Tehran: Around 2,000 people were killed in Iran protests, an Iranian official told news agency Reuters on Tuesday, blaming "terrorists" for the deaths of civilians and security personnel. However, an Iranian media outlet has put the number at least 12 times what has been reported so far.
Over 12,000 killed in Iran: Report
According to an editorial published in Iran International, at least 12,000 people have reportedly been killed during the ongoing protests in Iran. Describing the events as "the largest massacre in Iran’s contemporary history", the report dubbed the incident "mass killings" and was said to have occurred mainly over two consecutive nights, January 8 and 9.
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The editorial board of Iran International wrote that it has compiled the data over the past two days based on information received from a source close to the Supreme National Security Council, two sources in the presidential office, accounts received from several sources in the Revolutionary Guard in the cities of Mashhad, Kermanshah, and Isfahan, accounts from eyewitnesses and families of the killed, field reports, data related to medical centers, and information obtained by doctors and nurses in various cities, and has carefully reviewed them in multiple stages based on professional standards.
According to the statement, "This massacre is unprecedented in Iranian history in terms of its geographical scope, intensity of violence, and number of deaths in a short period of time."
UN official calls for an end to violence
The United Nations human rights chief is calling on Iranian authorities to immediately halt violence and repression against peaceful protesters, citing reports of hundreds killed and thousands arrested in a wave of demonstrations in recent weeks. “The killing of peaceful demonstrators must stop, and the labelling of protesters as terrorists to justify violence against them is unacceptable,” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said in a statement Tuesday.
Iran eases some restrictions, allows calls abroad
Iran eased some restrictions on its people and, for the first time in days, allowed them to make phone calls abroad via their mobile phones on Tuesday. It did not ease restrictions on the internet or allow texting services to be restored as the toll from days of bloody protests against the state rose significantly. Although Iranians were able to call abroad, people outside the country could not call them, several people in the capital told news agency AP.
(With inputs from agency)