A New Trend in Protest Suppression?
AIDA GHAJAR
MAY 19, 2023
As IranWire has reported, hundreds of Iranians have sustained severe eye injuries after being hit by pellets, tear gas canisters, paintball bullets or other projectiles used by security forces amid a bloody crackdown on mainly peaceful demonstrations. Doctors say that, as of now, at least 580 protesters have lost one or both eyes in Tehran and in Kurdistan alone. But the actual numbers across the country are much higher. The report concluded that such actions by the security forces could constitute a <crime against humanity,> as defined by Article 7 of the Rome Statute.
In the series of reports <Blinding as a Weapon,> IranWire presents the victims' stories told in their own words.
But the Islamic Republic is neither the first nor the only government that has targeted protesters' eye. Tens of protesters in Egypt lost one or both eyes during the 2011 revolution that brought down the government of President Husni Mubarak and the military government that replaced it.
Is blinding protesters a new method used by authoritarian governments to crack down on protests?
Egypt's security forces targeted the eyes of well-known Iranian photojournalist Alfred Yaghobzadeh, who was covering the protests, but the pellet lodged in his skull instead. Yaghobzadeh has covered several revolutions and wars across the world. However, he has never witnessed the protesters' eyes being deliberately targeted anywhere else than in Egypt and Iran. Pictures of young Iranians wearing eyepatches in the frontline of last year's nationwide protests took Yaghobzadeh to the days of 2011 when at least 80 protesters were blinded in the streets leading to Cairo's Tahrir Square.
<This was the first time that I saw protesters losing their eyes in a revolution>
The first Egyptian revolution started in January 25, 2011, and led to Mubarak's resignation, followed by the military's takeover of the government. November of the same year witnessed a second revolution, when protests brought down the military government. Those who had shot protesters in the eyes were brought to court and it emerged that they were snipers who had intentionally targeted protester's eyes. <They came out with bandages on their injured eyes and threw stones at the military. They were very brave. This was the first time that I saw protesters losing their eyes in a revolution. And this was intentional, not accidental,> Yaghobzadeh said. <The voice of the street, i.e. graffities, continued to appear. People said what they wanted to say and now it was the turn of graffities and paintings on the city's wall...Each night the soldiers erased the graffities, but every morning student painters, artists and ordinary people repainted them. The battle between the revolutionaries and the army took place in the streets in the daytime and on the walls during the night.> To record the Egyptian revolution, photographers focused on Tahrir Square. But a street named Mohammed Mahmoud Street, near the square, was a constant scene of battles between protesters and security forces. This street was also the scene of graffiti battles at night. It was in this street that Yaghobzadeh was shot in the head while he was taking pictures of graffities supporting protesters who had been blinded.
<Suddenly my head was hit by two pellets>
The clashes between the protesters and security forces was at its height. Yaghobzadeh wanted to photograph graffities, so he left Tahrir Square for Mohammed Mahmoud Street. Police and soldiers were working together to suppress the protesters. Yaghobzadeh was recording the scene with his camera. <Suddenly my head was hit by two pellets. They were the size of a pea and were metallic, just like the metal pellets that they fire in Iran.>
<They wanted to shoot me in the eye,> Yaghobzadeh said. <The pellet would have been in my eye if I had not turned my head. I fell to the ground after I was shot." Yaghobzadeh was brought to the medical tent of the revolutionaries and one of the pellets was removed from his head: <I was in pain and said I didn't want the other pellet to be taken out. I returned to Paris and I had surgery...The X-ray clearly showed that the pellet was lodged near my eye.> Yaghobzadeh continued taking pictures of the Egyptian revolution, including of men and women who were wearing symbolic eyepatches to show support for the protesters who had been shot blind. Some had the name of a victim written on the eyepatch.
Intentional or Accidental?
A protester who had lost an eye filed a complaint after the Muslim Brotherhood came to power in 2012, and the courts prosecuted the culprit.
<The government had changed hands and could hold the agents of the previous government accountable,> Yaghobzadeh said. <They had videos and finally arrested the assailant, a member of the military who was a sniper. He was tried and was sent to prison, Yaghobzadeh said.
Yaghobzadeh, who has witnessed many violent clashes around the world, said, <Sometimes the army uses bullets when clashes erupt. In general, people like the army and hate the police because the police is under the control of the interior ministry while the army is seen as the protector of the country and an institution shared by the government and the people. But [Egypt] was the first case of a revolution where things were not like that. Bullets might accidently hit the heads of the protesters, but when it's repeatedly reported that they lost their eyes in a similar way, it is clear that it's been intentional.> For the same reason, Yaghobzadeh found the cases of Iranian protesters who had suffered eye injuries worthy of attention: <When the first stories of protesters who had been blinded were published, I told myself that it must have been accidental. During the protests, I was glued to Twitter and looked again at the archive of my pictures of protesters who had been blinded in Egypt. But every day new cases of Iranian protesters being blinded were published, and there is evidence that these protesters were intentionally blinded.> During the Yellow Vests protests in France, a number of demonstrators were blinded as well, although not in the same way than in Egypt or Iran. One day, Yaghobzadeh was standing in Paris's Bastille Square next to a protester named Jerome Rodrigues, when suddenly the man fell to the ground: <I though he wanted to hide but suddenly I noticed that his eye was filled with blood. Rodrigues lost his eye and I took his picture right at that moment, a picture that, legally speaking, is a good piece of evidence.> During the Yellow Vests protests in November of 2018, at least 40 demonstrators sustained serious eye injuries. The victims have filed many complaints and the government eventually acknowledged that the police used excessive force.
In France too, protesters took to the streets wearing symbolic eyepatches in support of the victims and in protest against police violence.
Who Gave the Order?
In Egypt and Iran, there is little doubt that what happened was intentional and widespread.
The victims in Iran have been asking the same question as Yaghobzadeh: Who gave the order?
<For me, this question remains unanswered: Who or which agency gave the order to blind the protesters? Blinding the protesters in Iran is systematic, not accidental. When hundreds of people have been injured in the eye over several months and in all the cities where protests took place, this question becomes more germane: Who ordered the blinding of the protesters? Evidence shows that these were not spontaneous acts> of violence.> >>
Source:
https://iranwire.com/en/blinding-as-a-weapon/116698-blinding-as-a-weapon-a-new-trend-in-protest-suppression/
 
Above updates 'till May 31, 2023
Below  untill March 14, 2023

Iranwire - May 12, 2023
<< <You Took My Eye, Now You Won't Let Me Get Treatment,> Says Iran Protest Crackdown Victim
A Iranian man who lost an eye in the security forces' brutal clampdown on nationwide protests last year says the authorities are not allowing him to get treatment. Hossein Hosseinpour is among hundreds of protesters who sustained severe eye injuries after being hit by pellets, paintball bullets or other projectiles used by security forces amid a bloody crackdown on months of mainly peaceful demonstrations sparked by the September 2022 death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while in police custody. Many victims have reported being denied medical care. Hosseinpour lost an eye during demonstrations in November. <You took my eye, and now you won't let me get treatment....You deleted my name from the list of patients. My eye is causing me a lot of pain,> he tweeted on May 11. The man also took to Instagram to explain his situation, saying he had been trying to schedule an eye surgery for a month. <They've been playing with me every week, and today I was supposed to be hospitalized. The reception told me to go to the examination room, but the examination room told me my name had been crossed out,> he wrote. <When I asked why, the receptionist told me, 'Pray for someone to die and they'll give the retina to you.' And he didn't know why my name was crossed out,> Hosseinpour added.>>
Source:
https://iranwire.com/en/blinding-as-a-weapon/116463-you-took-my-eye-now-you-wont-let-me-get-treatment-says-iran-protest-crackdown-victim/

 Iranwire - May 8, 2023
<<Tehran Billboards Claim Protesters Shot in Eyes Are <Liars>
The Tehran Municipality has installed billboards in the city accusing the hundreds of protesters who were targeted in the eyes by security forces during nationwide protests of being <liars.> Doctors said that at least 580 protesters had sustained severe eye injuries after being hit by pellets, tear gas canisters, paintball bullets or other projectiles in Tehran and in Kurdistan alone by the end of November 2022. The actual numbers across the country are much higher. The Tehran Municipality's initiative has been met with widespread condemnation, with human rights groups calling for an investigation into the targeted shooting of protesters and for those responsible to be held accountable.
A victim named Saman posted a video on Instagram showing his injured eye.
<If we are liars, then what is this? How can you hide evidence? If you didn't shoot, then who did?> the victim asked.
As IranWire has reported, the widespread targeting of protesters' eyes by security forces could constitute a <crime against humanity,> as defined by Article 7 of the Rome Statute.>>
Read more here:
https://iranwire.com/en/blinding-as-a-weapon/116318-tehran-billboards-claim-protesters-shot-in-eyes-are-liars/
and especially click on the dated menu to read the series as it was 'till here and especially read how pellets cannot bring down the protestors.
And if they are 'liars' the municipality wouln't mind a bit if the victims file an accusation against the perpetrators at the International Criminal Court based on acts against humanity.

Iranwire - March 14, 2023 - By Mana Neyestani - Cartoon
<<Blinding As A Weapon of War
Iranian security forces are targeting protesters with shotgun or paintball gun fire to their faces, inflicting them severe eye injuries. The victims of such a criminal practice say they don't regret having protested against the Islamic Republic.>>
View the cartoon here:
https://iranwire.com/en/cartoons/114765-blinding-as-a-weapon-of-war-cartoon/
and especially click on the dated menu to read the series as it was 'till here and especially read how pellets cannot bring down the protestors.

copyright Womens' Liberation Front 2019/cryfreedom.net 2023