The number of victims of the 15 days of anti-government protests in Iran is difficult to determine due to the authorities cutting off access to the Internet. On the night from Saturday to Sunday, the Human Rights Activists Information Agency (HRANA), a non-governmental organization based in the USA, said that 116 people had been killed, but stated that this number only included confirmed deaths of people whose names were known.
The Iranian station reports that the number of victims is many times higher
According to Iran International however, the number of dead is many times higher because security forces shoot at protesters with live ammunition. Witnesses quoted by this station said they saw about 400 bodies in the city of Kahrizak in the capital province of Tehran. On Friday alone, 44 bodies were brought to one hospital in this city and 36 to another.
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How many people died in protests in Iran according to Iran International?
What are the difficulties in determining the number of victims in Iran?
What did the commander-in-chief of Iran's police say about the protests?
What actions are security forces taking against protesters?
Hospital sources told Iran International that similar scenes also occur in other cities and other hospitals. For example, a doctor from the city of Rasht in northern Iran, with a population of almost 700,000, said that at least 70 bodies were brought to just one of the hospitals there.
Iran International pointed out that these types of reports come from many different places, which indicates that incidents of shooting people are not limited to a small number of large cities.
The authorities' adoption of a confrontational attitude towards protesters was confirmed by the commander-in-chief of Iran's police, Ahmadreza Radan, who said on Sunday that the level of confrontation with riot participants had increased. He argued that the police have an obligation to act decisively against violence. Radan added that the security services will pursue both the organizers of the riots, those who support them online, and those who physically participate in the protests.
