Security forces shot at rescuers during protests in northern Iran

Witnesses told Iran International that a 30-year-old woman and mother of a 7-year-old girl was killed after being shot by security forces during protests in Nurabad Mamasani, a city in southwest Iran, earlier this month.

According to the accounts, Parisa Lashkari was shot on Jan. 10 during demonstrations in the city. Witnesses said she was wounded and called her husband and brother for help, telling them to come and take her away, before being hit by additional gunfire minutes later.

The accounts said Revolutionary Guards forces later transported both the wounded and the dead together, and that Lashkari was among those taken away.

Her family was contacted several days later to collect her body, which was handed over under security restrictions, the witnesses said.

Witnesses told Iran International that security forces used heavy force against protesters in the city of Borujerd, in Iran’s western Lorestan province, including what they described as live ammunition and high-pressure water cannons.

According to the accounts, large crowds gathered on the first night of recent protest calls, with people of all ages taking part.

One witness said security forces fired live rounds and pellet guns at demonstrators, who had little means of defense.

The witness also said authorities used water cannon trucks, drones and aerial surveillance to disperse the crowd.

The account said several civilians were killed that night and many others wounded, though the claims could not be independently verified.

Witnesses said an internet shutdown made it difficult to share images or videos of the events.

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.