Iran's Raisi appoints committee to investigate last year's unrest

Headed by Hossein Mozaffar, a member of Iran’s Expediency Council, the committee will conduct technical and specialized probes, review reports by other institutions, and take steps to complete the ongoing investigations into the unrest, IRNA reported on Sunday.

Kazem Gharibabadi, secretary General of Iran's High Council for Human Rights, Sakineh Sadat Paad, a presidential advisor on social rights and freedom, Zohreh Elahian, chair of the Parliament's Human Rights Committee, and Hassan Safadoust, head of Iran Central Bar Association, are other members of the committee.

President Raisi’s decree to form the committee follows a report by Minister of Interior Ahmad Vahidi on the performance of a special task force that had been set up within the ministry to investigate the unrest.

The committee will carry out a comprehensive and thorough review of the various aspects of the riots, based on personal accounts from members of the public, media reports, and probes by relevant organizations.

Citizens who incurred material damages or suffered “spiritual injuries” during the unrest, and families of the victims will be compensated accordingly.

Committee members are also tasked with collecting facts and documenting eyewitness accounts to be presented for legal cases at the international level.

Additionally, they will review loopholes in current laws and regulations governing the freedom of peaceful assembly, based on expert opinions from the academia and scientific community, and propose necessary changes.  

The unrest followed the death of a young Iranian woman, Mahsa Amini, who died in hospital on September 16, days after she collapsed at a police station in Tehran. Iran's Legal Medicine Organization issued a report, saying Amini's death was caused by prior illness rather than alleged blows to the head.

The protests were peaceful at first, but soon turned violent. Steered from the outside through foreign media propaganda, rioters began fatally attacking security forces and indulging in vandalism against public property in several cities.

**2050