Two years ago, 1,500 defenseless men, women and children were brutally killed by the Iranian regime’s security forces during the November 2019 uprising as they took to the streets in over 200 cities across Iran to protest a surprise increase in the price of gasoline. As the peaceful demonstrations spread across the country, and the intensity of the protests increased, the regime soon found themselves handling one of their biggest challenges since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Along with the protesters who sadly lost their lives, a further 4,000 were wounded and 12,000 were arrested and detained. The Iran Human Rights Monitor (Iran HRM) believes the actual figures are much higher and are continuing to investigate to ascertain the correct figures. They have already discovered and published the names of more than 800 of the protesters who were brutally gunned down at the demonstrations.
Many of the detainees were later subjected to periods of torture while imprisoned, and there are reports that several of them were killed under torture in Iran’s prisons. The regime has also resorted to threatening prisoners with execution to intimidate others from voicing their opinions against the regime.
Iran HRM said, “Numerous videos obtained from inside Iran show security forces shooting at protesters from helicopters. Several videos show security forces directly aiming their rifles and handguns at the demonstrators and shooting them from point-blank range.”
In the southern city of Mahshahr, a report stated that the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) surrounded 100s of people in a marsh and point-blankly began massacring them with machine guns.
A number of reports have claimed that following the mass shootings, the regime’s security forces visited local hospitals to round up injured protesters, along with the bodies of those who had died. The relatives of those who had passed were desperate to reclaim the bodies of their loved ones, but the security forces were reluctant to hand them over. Eventually, they allowed the bodies to be released to the families, but only on the condition that funerals were not held for their loved ones, and instead they had to be buried in silence and solitude.
Iranian officials are deliberately hiding the truth depth of the casualties and the deaths that occurred as a result of the brutal crackdown of the protests during the uprising.
The regime’s Attorney-General, Mohammad Jafar Montazeri was quoted saying on December 2, 2019 that, “fortunately, people living outside Iran don’t have access to the information and the number” of the people who were killed and arrested in the nationwide protests.
There are calls for the UN Security Council, world powers, and the international community to stand together and take urgent action to prevent any of the surviving protesters from the November 2019 uprising from being executed and end their suppression.
Iran HRM said, “The regime leaders must face justice for perpetrating crimes against humanity and Iran protests massacre. Silence and inaction are both a violation of international conventions, laws and standards, and embolden the regime to continue its crimes.”
