Iranian security forces fired on bystanders, not just protesters – report

Iranian security forces were seen firing live ammunition and metal pellets from streets and rooftops, often at unarmed individuals.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Witnesses say Iranian security forces deliberately fired on bystanders — not only protesters — during recent nationwide anti-government demonstrations, according to a report by Reuters, which cautioned that it could not independently verify the accounts it received.

Security forces used force to crush the unrest in ways witnesses say killed civilians who were not participating in protests, leaving families searching hospitals, morgues, and detention centers for missing relatives.

Iranian officials could not be reached for comment, the news agency said, after authorities began blocking telephone lines and internet access starting January 8, when demonstrations spread across the country.

The US-based rights organization HRANA said it has so far verified 4,519 deaths linked to the unrest, including 4,251 protesters, 197 security personnel, 35 people under 18, and 38 individuals it classified as bystanders. A high-level security body linked to Iran’s interior ministry has put the death toll at 3,117, according to state media. HRANA said it has an additional 9,049 deaths under review.

An Iranian official told Reuters the confirmed toll as of Sunday exceeded 5,000, including about 500 members of the security forces.

Amnesty International said it documented security forces firing live ammunition and metal pellets from streets and rooftops, often at unarmed individuals. Witnesses described streets turning into war zones, particularly on January 8 and 9.

One of the victims was Fariba, a 16-year-old girl who had gone with her mother to observe the protests. Her mother said security forces opened fire, and Fariba was later found shot in the heart.

Officials told the family she was killed by “terrorists,” a claim her mother rejected, saying she witnessed security forces firing on the crowd.

Iranian authorities have blamed the unrest and resulting deaths on what they describe as “terrorists and rioters” backed by exiled opponents and foreign adversaries, including the United States and Israel.

State television aired footage of burned police stations, government buildings, mosques, and damaged banks, attributing the attacks to those groups.

The protests began on December 28 as small demonstrations over economic hardship in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar before rapidly spreading nationwide. Within days, crowds in cities and towns were calling for an end to clerical rule, while state television showed images of what it said were “rioters” burning pictures of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.