04, Feb 2019

According to Amnesty International, authorities in Iran arrested more than 7,000 dissidents in 2018, the Guardian reported. The efforts at repression including several hundred people being imprisoned or flogged, the deaths of at least 26 protesters, and those of nine people in custody, who died under suspicious circumstances. Those who were detained when protests were met with violence included lawyers, journalists, minority rights activists, and women who had protested being made to wear headscarves, the Guardian said. At least 112 women human rights defenders were arrested or remained in detention after prolonged demonstrations against headscarves. At least 63 environmental activists and researchers were reportedly also arrested. Authorities engaged in violence, including beating unarmed protesters, using live ammunition, teargas and water cannons multiple times through 2018.