January 22, 2026
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Rights Groups Allege Iran Sexually Assaults Teen Detainees and Charges Families to Recover Protest Victims’ Bodies

Eyewitness accounts gathered by Iranian and exile human‑rights groups allege that security forces sexually assaulted teenage detainees, including a 16‑year‑old, and forced other prisoners to strip to check for pellet wounds during the latest nationwide protests that began Dec. 28, 2025. The Kurdistan Human Rights Network reports that in western cities like Kermanshah some families have been told to pay up to 10 billion rials — a sum equivalent to many years of wages — just to retrieve the bodies of relatives killed in the crackdown, and that funerals were held under heavy security with relatives pressured to blame protesters for the deaths. HRANA now counts at least 4,902 confirmed fatalities, 9,387 additional deaths under review and 26,541 arrests, even as Iran’s prosecutor general Mohammad Movahedi declares 'the sedition is over' and credits loyalists with extinguishing the unrest. The exiled National Council of Resistance of Iran tells Fox that detainees are still being killed and their bodies burned, and says clashes between protesters and Revolutionary Guard units continue in cities such as Kermanshah, Rasht and Mashhad despite official claims of calm. These allegations, if borne out, would add sexual violence, extortion of bereaved families and corpse desecration to an already extensive list of abuses that U.S. and European governments are weighing as they debate new sanctions and other responses to Tehran’s crackdown.

Iran Protest Crackdown and Human Rights U.S. Policy Toward Iran

📌 Key Facts

  • HRANA reports 4,902 confirmed deaths, 9,387 additional deaths under review and 26,541 arrests from protests that began Dec. 28, 2025.
  • KHRN says families in Kurdish areas have been charged up to 10 billion rials to recover the bodies of relatives killed in the crackdown and that funerals occur under heavy security with pressure to blame protesters.
  • KHRN and NCRI cite allegations that security forces sexually assaulted teenage detainees, including a 16‑year‑old, forced others to strip to look for pellet wounds, and in some cases killed detainees and burned their bodies.

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