A new CNN special report reveals the shocking truth behind the Islamic Republic’s brutal and repressive treatment of Iranian protestors amidst the growing uprising against the regime.
The report also detailed the case of a 20-year-old Iranian woman named Armita Abbasi, who was abducted by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and was last seen in Imam Ali Karaj Hospital on October 18th.
The country-wide demonstrations against the Islamic regime, which started after the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini on September 16th, changed Armita’s life forever, as CNN’s report narrated. When the protests began, Armita criticized the Iranian government through social media. But unlike other protestors inside Iran, she didn’t do it anonymously.
Iranian women are raped in the detention centers of the Islamic Republic.
The IRGC forces have taken #ArmitaAbbasi, 20, to the hospital because she was suffering of internal bleeding from multiple rapes.
She was then abducted from the hospital by the IRGC.
be her voice pic.twitter.com/UqEXKTBCnB— Darya Safai MP (@SafaiDarya) November 22, 2022
Nevertheless, it was unclear whether Armita participated in the protests. However, it didn’t stop Iranian security forces from arresting her. On October 18, plainclothes officers from the IRGC took Armita to the Imam Ali Karaj hospital after being arrested eight days ago in her hometown of Karaj, west of the capital Tehran.
The Iranian government claimed she was “the leader of the riots” and said the police also found “10 Molotov cocktails” in her apartment. They also released a statement asserting that Armita was sent to the hospital due to “digestive problems.” But leaks gathered and verified by CNN suggest otherwise, saying that Armita’s head was shaved and wrapped and she was violently shaking.
In their report, CNN released screenshots of leaked conversations between medics and hospital staff working at the Imam Ali Karaj hospital. The messages contradicted the government’s claims regarding Armita’s hospitalization.
SAY her name.. #ArmitaAbbasi #آرمیتا_عباسی #MahsaAmini pic.twitter.com/fqaO1syVWT
— (@shwinaa) November 23, 2022
“When she first came in, (the officers) said she was hemorrhaging from her rectum… due to repeated rape. The plainclothes men insisted that the doctor write it as rape prior to arrest,” A staff member wrote in one of their messages, as shown by CNN.
“To make it short, they screwed up. They screwed up, and they don’t know how to put it together again.” One of the leaked messages also said.
Although CNN could not reach out to either Armita or her family members for comment, Masih Alinejad, an Iranian journalist and activist, posted a series of Tweets showing that Armita’s mother took to Instagram to find her missing daughter, saying that her life was in danger.
Masih also said that Imam Ali Karaj hospital staff contacted Armita's family to visit her. But before they could do that, Iranian security agents again abducted her. Leaked accounts from CNN corroborated this narrative, saying that Iranian security forces removed Armita from the hospital through a rear entrance.
The Iranian government released a statement saying Armita is currently detained in the Fardis Prison in Karaj.
