IRANIAN security forces have massacred thousands of protesters across the country in a coordinated crackdown following nationwide demonstrations that erupted earlier this month, according to a new investigation by Human Rights Watch.
Videos verified by the human rights organisation show at least 400 bodies piled in and around a morgue south of Tehran, with witnesses describing scenes of families desperately searching through body bags for missing loved ones. The footage, along with testimony from survivors and medical personnel, points to what researchers are calling an unprecedented wave of state violence.
“The mass killings by Iranian security forces since January 8 are unprecedented in the country,” said Lama Fakih, program director at Human Rights Watch. The organisation is calling for an emergency session of the UN Human Rights Council to address what it describes as systematic atrocities.
The violence began after protests spread across Iran on December 28, sparked by deteriorating economic conditions. What started as demonstrations over living standards quickly evolved into calls for the downfall of the Islamic Republic, with protesters demanding human rights, dignity and freedom.
Security forces responded with overwhelming force on January 8, opening fire on crowds in cities and towns across at least eight provinces, including Tehran, Kermanshah, and Mashhad, Iran’s second-largest city.
“A War Zone”
In Kermanshah, a large city in western Iran, witnesses sent desperate messages to journalists as gunfire erupted around them. “Kermanshah is a war zone with nonstop gunfire,” one account stated. Another described security forces “riddling protesters, mostly women and girls, chanting at a crossroad, with bullets.”
Medical professionals in one Kermanshah hospital reported nearly 300 people admitted with no vital signs on January 8 alone, most with gunshot wounds to the head and chest.
In Mashhad, a medical professional witnessed security forces kill at least five men on a single street. “They have killed so many, as if lambs have been slaughtered on the streets, the ground is drenched in blood,” another witness reported.
Throughout the capital, Tehran, security forces used automatic weapons against demonstrators. One verified video shows officers on the roof of a police station firing hundreds of rounds over six minutes at protesters below.
Multiple victims were shot from behind while fleeing, including Robina Aminian, a 23-year-old student killed in Tehran on January 8. Witnesses described security forces pointing weapons at protesters’ heads and torsos as crowds dispersed, ordering them to return home.
Mountains of Bodies
The most harrowing evidence emerged from the Forensic Diagnostic and Laboratory Centre in Kahrizak, about 11 miles south of central Tehran. Videos show hundreds of body bags scattered on the ground as grief-stricken relatives search among them, crying and screaming.
Human Rights Watch counted at least 400 visible bodies in footage posted between January 11 and 13, though researchers note this is likely an undercount since bodies were stacked on top of each other. Large commercial trucks continued delivering more remains over several days.
The victims, all in civilian clothing, showed signs of gunshot wounds, with some displaying injury patterns consistent with shotgun pellets. Many still had medical equipment attached from failed resuscitation attempts.
At the nearby Behesht-e Zahra Cemetery Complex, witnesses described even larger numbers. One person who went to identify a loved one on January 10 estimated between 1,500 and 2,000 bodies piled in large halls, with refrigerated trucks still arriving.
“Anyone you speak to these days has a relative, a friend, or an acquaintance who has been killed or injured,” one person told researchers.
Evidence Under Blackout
The Iranian government has severely restricted communications and shut down internet access, making it difficult to verify the full scale of casualties. Despite these barriers, Human Rights Watch documented killings across at least eight provinces through interviews with 21 witnesses, relatives, journalists, and medical professionals, along with analysis of 51 verified photographs and videos.
Iranian officials quoted in media outlets have acknowledged deaths in the thousands, though they have labelled protesters “rioters” and “terrorists.” State media reported 121 security force members killed, though Human Rights Watch could not independently verify those figures.
The organisation found evidence that authorities have pressured families to falsely claim their loved ones were members of the Basij militia as a condition for releasing bodies. In other cases, officials have withheld remains, denied families proper burials, or forced them to bury victims in remote locations to prevent funeral gatherings.
Under international law, law enforcement may only use lethal force when strictly necessary to confront an imminent threat of death or serious injury. Firearms should never be used simply to disperse assemblies.
“The horrific images of families sifting through hundreds of body bags in an open-air morgue should shock the conscience of the world,” Fakih said, calling for accountability “at the highest levels” of Iran’s government.
Human Rights Watch is urging UN member states to convene an emergency Human Rights Council session and direct the International Independent Fact-Finding Mission on Iran to investigate the killings and preserve evidence for potential prosecutions.
