One month after Iran launched a bloody crackdown on nationwide protests that has left thousands dead, information and witness accounts are beginning to emerge.
The protests started on December 28 over a rise in the cost of living following a sharp fall in the Iranian rial and rapidly spread nationwide. They were met with a violent response, the full extent of which only began to surface after more than two weeks of an unprecedented nationwide internet blackout.
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Several Iranian doctors who have since left the country told FRANCE 24 they were mobilised at the height of the protests, on the evenings of January 8 and January 9.
Their accounts converged, describing scenes of unprecedented chaos that some called "apocalyptic", and injuries resembling those seen in war. Medical facilities were quickly overwhelmed as dozens of wounded patients poured into each department, forcing staff to prioritise treatment according to the severity of injuries, they said.
"Just imagine: It was Thursday evening, there was no internet, communications were cut, and it was extremely difficult to reach doctors and ask them to come urgently to deal with this influx of people shot by bullets," one doctor said.
As the situation worsened, he said there was a wave of solidarity, with private hospitals – usually expensive – opening their doors.
"They were also overwhelmed. They refused no one and treated patients for free. Doctors said they did not want to make money, care had to be accessible to everyone."
Those injured over the two nights came from all age groups. "There was a 70-year-old man shot in the back, but also children and teenagers as young as 14," the doctor said.
Most wounds were concentrated on the head, face, abdomen, lower abdomen and flanks.
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Live rounds
From midnight on January 8, the nature of the injuries changed, the doctor said. Live ammunition was now being used. "It was as if [the security forces] had received orders to shoot everyone, as in wartime," he said, adding that he was still operating at 2am.
The following night he was called in again to serve as reinforcement. "On Friday, they called to say a patient had arrived with a live round wound. From that moment on, there were only live rounds."
"The injuries suggested people were trying to flee, that they were hit by shots into the crowd without any specific target, at an angle. These are not the injuries seen in isolated clashes, for example between thieves and the police," he added.
Another doctor, deeply shaken, said he was unable to recover from what he witnessed. “My back is literally bent. I have never seen anything like this in my life,” he said, comparing the scenes to the Holocaust.
Videos authenticated by the France 24 Observers team showed the bodies of patients who died from severe injuries lined up, and in some cases stacked, in hospital corridors, reflecting the high number of fatalities.
According to Amnesty International, which has collected videos, photos and witness accounts, Iranian security forces used a wide array of lethal weapons – assault rifles and automatic or semi-automatic machine guns – firing continuously and indiscriminately into crowds. Evidence collected by the NGO indicated the authorities "committed mass unlawful killings on an unprecedented scale amid the shutdown".
Injured treated at home for fear of arrest
In addition to those who were seriously wounded who flooded into Iranian healthcare centres on those nights, a number of protesters chose to avoid hospitals for fear of being arrested.
Some were treated clandestinely in private homes, "under extremely difficult conditions due to a lack of equipment", while painkillers quickly became unavailable, Iranian health workers told the French daily Libération.
Another witness told FRANCE 24 that an 18-year-old protester shot in the leg was admitted to hospital under a false name. Amid chaos and heightened security, her parents ultimately took her home, where a doctor operated on her.
One of the doctors interviewed by FRANCE 24 said he answered nearly 600 calls in two days, providing remote medical advice without intervening directly.
"It is impossible to know the exact number of deaths," he said. "Many died in the street without reaching hospital. Families took them home to keep them away from the authorities, then buried them secretly, out of sight."
According to a tally published Wednesday by the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, at least 6,221 people were killed, including 5,858 protesters, 214 government-affiliated forces, 100 children and 49 civilians who weren't demonstrating. The crackdown has seen more than 42,300 arrests, it added.
Read moreIran's crackdown on protests killed more than 6,000, human rights group says
The agency, which has been accurate in multiple rounds of unrest in Iran, verifies each death with a network of activists on the ground.
Two senior officials from Iran’s health ministry, quoted by Time magazine, said up to 30,000 people may have been killed in Iranian streets on January 8 and 9 alone.
Hospitals under surveillance
One doctor said he did not witness direct intervention by security forces during treatment at the public hospital in Tehran where he worked. "But I saw people trying to obtain information about patients operated on during the night."
According to testimonies collected by Le Monde, some doctors deliberately entered false diagnoses – such as "liver surgery" – in medical files to protect patients, while intelligence agents reportedly collected radiology images showing bullet wounds.
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In a voice note heard by FRANCE 24, a protester said he feared for his safety after accompanying a severely injured friend to hospital.
"I have never seen anything like this! They brought Dushkas (Soviet-made DShK heavy machine guns) into the street. They fired in continuous bursts, constantly changing ammunition. They spared no one," he said.
"My friend was standing next to me. I suddenly saw him fall. He was shot in the foot," he recounted tearfully. "I used my belt as a tourniquet and said to him, ‘Get up! Stand up!’ But he didn't say anything, he didn't answer me. Then I saw he had been shot again in the chest," he explained.
"We took him to hospital, where they told us it was already over for him and that we should take him away before [the security forces] came to collect his body."
That night haunts him, and he knows he is still not safe.
"The hospital surveillance cameras filmed us," he said, noting that Iranian authorities analyse CCTV footage. "Since then, I shake whenever I step outside. I fear that facial recognition software identified me. I haven't gone home. I'm afraid, and I don’t know what to do."
Security forces were known to target hospitals earlier in the unrest. On January 3, before the peak of the protests, they attacked Khomeini Hospital in Ilam, western Iran, firing teargas inside the building and arresting protesters from their hospital beds, triggering clashes outside.
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Protesters still awaiting treatment
Many injured protesters are still waiting for care, particularly those shot in the eyes with lead pellets fired from shotguns.
Amnesty International said such weapons were sometimes used at distances of less than two metres with protesters “repeatedly” targeted, particularly in the face.
At Farabi Hospital in Tehran, the capital’s main ophthalmology centre, "We received 55 patients from the provinces – from Qom, Hamedan and Aligoudarz – in recent days,” said hospital director Dr Ghassem Fakhrai in an interview with the official ISNA news agency.
"In the early hours of Friday morning, a large number of patients arrived with eye injuries, some with injuries to both eyes […]. By Saturday, we had treated 700[…]. Including transfers elsewhere, the total is nearly 1,000 patients. They require emergency surgery. This excludes those with just torn eyelids," he said.
"At Kasra Hospital in Karaj, in a single night from Thursday to Friday (January 8-9), around 40 eyes were removed," a first responder told Libération. "Numerous amputations caused by live rounds and crushed bones have also been reported."
Doctors killed and arrested
Medical workers were also targeted in the crackdown. One doctor told FRANCE 24 that a colleague was killed on his way to the hospital.
Others were reportedly arrested for treating the wounded. Dr Alireza Golchini, a general surgeon at Dehkhoda Hospital in Qazvin in central Iran, was reportedly arrested for providing humanitarian assistance, according to several human rights advocates.
He has now been accused of espionage and faces the death penalty.
This article was translated from the original in French by Anaelle Jonah.
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