Iranian pro archer says "no regrets" for joining protest where security forces shot and blinded her in one eye

A pair of photos shared on Twitter by the Iran Human Rights organization show Iranian national archer Kosar Khoshnoudikia competing, and then in a hospital after she says she was shot in the eye by Iranian security forces during a protest. Iran Human Rights/Twitter

Paris — An Iranian archer who lost sight in her left eye after being shot by security forces at a protest has said she has "no regrets" for joining the nationwide demonstrations. Iranian authorities have cracked down for more than four months on the anti-regime protests sparked by the September 16 death in custody of Mahsa Amini, who was arrested for allegedly violating strict dress rules for women.

Kosar Khoshnoudikia, a member of Iran's national archery team, had been shot at a rally last year in her hometown of Kermanshah, in the Kurdish-populated west, said the Norway-based rights group Hengaw.

"I have felt no regrets for being there on that day, at that time," Khoshnoudikia said in a video posted Monday by London-based Iran International TV.

Iranian national archer Kosar Khoshnoudikia speaks in a video published online by the London-based Iran International TV network on January 23, 2023. Iran International TV

Appearing without a headscarf and with her left eye concealed by a patch, Khoshnoudikia said in the video she had been shot in early December while attending a march in Kermanshah with her father.

"Three shots hit my right hand and one shot hit my left eye," she said, adding her father had also been shot in the hand.

Amnesty International and other rights groups have accused Iranian security forces of partially or completely blinding multiple protesters, firing live ammunition and metal pellets at close range.

Iran escalates brutal crackdown on protesters

The government has acknowledged that hundreds of people have been killed as security forces clash with what Iranian officials define as "riots." According to Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights, at least 481 people have been killed in the authorities' brutal crackdown on the protest movement.

Khoshnoudikia, who won silver in the compound bow women's team event at the 2021 Asian Archery Championships, did not say whether she believed she could resume her sporting career.

Images shared with CSB News by Dr. Kayvan Mirhadi, chief of internal medicine at the Clifton Springs Hospital in New York, are typical of the photos he said he received daily in October 2022 from Iranians wounded by Iranian security forces, showing everything from bullet and pellet wounds, to blunt force trauma.   Dr. Kayvan Mirhadi/Twitter/@_dr.kay_

Despite multiple operations, she has permanently lost sight in her left eye, according to Hengaw.

"I am never sad about what happened," she said. "I lost some things, but I gained a lot."

It was not immediately clear where Khoshnoudikia was speaking from.

Khoshnoudikia said she had lost sight in one eye "for a purpose. I have never felt sad for myself and for what happened."

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