It is a balance sheet heavily revised upwards. In a statement published on Monday, December 16, the NGO Amnesty International estimated that 304 people had died in Iran during the crackdown on the dispute from November 15 to 18, while a previous assessment, established on December 2, s amounted to 208 dead.
During this period, thousands of demonstrators took to the streets to protest against the rise in oil prices, then to denounce the government in power. The authorities used force to suppress the movement. Officially, only five people were killed: four members of the police force killed by "rioters" and a civilian. Announced in early December by the government, the publication of an official balance sheet based on figures from the national forensic institute is still pending. For his part, Philip Luther, director of research on the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International calls on "the international community" to "take urgent measures, in particular through the Human Rights Council United Nations man ". It demands "an investigation into the unlawful killings of demonstrators, the appalling wave of arrests, the enforced disappearances and the torture of detainees".
Interviewed by France 24, Nassim Papayianni, head of research on Iran at Amnesty International, returns to the methods of investigation of the NGO, and ensures that the number of deaths will inevitably "increase".
France 24: Why has the death toll increased?
Nassim Papayianni: In the press release of December 2, we mentioned the figure that we had been able to verify so far. Since then, we have continuously researched and investigated the information we receive about these deaths. That's why the numbers are higher. And, we do not intend to stop there: Amnesty International continues to investigate those who have been killed. I believe that number will increase.
Since the Iranian authorities are muzzling freedom of expression, how did you manage to investigate these deaths?
We have counted the number of deaths from interviews, especially with relatives of the victims, journalists and human rights activists. We then crossed and verified the information they had given us.
But gathering all this information was very long because we had to do some research from a distance. Amnesty International members are, in fact, outside the country. The blocking of the Internet by the authorities, from the first demonstrations, did not help us either. It was more difficult to contact our sources to obtain and verify information. However, we have used a rather effective means: about two weeks ago, we published on social networks two telephone numbers that the Iranians could use to contact Amnesty International via Whatapps or Signal. This method allowed us to obtain more information and to cross-check it.
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Even today, our investigative capacity is hampered. A wave of mass arrests has taken place inside the country since the first day of the protest movement. On November 26, 7,000 people were arrested, according to the UN. Among them are journalists, students and human rights defenders. According to Amnesty International, the authorities are concerned with arousing fear and possibly preventing people from talking about what is going on in Iran.
How do you explain that there were so many victims in four days of demonstrations?
The protest began on November 15 after the increase in the price of gasoline in Iran. But the protesters also expressed deep dissatisfaction with economic mismanagement and political repression in the country. They demanded a change in the system that governed the country. Iranian authorities used lethal and excessive force against the protesters. The majority of those who died were shot in the heart, head, neck and other vital organs. While a large proportion of the victims died immediately after being injured, some died the following days.
Many were men in their twenties. It was not necessarily students, journalists or human rights defenders. Today, we believe that these groups of people are targeted by the Iranian authorities who want to prevent them from talking about the repression.
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