Amnesty International says that at least 23 children are among the hundreds of people killed in Iran in widespread protests sparked by last month's death of a young woman arrested by the morality police over how she was wearing a head scarf.
"Iranian security forces' unlawful killings of at least 23 children sheds further light on the authorities' deadly resolve to crush the widespread, ongoing protests, which were sparked by the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini on September 16 and grew into what many in Iran say is a broader uprising against the Islamic republic establishment," Amnesty said in a statement published on October 14.
The 23 children are among at least 201 people estimated to have been killed in the nationwide protests since Amini died.
In the statement, Amnesty lists the names and circumstances surrounding the killing of the 23 children during 10 days of protests last month.
It says the victims included 20 boys aged between 11 and 17 and three girls, two of whom were 16 years old and one 17 years old.
Most of those killed were shot by security forces, while four of them -- three girls and a boy -- were fatally beaten.
Ten of the victims belonged to Iran's Baluch minority and were shot dead by security forces on September 30, the deadliest day of the crackdown, in Zahedan, in Sistan-Baluchistan Province, Amnesty said.
"Iran's security forces have killed at least two dozen children in an attempt to crush the spirit of resistance among the country's courageous youth," Amnesty's Heba Morayef said.
"Member states engaging at the UN Human Rights Council should urgently hold a special session and adopt a resolution to establish an international independent investigative and accountability mechanism on Iran," Morayef added.
The United Nations children's agency, UNICEF, said on October 10 that it was "extremely concerned" over reports of "children and adolescents being killed, injured, and detained" in Iran.