At least 476 protesters have been killed by security forces in Iran and 100 sentenced to death according to a new report by Iran Human Rights (IHR). Of the 476 people killed, 64 are children and 34 are women. The recent increase in the death toll is due to recently verified cases from the first two months of protests, IHR said.
IHR also expect that the number of death sentences is much higher. The figure of 100 is a minimum, as most families have been pressured to keep their silence, the NGO said.
The numbers in the report relate only to street protests, with those who were already executed, such as protesters Mohsen Shekari and Majidreza Rahnavard, and those who died under suspicious circumstances not included in the figures. Some of the deaths under suspicious circumstances are alleged to be suicides.
IHR are continuing to work through all of the information that they have gathered. “The actual number of people killed therefore, is certainly higher,” the report says.
The Islamic Republic has sowed confusion over the deaths, and the defendants are prevented from access to lawyers, IHR said.
The nationwide protests in Iran have continued into their fourth month after the death of 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman Jîna Masha Amini, who died in the custody of the morality police in September.