Days of protests in Iran over rising fuel prices and a subsequent government crackdown have killed more than 100 people across the country, according to rights group Amnesty International.
“At least 106 protesters in 21 cities have been killed according to credible reports,” the London-based rights group said. It added that “the real death toll may be much higher, with some reports suggesting as many as 200 have been killed”.
Iran has officially confirmed at least five deaths, including three security personnel who had been allegedly stabbed to death by “rioters”.
No immediate reaction was available from Iran’s government to the estimated death toll. Iranian authorities have not offered a definitive account of how many people have been injured or killed in the protests.
The UN rights office said it was alarmed by reports live ammunition was being used against the protesters and had caused a “significant number of deaths across the country”. But its spokesman Rupert Colville cautioned that casualty details were hard to verify, in part because of a three-day-old internet shutdown.
“Iranian media and a number of other sources suggest dozens of people may have been killed and many people injured during protests in at least eight different provinces, with over 1,000 protesters arrested,” he told reporters in Geneva.
Also on Monday, assailants killed three security personnel west of Tehran, according to local news agencies.
Iranian authorities say some of those arrested have confessed to being trained inside and outside Iran and having “received money” to set fire to public buildings.
The Amnesty International urged the Iranian authorities to “lift the near-total block on internet access designed to restrict the flow of information about the crackdown to the outside world”. It said video footage showed that “snipers have also shot into crowds of people from rooftops and, in one case, a helicopter”.
Since Friday, Iran has been rocked by nationwide protests sparked by growing anger and frustration after authorities rolled out a petrol-rationing scheme and slashed subsidies in a move that sent prices soaring by 50 percent.
President Hassan Rouhani has promised the price increase will be used to fund new subsidies for poor families.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei previously blamed the turmoil on Iran’s foreign foes, including the United States, and denounced protesters as “thugs”.
An Iranian militia commander also accused Washington of instigating unrest in the country, saying “America’s plot failed.”
