The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Walker Turk, has expressed concern over the brutal government actions against protesters in Iran and demanded that this series be stopped.
The High Commissioner's spokeswoman Raveena Shamdasani says forces have raided several schools, and arrested children while also detaining principals who refused to cooperate with the forces.
Iran's Minister of Education has confirmed that "children arrested for protesting against the government have been sent to psychiatric centers."
Regarding the number of children, he said it was 'unclear'.
According to Shamdasani, “human rights treaties, which Iran has also signed. It has a responsibility to protect the rights of children in all circumstances, and to respect their freedom of expression and peaceful protest.
"Our office has received reports that mass arrests have been made, including at least 90 members of civil society, including social workers, lawyers, artists and journalists," he added. . On October 12, three lawyers were arrested for protesting outside the Bar Association office in Tehran.
A large number of arrestees, including students and opposition politicians, are being held at the Avon Jail where the fire broke out on October 15, while much remains unclear about the incident.
There were also reports that explosions and firing were heard there.
After the incident, Iranian authorities said that eight prisoners were killed and 61 were injured.
According to reports, many prisoners were also subjected to torture at the time of the incident and a large number were transferred to other prisons.
Shamdasni said that the UN Human Rights Office is deeply concerned about the government's ill-treatment, torture and failure to provide medical aid to injured prisoners.
"Besides the violations in the legal process, it is common to not give the prisoners access to a lawyer and to keep them in solitary confinement."
"The use of force against the protesters must stop."
The office has also demanded the Iranian authorities to immediately release the arrested persons and conduct a transparent investigation into the incidents of human rights violations by the ministers.
