Heavy force used against protesters in western Iran

Witnesses told Iran International that elderly women and men were among those killed during a violent crackdown on protests in the city of Malayer, in Iran’s western Hamadan province.

According to the accounts many families were forced to bury their dead quietly and without public funerals.

The source said security forces held at least 35 bodies and demanded large sums of money from families in exchange for returning them.

Witnesses told Iran International that security forces prevented injured protesters from receiving medical care at a private clinic in Gilan province in northern Iran during demonstrations earlier this month.

According to the accounts, a doctor in the province had earlier said on social media that he was ready to offer free services such as first aid, stitches and wound care to those hurt in protests.

The witnesses said that on the day of the demonstrations, intelligence agents arrived at the clinic and ordered the doctor to stop seeing patients.

After a brief argument, the agents stayed outside the clinic and told people bringing injured protesters that it was closed, the witnesses said.

The account said the doctor was not allowed to leave the clinic until late at night, effectively keeping him inside.

As a result, many wounded protesters in the area were unable to receive treatment.

Some victims were still breathing among the bodies of dead protesters seen at Tehran’s Kahrizak Forensic Medical Center after a crackdown on protests in the capital, witnesses said in messages sent to Iran International on Wednesday.

According to the accounts, witnesses saw “two piles of bodies” at Kahrizak, some of whom were still breathing, with security forces stacking bodies on top of one another.

Three eye witnesses said security forces used live ammunition and metal pellets during demonstrations in eastern Tehran on Jan. 9, leaving streets “filled with blood.”

They said the shooting took place in the area from Golbarg Street toward Haft-Hoz, adding that it was impossible to film because “bullets and pellets were coming from all directions.”

The witnesses described seeing the body of a naked man lying in a roadside drainage channel.

The eyewitnesses said they were injured but did not seek medical treatment out of fear of arrest or being shot at close range. They added that one of their friends was killed the same night.

They said clinics were overwhelmed with wounded people and that residents searching for missing relatives were forced to step over bodies.

A shopkeeper who sheltered protesters was shot dead by security forces in the southern Iranian city of Shiraz during nationwide demonstrations, people familiar with the matter told Iran International in messages received on Wednesday.

Local sources said Gholamreza Zareh, the owner of the Linda flower shop on Qadamgah Street in Shiraz, was killed on the evening of Jan. 8 after giving refuge to several protesters.

They said that when Zareh later opened his door to check whether the security crackdown had ended security forces immediately shot him in the neck, killing him instantly. The fate of the fleeing protestors remained unclear.

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A 19-year-old Iranian protester, Shahab Fallahpour, was killed by security forces during demonstrations in the southwestern city of Andimeshk, people familiar with the matter told Iran International.

The sources said Fallahpour, a wrestler and a resident of the Shohada neighbourhood in Andimeshk, was shot during protests on Parto Street on Friday, January 9. They said he was targeted by sniper fire from a rooftop and that the shooting was carried out without warning.

According to the sources, Fallahpour’s body was buried three days later, in the early hours of January 12, at around 4 a.m., in the presence of his parents, without a funeral ceremony and under the supervision of government forces.

The sources said the family has been pressured and threatened not to speak to the media.

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