Iran admits killing ‘rioters’ amid unrest

But state TV report fails to address death toll in anti-government protests

Iranian state television acknowledged for the first time Tuesday that security forces shot and killed what it described as “rioters” in last month’s anti-government demonstrations — the deadliest political unrest in Iran since the 1979 revolution and the subsequent founding of the Islamic republic.

The report, however, did not provide any details about the death toll. Amnesty International has documented at least 208 deaths in the crackdown, though the London-based human rights group expects the real figure to be higher.

The protests erupted Nov. 15 and were quickly met with an internet shutdown and reprisal by security forces, according to human rights groups and witness reports that have trickled out since internet service was restored about a week later.

“We’ve seen over 200 people killed in a very swift time, in under a week,” Mansoureh Mills, an Iran researcher at Amnesty, told The Associated Press. She described the deadly crackdown as “something pretty unprecedented” even in a country frequently criticized over its human rights record.

Iran has rejected Amnesty’s reporting as “unsubstantiated.”

As the unrest unfolded, Iranian media were barred from reporting on the events or state violence.

The state TV report on Tuesday alleged that those killed by security forces were “rioters who have attacked sensitive or military centres with firearms or knives, or have taken hostages in some areas,” according to the AP’s translation.

The report acknowledged that passersby, security forces and peaceful protesters were also among the dead, though it did not specify who was responsible for these deaths.

The report did provide some details about confrontations in the southwestern city of Mahshahr, where it said security forces clashed with a “separatist group” armed with “semi-heavy weapons.” Mahshahr is in Iran’s oil-rich Khuzestan province, an area with a large ethnic Arab population and a history of unrest over alleged state discrimination.

Reporting by The New York Times and BBC Persian of killings in Mahshahr, however, directly contradicts this narrative.

Times reporters Farnaz Fassihi and Rick Gladstone spoke with six Mahshahr residents, who described how protesters gained control over much of the city in the initial upheaval. After three days, however, the feared Revolutionary Guard Corps moved in.