Brian Hook, the U.S. State Department’s special envoy to Iran, told reporters on Thursday that the U.S. has credible evidence suggesting that the Islamic Republic of Iran murdered as many as 1,000 unarmed protesters in recent weeks, possibly even more.
The protests were sparked last month over a massive spike in fuel prices imposed by the Iranian government, which is facing an economic crisis after being devastated by crippling U.S. sanctions for violating the Iran nuclear deal.
“On November 16th, protests were spreading throughout the country. In Mahshahr, a city in southwest Iran, a number of Iranian demonstrators blocked a road,” Hook said. “Without warning, the IRGC opened fire on the protesters, killing several people. Many of the protesters fled to nearby marshlands to escape.”
“The IRGC tracked them down and surrounded them with machine guns mounted on trucks. They then sprayed the protesters with bullets,” Hook continued. “Between the rounds of machine gun fire, the screams of the victims can be heard. In this one incident alone, the regime murdered as many as a hundred Iranians and possibly more. When it was over, the regime loaded the bodies into trucks. We do not yet know where these bodies went, but we are learning more and more about how the Iranian regime treats its own people.”
Hook said that while the U.S. has not nailed down an exact figure yet, officials know that at least many hundreds of people were murdered, including “at least a dozen children.”
“We have seen reports of many hundreds more killed in and around Tehran. And as the truth is trickling out of Iran, it appears the regime could have murdered over a thousand Iranian citizens since the protests began,” Hook said. “Many thousands of Iranians have been wounded, and at least 7,000 protesters have been detained in Iran’s prisons.”
Approximately 100 Iranian protesters in #Mahshahr in Southwest Iran were massacred by the IRGC on November 16. We have seen reports of many more killed in and around Tehran. The regime has murdered hundreds of Iranian citizens since the #IranProtests began. pic.twitter.com/Kc7U0CFtcz
— Department of State (@StateDept) December 5, 2019
Hook explained how U.S. officials arrived at their estimates: “Well, this is based on – some of it is – it’s a collection of crowdsourcing intelligence, intelligence reports from groups that have been publishing the death toll. As the regime has slowly restored the internet, we have more videos and more information leaking from the country. And so we know for certain it is many, many hundreds … and we are now at the many hundreds, perhaps over a thousand, and this – look, we had protests in a hundred cities, and we saw how the regime responded. The supreme leader referred to his own people as thugs, and this was a brutal crackdown.”
Hook said that many of the detained protesters were sent to either the Great Tehran Penitentiary or Qarchak Prison, which Secretary of State Mike Pompeo classified as entities that meet the criteria for gross human rights violations.
“The Great Tehran Penitentiary is known for is inhumane living conditions, which consist of unsanitary and crowded corridors, rodent infestations, insufficient food, water, and medical care,” Hook said. “We have seen reports that protesters have been subject to abuse and mistreatment during interrogations, arbitrary beatings, and rape. Qarchak Prison is Iran’s largest women’s prison, and also holds many members of religious minority communities. It too is known for unbearable conditions, including regular assaults and inappropriate behavior of prison guards towards women, chronic lack of water, unsanitary living spaces, and an environment that enables rape and murder.”
Hook said that the United States was immediately calling on Iran to release all protesters that it had imprisoned and called on the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism to also release all political prisoners.
The U.S. is sanctioning two Iranian prisons—Great Tehran Penitentiary and Qarchak Prison—for gross human-rights violations, including abuse, arbitrary beatings, and rape. We call for the immediate release of all protesters and political prisoners being held in #Iran. pic.twitter.com/ADohfQcI5S
— Department of State (@StateDept) December 5, 2019