The ongoing crackdown in Iran against those protesting the country’s Islamic rule led by Ayatollah Khamenei has led to the loss of thousands of lives, while citizens of India and other countries who were there shared first-hand accounts of the violence they witnessed in the country.
Protester Kiarash, who spoke to the AFP news agency, recalled: “I heard that pop pop… and I saw with my eyes three people collapsing at the same time.”
He also revealed that the number of people killed in the protests was in the thousands.
Read also | Khamenei blames “criminal” Trump for loss and damage during protests in Iran
People crowded into two warehouses stacked with black body bags, sometimes two or three atop each other, he said. The mother herself called for help in moving her son’s body.
In one warehouse, there were “more than 1,500, up to 2,500 (dead) people,” said a former logistics company employee.
Iran Human Rights (IHR), which is based in Norway, said 3,428 protester deaths had been verified, but warned that the actual death toll was likely several times higher.
According to the IHR, some other estimates put the death toll at around 5,000 to 20,000. The country’s internet blackout slowed the verification process, the IHR revealed.
Another eyewitness told AFP: “It wasn’t a shotgun (fire), it was an assault rifle, automatic volleys… we heard a series of shots every 10 minutes.”
“But the people didn’t disperse”, he added. “They just stayed.
Indians are returning from Iran on commercial flights
Several Indians returned to Delhi from Iran on commercial flights that arrived in Delhi late on Friday night.
An Indian who arrived with a group of 12-13 told news agency PTI, “We did not face any problem,” adding, “We came back from Tehran. Before that we were in Iraq, then we traveled to Iran. After staying there for eight days, we returned to India.”
Read also | Reza Pahlavi says Iran is undergoing a revolution
A young woman studying at a medical school in Shiraz said: “The internet wasn’t working. So we didn’t know exactly what was happening across the country.”
She also revealed that the situation in the city she was in was fine. However, she claimed that she and some others returned on their own and not with the help of the Indian government.
“We returned on our own in a commercial flight and not with the agreement of the Government of India,” she told PTI.
Khamenei called Trump a “criminal”
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday called US President Donald Trump a “criminal” for his public support for people protesting in the country.
In a speech broadcast on Iranian state television, Khamenei acknowledged that the protests had left “several thousand” dead. “In this rebellion, the US president personally made remarks, encouraging the rebellious people to continue and saying, ‘We support you, we support you militarily,'” Khamenei said, adding: “We consider the US president a criminal because of the casualties and damages due to the accusations against the Iranian nation.”
Khamenei also called the protesters “foot soldiers” of the US.