An unprecedented massacre is unfolding in Iran, behind closed doors. When mass protests erupted across the country from January 8 to 11, the Islamic Republic responded with an indiscriminate and unusually brutal repression.

According to the latest aggregated data from the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), the total confirmed death toll linked to the protests reached 5,848. Among these, 5,520 were protesters, 77 were children under 18, 209 were members of government-affiliated forces and 42 were non-protesters or civilians. Additionally, 17,091 deaths were still under investigation.

The regime’s official narrative, claiming that the deaths were the work of mercenaries operating on behalf of Iran’s enemies, particularly Israel and the US, has failed to convince anyone beyond its most loyal supporters.

The internet remains cut off throughout the country. News from Iran only gets out through the rarest connections made possible by Starlink and the tireless efforts of savvy users who, VPN after VPN, tried to circumvent the longest digital blackout ever imposed in Iran.

Completely disfigured

In this context, the photographs published on Monday, January 26, by Le Monde, showing the funeral of an Iranian killed on January 9 by the Bassidjis – the regime’s religious militia – are of exceptional significance. They were sent by an Iranian photographer who requested anonymity out of fear of reprisals.

Mohammad Mozafari, age 39, was shot dead on Friday, January 9, in the Shahin Vila district of Karaj, a city west of Tehran. “Mohammad used to go to protests,” said one of his relatives. Married and the father of two children, aged 3 and 5, his family was only able to identify him five days later. He had been completely disfigured.

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