Death toll of Iran protests mounts as families learn of loved ones killed by regime forces | Globalnews.ca

The final time Ottawa resident Mahnoosh Naseri spoke to her father, he had determined to take to the streets of Tehran to protest the Iranian regime.

It was Jan. 7 and Iranians fed up with the corruption, financial mismanagement and repressive non secular guidelines of the regime have been rallying like by no means earlier than.

Two days later, her father left his condo to affix the demonstrators and by no means got here residence. It took his household 4 days to seek out him. He had been shot useless.

“He didn’t care anymore about his security. What he cared about was the long run of Iranian youngsters,” Naseri informed World Information in an interview.

Nearly a month after Iranians mounted their greatest problem to the Islamic regime that has dominated them for a half century, the surprising dying toll is turning into extra clear.

The protests started in late December and have been rising by the day on Jan. 8, when Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran’s deposed Shah, known as for mass demonstrations.

Hundreds of thousands marched in main cities, reassured by U.S. President Donald Trump, who had vowed that if Iran killed protesters, he would “come to their rescue.”

The rebellion was the biggest for the reason that 1979 Islamic revolution, and fighters loyal to Supreme Chief Ali Khamenei responded with predictable violence. Activists say tens of hundreds could have been killed.

To cowl up the carnage, the regime reduce off web entry, however as the our bodies have piled up, families like Naseri’s have been discovering out simply how unhealthy it was.

“This has touched rather a lot of folks locally,” mentioned Ali Ehsassi, an Iranian-Canadian and the Member of Parliament for the Willowdale using in Toronto.

Ehsassi mentioned he had been listening to from neighborhood members whose buddies and family members had been detained or killed, and that Jan. 8 and 9 have been “notably bloody.”

Whereas he didn’t know the Canadian authorities’s casualty estimates, the regime’s personal figures imply it ranks as one of the bloodiest confrontations of its kind in trendy historical past.

“I’ve little question that the quantity of individuals who have died could be very, very excessive, even by the requirements of the Iranian regime,” the MP mentioned in an interview.

In latest interviews, World Information spoke to Iranian-Canadians concerning the destiny of these near them who participated within the anti-regime occasions of Jan. 8 and 9.

“Slowly we discovered the reality, and the reality was a bloodbath had taken place,” mentioned Azam Jangravi, a tech business skilled in Toronto.

Among the many casualties have been 10 members of the family, Jangravi mentioned, together with one who was shot within the chest at an indication in Iran’s third-largest metropolis, Esfahan.

The relative didn’t die at first however was afraid to hunt medical assist as a result of the safety forces have been trolling hospitals to arrest protesters, she mentioned.

After hiding in a home for 2 days, he succumbed to his accidents, mentioned Jangravi, who fled Iran after she was convicted of exhibiting her hair in public.

One other Iranian-Canadian, Pieman Azimi, mentioned his nephew, a 20-year-old mechanic, had been gunned down throughout the demonstration.

His household searched police stations and hospitals for a day till discovering him among the many sea of our bodies, mentioned Azimi, who lives in Ottawa.

One other Ottawa resident described the capturing of a buddy, who survived a bullet to the waist. Later, the buddy informed her how the suppression techniques had escalated.

“The primary two days, they have been capturing with paintballs,” mentioned Nona Dourandish. “After which they determined to herald army powers and their particular models.”

The authorities used drones to observe town, and when a crowd gathered to chant anti-regime slogans, gunmen have been shortly on the scene, she mentioned, relaying her buddy’s account.

“He mentioned mainly they have been capturing folks of their face, of their chest, so they might not stand up. So they might not survive,” Dourandish mentioned.

Naseri was near her father, Hossein. “I can’t imagine that my dad is gone,” she mentioned. Tougher nonetheless to imagine was that he was amongst so many killed that day.

When Naseri was rising up in Tehran, she mentioned she was repeatedly taken into custody for violating the regime’s strict costume code for girls.

Her infractions included not masking all her hair with a scarf and sporting shirts and pants that have been deemed too brief or too tight, she mentioned.

Following the regime’s brutal crackdown towards ladies’s rights advocates in 2022, she joined her brother in Ottawa in September 2023.

A 73-year-old retired Tehran accountant, her father visited her in Ottawa final summer season. He spent three months within the capital, attending her marriage ceremony and her brother’s commencement ceremony.

“I’m so glad that I had the probability to point out him some cities in Canada. He actually loved the character right here, the museums and the liberty,” Naseri mentioned.

Though he disliked the Islamic authorities, Hossein had beforehand avoided participating in protests, fearing that it may influence his two youngsters.

However early final month, Naseri spoke to him on WhatsApp, and he had determined that it was time to exit to help the demonstrations.

“He informed me, ‘I do know you’re secure. You’re there. There is no such thing as a hazard for you two. And proper now I be happy to go and, like others, ask for what we wish,’” she mentioned.

Hossein left residence at about 7 p.m. on Jan. 9, she mentioned.

Movies and eyewitness testimony amassed by Amnesty Worldwide present that, on that evening, safety forces positioned themselves on rooftops and opened hearth.

The “lethal crackdown” was carried out primarily by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Iranian police, the human rights group mentioned.

Hundreds died, making final month “the deadliest interval of repression by the Iranian authorities in a long time of Amnesty’s analysis,” in line with the group.

Naseri started to fret when she didn’t hear from her father. She despatched a message to a buddy who had web entry. Every week later, her aunt known as.

The household had searched by our bodies till discovering Hossein. He had been shot in the primary artery in his leg, his daughter mentioned.

Speaking along with her household has been a problem, amid fears that worldwide calls are being monitored. Naseri nonetheless is aware of little or no about what occurred, however she believes her father may have been saved had made it to a hospital.

She blames the Revolutionary Guard, whose mission is to defend the Islamic authorities from each inner and exterior threats. “The IRGC has lengthy expertise killing protesters.”

The Mujahedin-e-Khalq, an anti-regime militant group, introduced Hossein’s dying, calling him one of the “martyrs of the heroic nationwide rebellion.”

Canada joined Australia and the European Union on Jan. 9 in condemning “the killing of protestors, the use of violence, arbitrary arrests, and intimidation techniques by the Iranian regime towards its personal folks.”

However Deputy Conservative chief MP Melissa Lantsman mentioned the federal authorities needed to do greater than concern statements.

“Canada should exploit the regime’s fragility,” she mentioned in a press release to World Information that known as on the federal government to arrange a registry for these engaged in international interference.

She additionally urged Ottawa to expel members of Iran’s regime who’ve arrived in Canada, and to “work with allies to maintain data flowing freely to the courageous Iranian folks.”

“Something could be a step above nothing.”

Liberal MP Ehasassi mentioned the federal government was engaged on a collective response along with allies, and that Canada had already listed the IRGC as a terrorist group.

However Ehsassi mentioned Canada has been “nicely forward” of different international locations in adopting measures towards Iran, together with banning senior regime members from the nation.

Final week, the European Union adopted go well with, sanctioning the Revolutionary Guard, saying that “Repression can not go unanswered.”

“Our officers in varied departments are in contact with one another, deciding what there’s that we will presumably do,” Ehsassi mentioned. “Clearly, I want to see us do much more. I believe the Iranian-Canadian neighborhood want to see that,” he mentioned.

“And I’ve each confidence that there are going to be a set of measures.”

The U.S. has been shifting army property to the Center East, and on Monday, Trump warned Iran of “unhealthy issues,” however he has to date avoided an assault and Khamanei mentioned an American strike would set off a regional conflict.

Naseri thinks the period of an Iran run by extremist mullahs has come to an finish. “This protest reveals that the folks of Iran, they don’t settle for this regime anymore.”

“They don’t need it.”

Stewart.Bell@globalnews