Here is the company that produces the cartridges fired at protesters in Iran
According to an investigation by France24, among the cartridges used to shoot the crowd in protests in Iran there are also those of the Italian-French company Cheddite. However, both Italy and France, as EU countries, should comply with the sanctions foreseen by the Union against Tehran, but here's how they could have circumvented the ban
Protests continue in Iran following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini at the hands of the morality police on September 16 because she did not wear the headscarf correctly. Protests continue and the violence with which they are repressed increases .
Today is the first official statement from Tehran about the number of people who died in the clashes: officially they would be 300 , but for Human Rights Activists they are at least 451. Among others, cartridges from the Italian factory were fired on them. French Cheddite, despite EU sanctions against Iran. This was revealed by an investigation by France24 The Observers .
THE INVESTIGATION
An investigation by The Observers investigative team of the international broadcaster France24 claims to have "found evidence that shotgun cartridges made by the French-Italian Cheddite were used in the repression of protests in Iran".
The journalists had asked the Iranians to send photographs of spent ammunition recovered during the protests and, after analyzing with ballistics experts "more than 100 photos and videos showing tear gas canisters, rifle bullets, paintball shells and rifle cartridges used widely by the country's security forces,” concluded that “while most of the bullets photographed were produced in Iran, 13 bullets recovered in 8 different Iranian cities bore the Cheddite logo.”
Such cartridges, according to the article, "have been widely used by Iranian hunters for years" and a member of the Iranian security forces said that "his unit is sometimes stocked with hunting cartridges".
The evidence came from the capital Tehran and from the cities of Shiraz, Yazd, Karaj, Rasht, Sanandaj, Mahabad and Kamyaran.
THE CHEDDITE COMPANY
The Cheddite company, whose logo is a dragon clawing the world, also boasts its name on the Treccani , where it is synonymous with 'explosive'. Founded in Livorno in 1901 under the name of Società Franco Italiana Explosivo Cheddite, it began producing powder explosives and almost at the same time – the site declares – "a sister factory was built in Switzerland, near Lake Isleten, where the manufacturing of dynamite, including the process of synthesis of the components".
But it was during the early 1980s, with the purchase of the French Gevelot factories, that the company "laid the 'foundation stone' of what would soon become Cheddite France".
Over the years the Livorno plant has specialized in the production of the finished product, the cartridges, and in part of the components, caps and wads; while that of Bourg-lès-Valence, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, in cases and primers.
“Production – explains Cheddite – which quickly reaches high levels of quality and quantity so as to guarantee it a leading position in Europe (over 1.2 billion primers and 1 billion shells produced per year)”.
The company's memberships include the Association of European Manufacturers of Sporting Ammunition (AFEMS), the National Association of Sporting and Civil Weapons and Ammunition Manufacturers (ANPAM), the National Hunting and Nature Committee (CNCN), the Neophyte Project (NEOFITAV) and the Man Nature Environment Foundation (UNA).
THE VIOLATION OF THE EU SANCTIONS ON IRAN
But as France24 recalls, due to the planned sanctions against Iran, the "export, direct or indirect, [of] equipment that could be used for internal repression", including "firearms, ammunition and related accessories" , is prohibited by EU Council Regulation no. 359/2011 , approved on April 12, 2011.
In addition, "five sanctions experts told the French broadcaster that the ban extends to shotgun shells and their components, regardless of their intended use or sales chain."
Among other things, the investigation also shows a photo published on an Iranian hunters forum in 2015 – therefore after the entry into force of the sanctions – in which it says on a box of cartridges that "the components come from Italy".
Similar episodes, the article denounces, have also occurred in recent years in Myanmar, another country subject to the EU's ban on the export of equipment used for internal repression.
WHAT EXPERTS SAY ABOUT CHEDDITE LIABILITY
For Mehrdad Emadi, economic adviser of the European Union, interviewed by France24 , "Cheddite is legally responsible, whether Iran has purchased the products directly or from third parties". This is because "it has to check its buyers and make sure they don't resell the products to terrorist organizations or to countries prohibited by EU rules, since its products are not dual use , but are designed to injure or kill".
But if Iran did not directly purchase the products from Cheddite how did they arrive in the country?
Patrick Wilcken, Amnesty International researcher on arms control and human rights, in commenting on the story hypothesizes a passage from Turkey: "[…] Since rifles and hunting ammunition have long been used for law enforcement agencies in Iran and that Turkey exports cartridges to Iran and other high-risk countries, there would be a strong argument that the company should have been aware of these risks and should have stopped supplies.
“THE TURKISH ROUTE”
Il manifesto had already investigated a possible link with Turkey at the time of the evidence arriving from Myanmar, starting with the investigations of some Italian NGOs who suspected that Cheddite was selling empty cartridges to the Turkish Yavascalar YAF and that this was selling them to Myanmar.
Turkey, not being a member of the EU, is in fact not subject to EU sanctions. According to UN trade data , since 2011, Turkey has exported shot shells to Iran worth over 7 million euros and, in the same period, Italy has exported shell casings to Turkey worth 85.8 million euros .
Although the United Nations data on 2014 ammunition exports from Livorno, the province where Cheddite is based, to Turkey and Myanmar does not indicate the identity of the companies involved but only the nature of the exports, there is no doubt that the Italian-French company has maintained relations with ZSR Patlayici Sanayi AS, the parent company of Yavascalar YAF, in which it also held shares in the past.
No comments were received from the Cheddite establishments either on the manifesto or on France24 .
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/ecco-lazienda-che-produce-le-cartucce-sparate-contro-i-manifestanti-in-iran/ on Tue, 29 Nov 2022 14:22:17 +0000.