The scale of the killings in Iran during the brutal recent crackdown on anti-government protesters is being laid bare. One human rights group, whose estimates have proved accurate in the past, says it has verified more than 6,000 deaths. The Human Rights Activists News Agency says it’s investigating reports of more than 17,000 other killings. Other estimates have put the number who have died at more than 33,000.
Evidence is emerging of the systematic killing of protesters, who took to the streets demanding the end of Iran’s theocratic regime. Many of those who died were shot on the streets but there are reports of protesters being killed while being treated in hospital and people disappearing after being arrested at their homes.
Some of the protesters have been telling the BBC about what they witnessed. Parisa, a 29-year-old woman living in Tehran, said she knew at least 13 people who had been killed since the protests over economic conditions erupted in the capital on 28 December and evolved into one of the deadliest periods of anti-government unrest in the history of the Islamic Republic. Mehdi, 24, also from Tehran, described witnessing multiple killings of protesters at close range by security forces.
The Iranian authorities have said that more than 3,100 people were killed, while claiming that most of them were security personnel or bystanders attacked by those they described as “rioters”.
Most international news organisations, including the BBC, are barred from reporting inside Iran. But videos showing security forces firing live ammunition at crowds have been verified by the BBC.
Reeta Chakrabarti presents BBC News at Ten reporting by Caroline Hawley and Jonathan Beale.
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