Full Name:
Hossein Ashtari
Biography:
Hossein Ashtari was born in Esfahan.
Positions:
– President of Imam Hadi University affiliated to the IRGC Intelligence Protection Organization
– Chief of Intelligence and Public Security Police, up to June 2014
– Deputy Chief of Disciplinary Force of the Islamic Republic of Iran, 28 May 2014 – 9 March 2015
– Commander of Disciplinary Force of the Islamic Republic of Iran, 9 March 2015 – present
Human Rights Violations:
As the Commander in Chief of the Law Enforcement Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran (known by the acronym NAJA), Hossein Ashtari is responsible for unlawful and violent acts committed by those under his command during the December 2017-January 2018 protests.
In a television interview on 6 January, Hossein Ashtari promised to arrest protesters who had been identified [from TV footage?].
NAJA crushed protests using excessive force and violent means, including firing live ammunition, spraying tear gas and physical assault.
Reports of police brutality have been published by official and semi-official media outlets. The following are two such examples:
Six killed in Ghahdarijan, Esfahan
According to the IRIB News Agency, on 1 January six people were killed as a result of NAJA forces firing at protesters in Ghahdarijan in the province of Esfahan”.
In an interview with IRIB, Asghar Hedayat, the district governor of Falavarjan, asserted that NAJA forces had fired on protesters because they had launched an “armed assault” on the Basij compound and police station in Ghahdarijan.
Two protesters killed in Doroud, Lorestan
On 31 December, the IRIB News Agency confirmed that two protesters had been killed in the city of Doroud in the province of Lorestan.”
In an interview with the news website Etemad Online published on 31 December, Hamidreza Kazemi, MP for the nearby town of Pol-Dokhtar, confirmed that NAJA had fired on protesters resulting in the death of two people in Doroud. He also stated, “there was no way for the police other than confronting and firing on those who broke the norms and took to the streets”.
*Last update: March 12, 2018*
