Scores of videos of the protests and state violence against the protesters appeared online, which Amnesty International’s Digital Verification Corps subsequently authenticated and analyzed. Many also chanted slogans calling for a radical overhaul of the political system, including constitutional reforms and an end to the Islamic Republic system, and burned posters of Iran’s current and former Supreme Leaders.
Demonstrators voiced anger that the measure would crush poor people already struggling amid an economic crisis engulfing the country. On 15 November 2019, protests erupted across Iran following the government’s overnight announcement of a significant increase in the price of fuel. We believe the real number of deaths is higher but the web of impunity spun by the Iranian authorities means we may never learn the names and stories of all those whose lives were brutally cut short. In Iran, as elsewhere, not only did the shutdown restrict access to information for people inside the country, it also stopped them from being able to share information with the rest of the world, thus obstructing research into the human rights violations and crimes committed, the identities of the perpetrators and the victims, and the real number of deaths.Īmnesty International has painstakingly uncovered the details of 304 people who were killed in Iran in November 2019. The United Nations Human Rights Committee has declared that “states … must not block or hinder internet connectivity in relation to peaceful assemblies.” However, states are increasingly doing just this in the past two years, states such as Myanmar, Sudan, Venezuela, Belarus, and Ethiopia have limited or barred access to the internet. The deadly crackdown was accompanied by the authorities shutting down access to the internet for most of the population.Īn internet shutdown is not a new tactic to limit access to information.
To this day, no official has been held accountable for the unlawful killings. Security forces used lethal force unlawfully against the vast majority of protesters and bystanders killed, shooting most to the head or torso, indicating intent to kill. In November 2019, security forces in Iran killed at least 304 men, women and children during five days of protests which swept across the country.