The American news channel in recent months has published several reports on the Iran unrest, including the one in November 2022, which alleged that Iranian security forces had used rape to quell the protests erupting after the death of young Iranian woman Mahsa Amini on September 16, 2022.
CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, during the interview with the top Iranian diplomat, repeated those allegations, saying many people had been arrested in “peaceful protests” in Iran and were sexually abused in the detention. She also claimed to have talked to “a cleric inside Iran” in this regard.
Amirabdollahian called the rape allegations “unfounded”, saying that “CNN sometimes publishes biased and false reports".
He also said no one had been arrested during the peaceful rallies, adding that arrests were made after the protests turned violent and some individuals from outside of Iran murdered police forces.
All those arrested during the protests, excluding the people committing murder, were later released from custody following a decree by Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei to grant them amnesty, the Iranian foreign minister said.
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