Medics claim that Iranian authorities are focusing on the faces and genitalia of protesting women

Women participating in anti-regime protests in Iran are being targeted by the country’s security forces with shotgun fire to their faces, breasts, and genitalia, according to reports citing interactions with medical specialists from all around Iran.

The anti-regime demonstrations in Iran, which began after the country’s morality police killed 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while she was being held captive, are still going strong after 12 weeks. In order to avoid being apprehended, doctors and nurses are reportedly treating injured protesters covertly. According to reports, the nature of injuries suffered by men and women differs significantly.

Shotgun pellet wounds to the legs, buttocks, and backs of the men were more common than wounds to the faces, breasts, and genitalia of the women.

The injuries suffered by women were described as being so serious that they could cause hundreds of young Iranians lasting harm, as reported in an article in The Guardian that included conversations with 10 medical professionals.

“I treated a woman in her early 20s, who was shot in her genitals by two pellets. Ten other pellets were lodged in her inner thigh,” one doctor told the newspaper.

“These 10 pellets were easily removed, but those two were a challenge because they were wedged in between her urethra and vaginal opening.”

The doctor also described how the woman in question initially became plagued by the wounds.

“There was a serious risk of vaginal infection, so I asked her to go to a trusted gynaecologist. She said she was protesting when a group of about 10 security agents circled around and shot her in her genitals and thighs.”

Medical experts questioned the Iranian security forces’ riot-control strategies, such as shooting firearms toward feet and legs to protect vital organs.

The morality police in Iran killed 22-year-old Mahsa Al-Amini while she was being held captive, sparking the most ferocious uprising against the government in decades. The 22-year-old woman was detained for wearing her headscarf inappropriately. Iran’s now-partially-defunct morality police pummelling her into a coma.

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