- Iran protest toll exceeds 2000.
- 1847 protesters reportedly killed.
- Nine victims reportedly under 18.
According to data released by the US based human rights institution, Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), the overall death toll stemming from the recent protests across Iran has reached approximately 2000. The demonstrations, which began on December 28, have resulted in a significant loss of life, figures that international organizations are struggling to verify.
HRANA claims that 1847 of those fatalities were protestors. The agency further detailed the casualty breakdown, indicating that nine of the victims were reportedly under the age of 18. The violence also extended to state personnel, with 135 government officials reported dead. Additionally, nine ordinary civilians, who were neither protesters nor officials, are included in the overall count.
As reported by BBC Urdu, the international media faces critical challenges in confirming these specific statistics independently. Severe restrictions imposed by Iranian authorities prevent most foreign news agencies, including the BBC, from conducting on-the-ground reporting. Consequently, organizations are often forced to rely on social media accounts, internal sources, and reports from agencies like HRANA to gauge the severity of the situation.
This inability to verify casualty figures highlights the extreme difficulty in obtaining a clear picture of the ongoing civil unrest and the government’s response. The reliance on independent and often unverified human rights data underscores the lack of transparency surrounding the conflict zone, leaving the precise number of those killed or injured open to dispute as tensions continue to mount across the nation. HRANA’s figure of 2000 total casualties suggests an acute level of violence since the protests commenced last year.