By Bethany Morley / GICJ
On the 26th of November 2022, Atefeh Naami, a 37-year-old Ahwazi civil rights activist, was found dead in her apartment three weeks after her disappearance while participating in peaceful anti-regime protests. Atefeh Naami’s body was found bruised, covered in a blanket and discarded with a hose connecting to the gas mains to replicate a suicide. There is yet to be an investigation into the suspicious circumstances surrounding her death. Rather, Atefeh’s family was ordered to hold an immediate funeral without many attendants.
Reports from family and friends said Atefeh was a long-standing activist against the brutal Iranian regime who actively opposed misogyny and tyranny. She is not the first Iranian activist to be violently targeted by the regime. Naami is one of many activists who has ‘disappeared’ since the beginning of the protests following the murder of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in September 2022.
𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐚 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐂𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞 (𝐆𝐈𝐂𝐉) strongly condemns the current oppression, human rights violations and violent acts perpetrated by the Iranian regime towards the protestors. Further, we urge the Iranian government to launch a public investigation into the death of Atefeh Naami and other activists. We urge the international community to put pressure on the Iranian authorities to stop these brutal killings against its own population.
GICJ, Iran, protests, Geneva International Centre For Justice, Justice, Human Rights, Geneva4justice, Human Rights
