Amnesty International: At least 208 people killed in Iran protests

The latest figures from Amnesty International indicate that at least 208 people have been killed during the recent protests in Iran. The Islamic Republic continues to refuse to release figures on the number of people killed, injured, and arrested in the protests.

Amnesty International has announced in its latest report that the number of people killed in the November protests in Iran is 208. In a tweet published on Monday, November 1, the human rights organization further revised its previous figures. The organization had previously said that 161 people had been killed.

The Islamic Republic continues to refuse to release the exact number of those killed, injured, and arrested in the November protests in Iran, and despite the release of a number of videos and eyewitness accounts that show government officials and plainclothes officers shooting at demonstrators, it continues to blame "villains and foreign agents" for these killings.

On Saturday, December 29, Attorney General Hojjatoleslam Mohammad Jafar Montazeri proudly stated that no one has access to the real statistics: "Fortunately, people outside the country do not have access to information and statistics, which is why they provide different statistics, none of which are valid."

Some members of parliament have called for the establishment of a fact-finding committee to investigate the extent and causes of the protests. In the latest stance, Tehran MP Mahmoud Sadeghi warned on Monday that “if the relevant authorities do not announce the exact figures of those killed, injured and detained, the members of parliament will inevitably publish figures based on public reports.”

Amnesty International has called on the international community to hold Iranian authorities accountable for these events, stating that "we believe the death toll is much higher."

More than two weeks after Iranians protested against rising gasoline prices, authorities in the Islamic Republic of Iran have not released a death toll. Some officials have put the number of protesters arrested at 7,000, but have remained silent about the number of dead and injured.

There have been varying statistics published about the number of deaths. On Thursday, December 26, a day before Amnesty International released its figures, the Telegram channel of the website Kaleme Nazar, close to Mir Hossein Mousavi, quoted “an informed source” as saying that the number of registered victims of the recent protests in Iran was 366.

Amnesty International itself has published three reports on the death toll, in which the number of deaths has increased each time.

Reason for the difference in statistics provided by Amnesty International

Raha Bahreini, a lawyer and researcher at Amnesty International, told DW why the figures provided differed on the number of deaths: "We believe that the number of deaths is much higher than the 161 that Amnesty International announced today (November 29). Amnesty International's investigative criteria are strict. We carefully examine each case reported to us and seek first-hand sources to assess the credibility and accuracy of the reported case. Our research method takes time to complete and record the information, but this is precisely why Amnesty International's reports are considered credible by governments and international institutions."

To complete its information and advance the truth-finding and advocacy process, Amnesty International has also published a call on its Telegram, Twitter, and Instagram accounts, inviting the families of the victims and anyone with information about the deaths and detentions of protesters to contact the international human rights organization. The Amnesty International human rights activist continued to say that in addition to the victims’ relatives, eyewitnesses, neighbors, hospital staff, forensic medicine workers, civil registry officers, and cemeteries, everyone can help the organization “on the path to truth-finding.” Raha Bahreini from Amnesty International further emphasized that “Amnesty International always protects the identity of its sources.”