Interior Minister’s Statistics on November 2019 Protest Deaths: ‘Over 200 Killed’

Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli, Iran’s Interior Minister, acknowledged for the first time on Saturday evening, June 1st, that 80 percent of those killed during the November 2019 protests died from organizational weapons.

Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli said in an interview with “Program Negah Yek” regarding the death toll from the November 2019 protests: “Approximately 40 or 45 people, that is about 20 percent of the fatalities, were people killed with weapons that were not organizational weapons.”

This is the first time Iran’s Interior Minister has implicitly stated that between 200 to 225 people were killed in the November 2019 protests, with 80 percent of them dying from organizational weapons.

The figures announced by Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli differ from the death toll reported by international organizations and human rights defenders.

In this regard, Amnesty International last week released detailed statistics of the death toll, stating that at least 304 people were killed during the November 2019 protests in 37 cities and eight provinces of Iran. However, Amnesty International says the actual number of November 2019 deaths was likely much higher than this figure.

According to Amnesty International statistics, the poor neighborhoods on the outskirts of Tehran had 163 deaths, followed by Khuzestan Province with 57 deaths and Kermanshah Province with 30 deaths, representing the highest casualty figures.

Meanwhile, Reuters reported on December 23, 2019, stating that 1,500 people were killed in the November 2019 protests, citing “three sources close to Khamenei’s circle” and “a fourth official,” reporting that the Supreme Leader had told senior officials to do “whatever is necessary to stop” the protests.

The November 2019 protests occurred following the government’s sudden announcement to increase fuel prices by 200 percent in many Iranian cities, but were met with security forces’ crackdown. Islamic Republic security and intelligence agencies simultaneously cut off internet access throughout the country during the suppression.

They Wanted to “Start a Civil War”

Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli stated in another part of the interview that in November 2019, “all American and anti-Iran media, including monarchists,” the Mujahedin-e Khalq and “ISIS were providing armed training.”

The Interior Minister further emphasized that these groups aimed to “start a civil war in Iran.”

He said: “In the November 2019 protests, there was no armed confrontation with the people, and restraint and caution were recommended, and there are documents for this.”

While the Interior Minister claimed to have documents regarding the absence of armed confrontation with the people, he had not officially announced the death toll from the November 2019 protests even nearly seven months after the demonstrations.

Amnesty International also said last week regarding these casualties: “In all cases except four, protesters were killed by bullets fired by Iran’s security forces, including Revolutionary Guards, Basij, and police personnel who fired military bullets at the head or upper body of protesters, demonstrating their intent to kill.”

Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli continued, “However, when police stations are attacked, they must be confronted because if law enforcement doesn’t defend itself, people become victims.”

While the Interior Minister states that security forces fired toward protesters in defense of police stations, reports emerged of shooting at protesters on roads and outside cities.

Eyewitnesses told Radio Farda that after protesters in Mahshahr, Khuzestan Province, closed many roads leading to the Bandar Imam Khomeini petrochemical complex, including Chamran town road to Mahshahr Special Economic Zone, security forces fired at protesters to reopen the route.

Eyewitnesses said dozens of people in marshes near this confrontation were killed by security forces.

American Sanctions Against the Interior Minister

The Interior Minister also criticized being sanctioned by the United States in this interview due to his role in suppressing the November 2019 protests.

The U.S. Treasury Department states that Iran’s Interior Minister ordered the suppression of protesters in November 2019 to the police force.

Mahmoud Sadeghi, a former parliament representative, told the “Emtedad” website on December 16 regarding the Interior Minister’s meeting with parliament representatives: “One of the representatives from smaller cities announced that two people in my electoral district (around Karaj and Shahrqods) died from bullets to their brains, and asked Rahmani Fazli whether it was impossible to shoot at least at the legs or waist down that such shootings took place? The Interior Minister replied that well, shooting at the legs did happen.”

Mahmoud Sadeghi added that the Interior Minister’s response caused “astonishment” among parliament representatives.

The American government, in addition to the Interior Minister, sanctioned Hossein Ashtari, Commander of the Police Force (NAJA), and some other high-ranking commanders of this military institution for the “killing of people in the November 2019 protests” on its sanctions list.

U.S. government officials have consistently emphasized the high death toll from November 2019 protests.

Brian Hook, Special Representative of the U.S. State Department for Iran, announced on December 5, 2019, the probable number of deaths in Iran as “over 1,000 people.”

Source: Radio Farda