Testimony emerged that up to 30,000 people were shot and killed in just two days in Iran.
On the 25th, Time magazine quoted two senior officials from the Iranian Ministry of Health and reported that up to 30,000 people may have died on the streets in the two days of January 8-9. The media reported that because there were so many deaths, body bags ran out, and the bodies were transported in 18-wheeler trailer trucks instead of ambulances. This figure is nearly 10 times higher than the official death toll of 3,117 announced by Iranian authorities on the 21st.
According to TIME, German-Iranian ophthalmologist Amir Parasta said that the number of deaths reached 30,304 as of the 23rd, based on hospital records collected by doctors and emergency personnel. Parasta said these figures did not include deaths in military hospitals or bodies taken directly to the morgue, adding, “The actual figure is likely to be much higher.” Iran’s National Security Council announced that protests took place in approximately 4,000 locations across the country.
Iran International, a British-based dissident media outlet, reported on the same day that a report prepared by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s intelligence agency on the 24th calculated the number of deaths over the past two days, the 8th and 9th, at 36,500. The media reported that the report submitted by the Ministry of Home Affairs to the Presidential Office on the 20th showed that the number of deaths exceeded 30,000, and in the report submitted to the National Security Committee of the National Assembly on the 21st, the number was listed as 27,500.
The US-based Human Rights Activist News Agency said that as of today, the 28th day of protests, 5,459 deaths have been confirmed, and 17,031 deaths are being investigated.
Experts point out that it is difficult to find examples of mass murders committed in such a short period of time since the Nazi Holocaust.
The New York Times reported on this day, citing two Iranian officials, that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei ordered the Supreme National Security Committee on the 9th to “suppress protests by all necessary means.” Afterwards, security forces were instructed to “show no mercy and shoot to kill,” which is said to have led to a rapid increase in the number of deaths.
Videos verified by the New York Times show security forces shooting at protesters from the rooftop of a police station in Fars, Tehran. Chants of “Death to Khamenei” could be heard in the background. Other videos showed tear gas being thrown into the crowd, security forces beating protesters with batons, and bodies strewn about the streets.
A nurse at a hospital in Tehran told the New York Times that the hospital “looked like a war zone.” A doctor at another hospital said that an average of 70 patients with gunshot wounds came in per hour over the past 9 to 10 days, and many of them died immediately or shortly after arrival. A medical worker in Mashhad said they had set up a makeshift first aid station in a villa on the outskirts of the city to treat injured people who were afraid to go to hospital.
The New York Times reported on the case of 45-year-old Nasim Furagai, who was shot in the neck and died in the arms of her husband Ali in the Sadeghiyeh district of Tehran on the 8th. According to eyewitnesses, she collapsed and vomited blood, and Ali’s calls for help went unanswered as the crowd dispersed. In the end, Ali held his wife’s cooling body, walked for over an hour to the car, and headed to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
On the 9th, Time magazine introduced the case of Sahba Rashtian, a 23-year-old aspiring animator in Isfahan, who was shot dead while participating in a protest. A friend told the Times: “Sahba was on the ground before anyone could chant. Her sister saw blood on her hands.” Sahba died on the operating table at a nearby hospital. A friend recalled, “Sahba always used his name as a joke. He would laugh and say, ‘Sahba means wine, but I am banned in the Islamic Republic.’” It was reported that religious ceremonies were prohibited at the funeral, and the father wore white clothes.
Iran International reported that high-ranking commanders of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard used expressions such as “victory through fear” and “fight until the rebellion disappears” after Khamenei’s speech on the 9th. In addition, seven doctors and nurses in Tehran testified that security forces entered the hospital and dragged away the injured patients who were being treated. Two nurses said that after a wounded young man was loaded into an ambulance in a conflict zone west of Tehran, a security guard got into his car and shot him twice, killing him before their eyes.
