Justice Eludes Families of Children in Iran Killed in Jin, Jiyan, Azadi Uprising

On 30^th October 2022, Komar Daraftadeh was shot dead in Xanê (Piranshahr) during protests across Iran. His father, Hassan Daraftadeh, spoke to the people assembled in the cemetery that night and said, “My son was born on August 16. I called him Komar— ‘Republic’—after the Kurdish Republic of 1946. I’m proud he was martyred for freedom and this land. But the pain—it’s unbearable. I swear, they will kill us all. He was innocent. They have no mercy.” Komar was shot dead on October 30, 2022,. His father’s cry, “I swear, they will kill us all,” was more than a sign of despair; it would soon become a grim prophecy, resonating in many homes.

A Movement Born

Komar was killed during an uprising that began in September 2022, following the death of Jîna Amînî, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman. Amînî had been arrested by the so-called Morality Police in Iran for allegedly wearing her hijab improperly.  While in police custody in Tehran, she fainted after being severely beaten and was taken to the hospital in a coma. She died three days later. The police claimed the cause of death was ‘heart failure,’ but photos of her bruised body told another story. Her case became a symbol of the Iranian state’s brutal violence against women.

The uprising that followed her death evolved into a formidable challenge to the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI), with slogans demanding freedom, equality, and system change. It resonated especially strongly in Kurdistan, and its aftermath continues to impact Iran today.

Targeting Children

Amnesty International’s December 2022 report states that since 16 September 2022, Iranian security forces have killed at least 44 children in Iran, including 18 Baluchi and 10 Kurdish youths. This is in grave violation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, under which children are considered vulnerable entities, with special protection rights. The deadliest day in this period was 30th September 2022, infamously known as “Bloody Friday”, when in Zahedan, 13 Baluchi children were killed. Further killings were reported in October and November across several provinces, amid a nationwide crackdown employing live fire, pellet ammunition, and beatings. This report details a pattern of intentional killings employed by Iran’s security forces: most children were shot in the head, chest, or other vital organs, while others died from fatal beatings or from being struck by tear gas canisters.

As reported by Iran Human Rights, at least 551 people were killed across Iran’s political geography by Iran’s security forces during the Jin Jiyan Azadi uprising

As reported by Iran Human Rights, at least 551 people were killed across Iran’s political geography by Iran’s security forces during the Jin Jiyan Azadi uprising, with 22 additional suspicious deaths. Of the total casualties, based on a report by Kurdistan Human Rights Network, 123 were Kurdish citizens, including 13 children. Most of these deaths were caused by gunfire or baton blows.

Reported total death tolls in Rojhelat from the Jin Jiyan Azadi uprising vary by source. Hengaw records 140 Kurdish deaths, while the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) cites 123. The discrepancy extends to child fatalities: KHRN lists 13 children, whereas Hengaw reports 16. The latter’s higher figure includes an 18-year-old in its count of ‘children’; an important legal distinction, since the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child defines a child as anyone under 18.

Compared to other regions in Iran, a disproportionately high number of children killed were from Rojhelat (Eastern Kurdistan), indicating that the crackdown by Iran’s security forces in this area was particularly severe.

According to the Kurdistan Human Rights Network’s annual report, released on 24 April 2023, a few children were killed instantly by gunfire, while others died after torture. Many endured lasting effects from severe beatings or medical neglect for months before succumbing to their injuries.

The children killed by Iran’s security forces draws on reports from the Kurdistan Human Rights Network. Iran’s security forces refers collectively to the Iran’s riot-control units, the Basij militia, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), special police units, and plainclothes agents.

Many of the children, according to the report, were deliberately targeted. This pattern continued into 2023 and beyond. The deaths of 18-year-old Mohammad Aryan Khoshgavar on March 14 of that year in Sanandaj from baton injuries; of Karo Pashabadi (16) from Kamyaran on April 7 from chemical poisoning in school; and of Barzin Hamzehzadeh (16) from Sardasht on Jan 2, 2024, following torture in detention exemplify this trend. These cases underscore a lethal combination of ethnic discrimination and authoritarian violence, making it apparent that being young and Kurdish increases vulnerability to state brutality.

Denying the Truth

Iranian official narrative serve to deny responsibility and delegitimize Kurdish resistance and demands. Iranian state media outlets, such as Tasnim and Khabar Farsi, have launched campaigns to distort the truth about these events. They claim that children were killed in clashes between “armed separatists” belonging to Kurdish political parties, such as Komala and the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK)—a narrative designed to criminalize the victims and frame the state as a protector of “national security”.

Investigations by Amnesty International or independent human rights organizations in Kurdistan indicate the contrary, that it was the security forces of the IRI that were responsible for the gunshots and fatal beatings.

Killing the Future

Kurdish streets become zones of exception, areas where the law is suspended, and killing turns into a banality.

These state murders are part of a bio-political war  – an effort to keep a community in a constant state of terror. Children are more than passive victims; they represent the future. Similarly, theorist Achille Mbembe refers to this pattern as “necropolitics”- the wielding of death as an instrument of governance. In Iran’s racialized state structure, the minorities are perpetual targets of suspicion. Kurdish streets become zones of exception, areas where the law is suspended, and killing turns into a banality.

Mass and systemic state killings of civilians are classified as crimes against humanity under the Rome Statute. However, Kurdish and minority children remain vulnerable to the suppression of the security forces during times of political turmoil. The families of the children still await justice three years after the Jin, Jiyan, Azadi uprising in Iran.