UN reports 23 children killed in crackdown on Iranian protests

The United Nations (UN) said that 23 minors have been killed and many others injured in the crackdown on protests in Iran, being shot with live ammunition or metal pellets at close range, or suffering brutal beatings. 

"Certain schools have been raided and children arrested by security forces. Some principals have also reportedly been arrested," UN Human Rights Office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said on Tuesday. 

The agency is aware that the Iranian education ministry itself confirmed a few days ago that an unspecified number of children had been sent to psychological treatment centres after being arrested in the anti-government protests. 

The citizen demonstrations are now a month old, having erupted in the wake of the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was arrested three days earlier by the so-called "Morality Police" for allegedly wearing the veil incorrectly and died in custody. 

Moreover, the UN has information about "mass arrests" of human rights defenders, journalists, students, lawyers, environmental activists, artists and anyone who might be perceived as an opponent of the regime. 

Many of them were sent to the Evin prison, located in Tehran, where last Saturday there was a major fire in which at least eight inmates were killed and more than 60 injured, according to official reports. 

However, the UN considers that the elements of the fire are unclear. Some prisoners were allegedly beaten during the incident and transferred to other places of detention. 

The UN has repeatedly denounced situations of torture and medical negligence in Iranian prisons, as well as illegal procedures affecting the rights of detainees, such as denying them access to a lawyer or holding them incommunicado.