10-day silence on Iran protests death toll; protesters shot at "close range"

Ten days into nationwide protests in Iran, the Islamic Republic has yet to release any official figures on the number of deaths and arrests. Meanwhile, the deputy commander of the Revolutionary Guard Corps announced that the protesters who died were shot at “close range.”

Ali Fadavi, deputy commander of the IRGC, said on Sunday, December 25: "In the recent incident, many people were killed while being shot in the back from a distance of one to one and a half meters, which means that the bullet was fired from among themselves."

Claiming that the perpetrators of the killing of the protesters were "a bunch of evil people" who did this "at the instigation of the enemies," he added: "The forensic doctor will definitely report. Many people were shot in the stomach from a distance of one or half a meter and were killed, meaning they killed people with light pistols."

Mr. Fadavi's remarks came at a time when many videos have been released in recent days of security officers firing directly at people in various cities.

For example, the Kurdistan Human Rights Network released a video from Javanrud in which security officers continuously shoot at protesters from the roof of the justice building.

Shukrollah Bahrami, head of the Armed Forces Judicial Organization, also said on Sunday about the deaths and injuries from the recent crackdown on Iranian protests, saying that in the recent events, "someone may have been injured in transit, which is normal in urban warfare."

These officials' remarks come at a time when, according to estimates, at least 138 people have been killed and many more injured in the five days of repression of Iranian protests.

In this regard, Qasem Mirzaei Niko, a representative from Damavand in the parliament, has announced that recent protests have occurred in more than 500 locations across the country and that more than 130 people have been killed during the protests.

The Islamic Republic's authorities have also not published statistics on those arrested in these protests, and have only mentioned the arrest of a number of what they say are "leaders" of the protests.

Meanwhile, Alireza Adyani, head of the police's political ideology organization, claimed on Sunday that interrogations revealed that "182 leaders" of the protesters were "working under the organization and guidance of the enemy."

He did not provide any details about his claim.

On Friday, the judiciary spokesman announced that about 100 people, who he described as "leaders, ringleaders, and main elements" of the protests in various parts of the country, were arrested by the Revolutionary Guards.

Gholamhossein Esmaili also said that "a significant number, far more than this number, have been identified by the Ministry of Intelligence, and a number of them have been arrested or are about to be arrested."

Radio Farda's summary of scattered comments from official officials as well as reports from human rights organizations indicates that at least 4,800 people have been arrested in 18 provinces of Iran during the recent protests.

Meanwhile, a wave of arrests of political and student activists began in Iranian provinces on Wednesday, and according to reports, 50 students from Tehran University have been arrested.

In recent days, reports have been published about mistreatment and torture of detainees.

Ali Asghar Jahangir, head of the Prisons Organization, said on Sunday, in response to a question about the recurrence of incidents similar to the Kahrizak detention center incident, that this detention center was not under the control of the judiciary and the Prisons Organization, but "we are doing our best to ensure that no problems arise for the detainees."

At the same time, in response to the question of whether all those arrested have been handed over to the Prisons Organization, he said: "Law enforcement and security officials must be held accountable in this regard."

Statements by Islamic Republic officials about internet shutdown

The deputy commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps also said on Sunday that "the Internet is a conduit for America's evils."

Ali Fadavi added: "Trump and Pompeo were horrified that we cut off the internet because the internet was a conduit for the evils and mischief they wanted to do."

The head of the Armed Forces Judicial Organization also said: "The officials tried hard to ensure that the internet connection was not cut off, but in the end they saw that it was not possible and were forced to cut off the internet. Now our enemies are mourning why the internet has been cut off for a while and they were unable to do anything."

This claim comes after the administrator of the Netblocks website had previously tweeted that it "took 24 hours" to shut down Iran's internet.

Given that the internet in Iran was shut down at 6:00 PM on November 15, it appears that the Islamic Republic authorities had issued an order to shut down the internet in the early hours of the protests, but due to technical reasons, this was not possible until the next day.

Currently, Iran's internet traffic is largely connected to the outside world, but Iranian users are still forced to use various filter breakers to bypass the filtering of foreign sites.

Source: Radio Farda