After relatively little in the news about the massacre of civilians inside Iran this month, the world is finally beginning to catch up on the horrors unfolding. Protests against the economic situation quickly turned to calls to bring down the government and grew to 186 towns and cities across Iran. In a television address on January 9, an order came from the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to security forces to suppress the protests “by any means necessary… shoot to kill and show no mercy”.
So-called “police” are murdering their own unarmed citizens in the tens of thousands, firing machine guns into the crowds
The internet was shut down and deaths on the streets quickly surged, with little video getting out. It is difficult to believe that so-called “police forces” are murdering their own unarmed citizens in the tens of thousands, firing machine guns into the crowds, shooting some protesters in the head at point-blank range with military grade weapons. And yet the overwhelming evidence now points to it having happened — and still happening now.
The numbers may vary, but by any standards this is the worst mass murder of civilians in contemporary Iranian history. Based on the verification of images, reports and analysis by the International Centre for Human Rights, to date approximately 43,000 people have been killed, 350,000 injured and 20,000 arrested. With the internet having been blacked out for more than two weeks, no doubt the numbers will rise dramatically as the scale of death and destruction is revealed.
When the Islamic regime partially restored the internet this week, hundreds of videos poured through on Telegram. I make it my business to watch them, as they are a testimony to what Iranians inside the country are experiencing. The videos vary — some simply show the protests with crowds chanting in unity. Others are trauma-inducing. The brutality of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is evident. One video that has gone viral shows a young woman lying injured on the ground struggling to stay alive, being prodded and then shot twice in the head.
Bodies dumped like garbage
The death toll is increasing at such an alarming rate it is beyond shocking. Bodies are piled up in makeshift morgues, warehouses and sports stadiums in black bags, dumped like garbage. Iran “has become a cemetery in which the hopes of our youth are buried,” were the words of international lawyer Payam Akhavan at the UN recently. Equally staggering were the silence and inaction from the international community.
This week marked International Holocaust Day, a reminder to carry the promise of “never again”. What we are witnessing in Iran in real time is a government trying to exterminate the part of its own population that does not agree with it. Even if it that’s the majority, there seems to be no stopping it.
The question is, why? According to Khamenei: “Killing is a bad thing. It is not desirable. But sedition is worse.” So what is sedition? Disobedience to the regime. It means people protesting and not complying. And this is how the system justifies itself: if they can frame dissent as a moral disease and being “against God”, then violence becomes the treatment. It also invokes Islam. Most Muslims will tell you that the verses in the Koran about sedition are historical and contextual, tied to war. And most Muslims will tell you those are not blanket permissions to kill protesters. But apparently true “Islamists” strip away the context and seek to make killing protesters sound righteous. The twisted thinking is they are doing God’s will.
A deep hypocrisy
It’s a very strange model of governance. Especially when the Islamic Republic of Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson condemned how ICE agents handled protests in America. Esmaeil Baghaei claimed “law enforcement in Minnesota are in violation of human rights”.
One could argue that he revealed more than he intended by showing a clear understanding of the language of human rights. The loss of life caused by police misconduct or abuse in the United States or any country is serious and deserves scrutiny and accountability. But this stands in sharp contrast to the reality in Iran, where the state has killed tens of thousands of its own unarmed citizens as part of a campaign of repression. When a government responsible for such systematic violence points to individual cases abroad to claim moral authority, the gap in scale, intent, and responsibility exposes a deep and laughable hypocrisy.
The determination of the people to stand up for each others’ rights is as inspiring as it is unequivocal. But their message has a wider significance. The regime is the largest state sponsor of international terrorism. If they can do this to their own people, what are they capable of internationally?
The people of Iran have reached the stage where they would rather die on their feet than live on their knees. I see videos of young men facing guns with no fear, fighting back with their bare hands. The courage that we see now after years of suppression is encapsulated in a single banner that was raised across a bridge in Tehran which states simply: “We no longer fear you — we fight.” And after all the brutality, what gives people in Iran hope is the world not looking away. Because in the brief moments the internet connects, to glimpse messages of support online makes them feel less alone.
