Estimates indicate thousands may have been killed in Iran protests

Fears are growing that the number of protesters killed by Iranian security forces may already reach into the thousands, according to Time. Cellphone footage and reports show truck-mounted machine guns firing in residential streets, hospitals swamped with shooting victims, and a morgue overwhelmed by hundreds of bodies after the first night of assaults.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has said slain protesters were terrorists hired by Israel and the U.S., and a Guard official previously warned that anyone venturing into the street should be prepared to “take a bullet.” Precise counts are unavailable: respected human rights groups report hundreds of identified deaths, but a communications blackout has hampered identification and tallies.

An informal group of expatriate academics began with reports from Tehran hospitals and calculated that protest deaths could have reached about 6,000 through Saturday; that estimate excludes bodies taken directly to morgues such as the Kahrizak Forensic Center, where hundreds were reported on floors and in the parking lot.

Key Topics

World, Iran, Tehran, Kahrizak Forensic Center, Reza Pahlavi, Starlink