Amnesty International issued a report yesterday accusing Iran of widespread human rights abuses in a security crackdown on anti-government protests last year, Reuters reported. The report includes allegations of “rape, enforced disappearance, torture and other ill-treatment” of those detained for involvement in the mass demonstrations which broke out in November 2019. The protests began over fuel price hikes but turned broadly political when thousands of demonstrators across the country demanded top officials step down. “Those arrested included peaceful protesters and bystanders, among whom were schoolchildren as young as 10 years old,” said Amnesty’s report, adding that security forces used “waterboarding, beating, flogging, electric shocks, pepper-spraying genitals, sexual violence, mock executions, pulling out nails and solitary confinement” against detainees. Iranian authorities said some 200,000 people took part in the protests, while the head of parliament’s national security committee said at least 7,000 were arrested.