The Repression Machine and Atrocities Iran’s Regime Tried to Hide

Just months after the deadly wave of protests that swept Iran, dramatic and deeply disturbing testimony is coming to light, shedding new light on the methods used by the terror regime in Tehran. The accounts reveal a well-oiled system of violent repression, from mass slaughter with live gunfire, to cruel financial extortion of bereaved families, to severe torture of female medical staff who refused to abandon the wounded.

While the country was plunged into a total communications blackout and a deliberate internet shutdown, security forces carried out a brutal killing campaign. The events of this past January are now emerging in their full severity.

Eyewitnesses describe how protesters were pushed into narrow, crowded market alleys. There, with no way to escape, heavy gunfire was opened on them. In addition, the regime deployed garbage trucks and municipal vehicles to quickly remove the bodies of those killed alongside wounded people still fighting for their lives, transferring them to unidentified locations.

After crushing the demonstrations by force, the ayatollah regime turned to psychological and economic pressure against the families. At forensic medicine sites, relatives were confronted with horrific scenes of improvised storage areas filled with body bags, and screens displaying images of unidentified dead.

In order to receive the bodies of their loved ones for burial, families were forced to pay the regime "bullet fees"—covering the cost of the ammunition used to kill them. Those who paid were compelled to hold a rushed, secret nighttime funeral, without the customary religious ceremonies.

One of the most shocking incidents during the wave of repression took place on January 8 at a cardiology hospital in the capital. Despite an official directive forbidding treatment of protesters, 14 nurses decided to defy the order and save lives.

Security forces raided the medical facility using live fire, and the results were devastating. Seven nurses who continued treating patients until the raid were beaten and taken to the hospital basement, two nurses were murdered on the spot, and five nurses were taken to detention facilities and severely tortured.

Testimony about the nurses who survived the raid and were taken captive reveals a horrifying pattern of abuse. Their physical injuries were so severe that they required urgent emergency surgeries to save their lives, including hysterectomies and complex operations involving the digestive system.

To destroy evidence, the regime forced the wounded nurses to sign documents falsifying the cause of their injuries, while their families were required to pay large bribes to intelligence personnel in exchange for their release.