Iranians abroad hold massive rallies against Tehran's theocracy

Detainees in Iran are being forcibly injected with unknown substances inside detention facilities, according to eyewitness testimonies, informed sources and human rights monitors who warn of a growing pattern of deaths among current and former prisoners.

Shiva Mahbobi, a former political prisoner and a spokesperson for the Campaign to Free Political Prisoners in Iran, said her organization has been collecting accounts suggesting that detainees—particularly those wounded during recent protests—are being denied medical care and, in some cases, subjected to injections of unknown substances.

“One massacre happened on the street,” Mahbobi said in an interview with Iran International. “Another may be happening quietly in prisons and detention centers.”

In one recent case described by an informed source, a 16-year-old girl detained last week fell into a coma after what the source said was an injection administered in custody.

Medical tests later indicated signs of poisoning, though doctors have not determined the cause.

The teenager, who was released only after her family paid heavy bail, was transferred to intensive care and remains hospitalized, the source told Iran International.

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Shiva Mahbobi, a former political prisoner and a spokesperson for the Campaign to Free Political Prisoners in Iran, said her organization has been collecting accounts suggesting that detainees—particularly those wounded during recent protests—are being denied medical care and, in some cases, subjected to injections of unknown substances.

“One massacre happened on the street,” Mahbobi said in an interview with Iran International. “Another may be happening quietly in prisons and detention centers.”

Iranian authorities tightly restrict access to detention facilities, families are often warned against speaking publicly, and there is no mechanism for independent medical or forensic investigation.

Still, Mahbobi and other activists say the reports they are receiving show a troubling pattern rather than isolated incidents.

According to Mahbobi, injured protesters are frequently taken directly into custody rather than to hospitals, where some are left without treatment.

In several cases reported to her organization, detainees were allegedly injected during detention and later experienced rapid medical deterioration.

'Teenage girl in a coma'

In one recent case described by an informed source, a 16-year-old girl detained last week fell into a coma after what the source said was an injection administered in custody.

Medical tests later indicated signs of poisoning, though doctors have not determined the cause. 

The teenager, who was released only after her family paid heavy bail, was transferred to intensive care and remains hospitalized, the source said.

Mahbobi also cited a case in Isfahan in which a young woman was detained, released on bail, and died the following day.

In another reported incident, in Shahinshahr, near Isfahan, Mahbobi said the family of a detained man was told he would be released only after posting bail and receiving what officials described as a “vaccine.” 

According to Mahbobi, the man resisted the injection, was beaten, and later found it difficult to obtain medical care after his release, as doctors feared repercussions.

'Voices calling for help in morgue'

Eyewitness accounts received by Iran International describe similarly disturbing scenes beyond detention centers. 

One witness said voices calling for help could be heard inside a morgue as bodies were being processed, alleging that they were resisting injections. 

Mahbobi said documenting abuses inside prisons remains particularly difficult.

“What people don’t see on television is the most frightening part,” she said. “There is no footage from inside prisons.”

The allegations echo reports from the 2022 Woman, Life, Freedom protests, when several detainees died shortly after their release following unexplained medical treatment in custody. 

In some cases, families and rights groups raised concerns about injections or drug administration, but no independent investigations were carried out.

At the time, medical experts warned that the forced use of sedatives or psychiatric drugs in detention—and their abrupt withdrawal—could cause severe complications, including cardiac failure. 

'Lethal injections in jails'

The exact substances allegedly being used in current cases remain unknown.“We don’t know what they are injecting,” Mahbobi said.

“What we know is that people are being injected in custody, and some of them are dying.”

Mahbobi also said her organization has received reports of injured protesters taken away by ambulance who later returned to their families as bodies, as well as accounts from Kermanshah of residents being summoned to identify corpses which locals believed belonged to detainees.

She warned that executions may increasingly be carried out away from public view. “The executions won’t look like before,” she said. "They will be hidden.”

Iranian officials have not commented on the allegations.

Mahbobi called on the international community to pressure Iranian authorities to disclose the identities and locations of detainees and allow independent monitoring of detention facilities.

“Our fear,” she said, “is that if this continues in silence, many people will never come out alive.”

A mocking segment aired on Iran’s state television about the bodies of protesters killed in January has sparked public outrage and renewed calls, including from Islamic Republic loyalists, for the removal of the head of the national broadcaster.

The public anger erupted after a host on Ofogh TV, a channel operated by Iran’s state broadcaster IRIB and affiliated to the Revolutionary Guards, referred to reports that thousands killed during the January 8–9 crackdown were transported in refrigerated trailers.

Addressing viewers, he asked sarcastically: “What type of refrigerator do you think the Islamic Republic keeps the bodies in?”

He then offered mock multiple-choice answers, including a “side-by-side fridge,” an “ice cream machine,” and a “supermarket freezer,” before adding a fourth option in a joking tone: “I’m an ice seller—don’t ruin my business.”

For many Iranians, the episode has become a stark illustration of a state media apparatus increasingly detached from the pain, grief, and anger of the society it claims to represent.

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"Iran and the US are at a fateful point in time: We can achieve a fair and equitable deal to ensure no nuclear weapons," Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said in a post on his X.

"This mutually beneficial outcome is possible even in a short period of time."

"On the other hand, there may be miscalculation and even aggression. Iran is equally prepared for that scenario," he added.

The public anger erupted after a host on Ofogh TV, a channel operated by Iran’s state broadcaster IRIB and affiliated to the Revolutionary Guards, referred to reports that thousands killed during the January 8–9 crackdown were transported in refrigerated trailers.

Addressing viewers, he asked sarcastically: “What type of refrigerator do you think the Islamic Republic keeps the bodies in?”

He then offered mock multiple-choice answers, including a “side-by-side fridge,” an “ice cream machine,” and a “supermarket freezer,” before adding a fourth option in a joking tone: “I’m an ice seller—don’t ruin my business.”

For many Iranians, the episode has become a stark illustration of a state media apparatus increasingly detached from the pain, grief, and anger of the society it claims to represent.

The remarks were widely shared on social media and immediately drew condemnation from across Iran’s political and social spectrum. Many users accused the program of dehumanizing the dead and humiliating grieving families.

Removal of network director

Following the backlash, Iran’s state broadcaster announced that Sadegh Yazdani, the director of Ofogh TV, had been removed for what it described as “disrespect toward those killed in the January protests.” The program was pulled from the air.

Mohammad Reza Javadi-Yeganeh, a sociology professor at the University of Tehran, wrote that dissatisfaction with IRIB was one of the rare issues uniting an otherwise deeply polarized society. “In this organization,” he wrote, “neither human life nor blood has sanctity.”

Journalist Sina Jahani went further, writing: “For even one frame of this broadcast, not only the director of Ofogh TV but the head of IRIB himself must be immediately dismissed.”

IRIB, headed by Peyman Jebelli, is widely viewed as dominated by hardliners linked to the ultra-conservative Paydari (Steadfastness) Party and figures close to Saeed Jalili, the supreme leader’s representative on the Supreme National Security Council.

Calls for the removal of IRIB chief

While the Ofogh TV director was removed, the fate of IRIB’s leadership remains entirely in the hands of Iran’s supreme leader, who appoints and oversees the broadcaster’s chief. Many users expressed skepticism that deeper accountability would follow.

Journalist Seyed Ali Pourtabatabaei argued that even Jebelli’s removal would be insufficient. “If any other media outlet had done this, it would have been immediately shut down and prosecuted,” he wrote, adding that he held little hope such action would actually occur in this case.

Another user wrote on X: ‘The person who must order change—the leader—apparently believes any change demanded by people or elites is weakness.’”

Conservative alarm over public anger

The mocking tone of the Ofogh TV host also angered conservative figures who warned that such rhetoric risks inflaming public rage and prolonging unrest.

Conservative journalist Ali Gholhaki wrote: “By mocking the martyrs and those killed on January 8 and 9, state TV is setting fire to the hearts of their parents. What exactly must happen in Iran for officials to decide to change course? Do we want to see people back on the streets again?”

Strategic analyst Hossein Ghatib stressed that such broadcasts are never accidental. “An item like this passes through multiple editorial and supervisory filters,” he wrote. “When you knowingly air it, the aim is not a mistake or bad taste—it is a direct assault on the dignity of thousands of grieving families. This is not stupidity or moral collapse; it is betrayal.”

Ghatib compared the outrage to a pivotal media miscalculation before Iran’s 1979 revolution, when an article attacking Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini was published in the newspaper Ettela’at. Historians widely regard that piece as a strategic error that ignited mass protests and helped accelerate the fall of the monarchy.

“This program follows the same dangerous logic: provoking public sentiment,” Ghatib wrote. “Why deliberately mess with collective memory and pain?”

A crisis of trust

The incident has reignited long-standing criticism of IRIB, whose head is appointed and overseen directly by the supreme leader and which receives substantial public funding. Despite this, official surveys show that large segments of the population distrust its news coverage, relying instead on foreign-based Persian-language media.

Critics say IRIB routinely insults and discredits opponents, airs coerced confessions, and broadcasts allegations of foreign ties against dissenters. Recent attempts by the broadcaster to discredit a widely shared video showing a father searching for his son’s body among hundreds of victims instead backfired, further eroding its credibility.