The Iranian government has launched a heavily militarised crackdown across the country in an effort to conceal what Amnesty International describes as the mass killing of protesters. The human rights organisation said the measures were designed to crush a nationwide uprising and silence the population through fear.
According to Amnesty International, authorities have carried out widespread unlawful killings since anti government protests erupted earlier this month. The organisation said the repression has been systematic and coordinated, involving a complete shutdown of internet access, armed security patrols on the streets, night curfews, and bans on public gatherings.
Security forces are reported to have arrested thousands of protesters during the crackdown. Amnesty said many detainees have been subjected to enforced disappearance, torture, and other forms of abuse, including sexual violence. Families of those killed have also faced harassment and intimidation by authorities, further deepening the climate of fear.
Diana Eltahawy, deputy regional director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International, said the country is experiencing an unprecedented assault on basic rights. She stated that while Iranians are still grappling with grief and shock after the killings, the authorities are carrying out a deliberate attack on the rights to life, dignity, and fundamental freedoms in an attempt to terrorise people into silence.
Eltahawy added that the ongoing internet shutdown has intentionally isolated more than ninety million people from the outside world. She said the blackout is being used to hide abuses and avoid international scrutiny and accountability.
Figures released by the United States based Human Rights Activists News Agency paint a grim picture of the scale of the violence. The group reported that five thousand and two people have been killed during the crackdown. According to its data, four thousand seven hundred and sixteen of the dead were demonstrators, two hundred and three were affiliated with the government, forty three were children, and forty were civilians not involved in the protests. The organisation also said more than twenty six thousand eight hundred people have been detained as arrests continue to expand nationwide.
Amid the unrest, Iran’s top prosecutor rejected claims by United States President Donald Trump that he had halted the executions of eight hundred detained protesters. The prosecutor described those statements as completely false.
Tensions between Tehran and Washington remain high. A United States aircraft carrier group has moved closer to the Middle East, a development Trump compared to an armada when speaking to journalists late on Thursday. As the standoff intensifies, international pressure is growing for independent investigations and accountability for the violence unfolding inside Iran.
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