Investigation finds Iranian security forces used deadly force to crush January protests

A New York Times investigation found that Iranian security forces used lethal force to crush mass protests across the country in early January, following a state-imposed internet blackout and, according to Iranian officials familiar with security matters, an order from Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to the Supreme National Security Council on Jan.

9. Verified videos showed security forces opening fire on protesters in at least 19 cities, and hospitals were overwhelmed with gunshot and pellet wounds to the torso, head and eyes, the paper reported. The Times obtained photographs of more than 300 bodies taken to Tehran’s main morgue, many showing severe head trauma and collapsed eye sockets, and colleagues reported corpses being dumped at Tehran’s largest cemetery.

Within four days, the protests had largely been crushed. The investigation said the government responded with more lethal force than in many decades, a sign analysts interpreted as evidence that leaders feared for the regime’s survival. The paper quoted observers who compared the crackdown to a 1980s moment when Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini ordered mass executions in 1988.