Amnesty International has conducted further research into the 40mm “less lethal” grenades killing protesters during the recent violence in Baghdad.
The new analysis showed that, in addition to the Serbian Sloboda ?a?ak M99 grenades already identified, a significant portion of the deadly projectiles are in fact M651 tear gas grenades and M713 smoke grenades manufactured by the Defense Industries Organization (DIO) of Iran.
The Bulgarian company Arsenal has sold grenades and other arms to Iraq, including hand-thrown smoke grenades used during the recent protests in Baghdad. However, Amnesty International misattributed the provenance of some of the 40mm grenades in our original press release. We have corrected this in the text below.
Since first publishing our findings on 31 October, Amnesty International has reviewed and verified video evidence of four additional deaths caused by the Serbian and Iranian grenades and has received a significant number of additional photos of the weapons, via sources on the ground. It was through analysing this new evidence that Amnesty International was able to make this identification.
Amnesty International does not have information on the identities of the security forces firing these Iranian M651 and M713 grenades in Baghdad.
The deadly grenades must be recalled from use immediately.
There should be an independent, impartial and transparent investigation into their use and into other cases of unlawful killings and injuries during the protests, with any security forces responsible for excessive use of force held to account.