Death Toll of Iran Protests Surpasses 230: Human Rights Group

Iranian police patrol in the capital Tehran amidst widespread protests on Oct. 8, 2022. -/AFP via Getty Images

At least 234 people, including 29 children, have been killed in the ongoing protests in Iran, a human rights organization reported on Oct. 25.

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO) stated that they’ve also received multiple reports of Iranian authorities attempting to cover up the killing of protesters.

“Returning bodies is made contingent on families promising to stay silent or confirming the false causes of death cited by the Forensic Medical Organisation on the death certificates,” the organization stated.

While people in Iran have been demonstrating for five weeks and repeatedly demanding the overthrow of the Islamic regime in Iran, security forces have dispersed gatherings with live ammunition and tear gas, according to IHRNGO.

A bin burning in the middle of an intersection during a protest for Mahsa Amini, a woman who died after being arrested by the Islamic republic's "morality police," in Tehran on Sept. 20, 2022. AFP via Getty Images

“Pressure on doctors to write a false cause of death on certificates, presence of security forces while identifying the injured in hospitals, transportation of security forces in ambulances—these are violations of international law and ethical principles—the World Health Organization and the Red Cross must react,” Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, IHRNGO director and a professor at the University of Oslo, wrote on Twitter on Oct. 25.

Based in Oslo, Norway, IHRNGO has members inside and outside Iran and describes itself as a nonpartisan and politically independent organization.

Berlin March

About 80,000 people marched in Berlin on Oct. 22 in solidarity with the ongoing protests in Iran, according to German police.

The rally is believed to have been the biggest so far held by the Iranian diaspora. People came to the capital from all over Europe to take part.

Demonstrators hold Iran's flag during a protest for Mahsa Amini, who died in the custody of Iran's morality police, in Los Angeles on Oct. 1, 2022. Apu Gomes/AFP via Getty Images

Hamed Esmaeilion, an Iranian Canadian activist and dentist who lost his wife and daughter in the shooting down of a Ukrainian passenger plane in January 2020 by the Revolutionary Guard and the spokesperson of the rally, asked the international community to expel Tehran’s ambassadors.

He also urged the international community to not negotiate with Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, as “the Islamic Republic does not represent Iran.”

Iranian Canadian author and activist Hamed Esmaeilion speaks at a rally organized by the "Women Life Freedom Collective" in solidarity with women and protesters in Iran on Oct. 22, 2022, in Berlin. Maja Hitij/Getty Images

The protests began after Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman who was visiting Tehran on Sept. 13, was arrested by Iran’s morality police.

She died in custody after they detained her for allegedly not complying with the regime’s strict hijab rules. Her family members and protesters suspect that Amini was hit on the head by police officers, which led to her death.

Amini’s death has sparked large and ongoing antigovernment protests across Iran.

In response to the protests, authorities have cracked down harshly on demonstrators and have intermittently shut down internet access.