MESSAGE
| DATE | 2022-12-05 |
| FROM | Ruben Safir
|
| SUBJECT | Subject: [Hangout - NYLXS] Change in Iran
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It started with a protest, but a revolution is taking shape': BBC
identifies many more people killed in Iran’s protests
By BBC 100 Women, Disinformation, Monitoring, BBC Persian and Visual
Journalism teams
8–10 minutes
Composite image of victims of the Iran protests and Roya Piraei one of
victims' daughters
"If I don't go out and protest, who else will?"
The last words of Minoo Majidi to her family before she died.
Minoo was 62 when she was shot by security forces on the streets of
Kermanshah in the west of Iran. According to her daughter, she was shot
with more than 178 gun pellets. She died in hospital.
Following Minoo's death, her daughter Roya Piraei posted an Instagram
photo taken next to her mother's grave. Her head shaven, she was holding
her own hair as a sign of mourning and defiance. It quickly went viral.
"I knew I couldn't speak out. This is all I could do to show how cruel
this system is," Roya told BBC 100 Women.
Roya's mother is one of hundreds of Iranians across the country who have
been killed while protesting against the death in custody of Mahsa Amini.
Photo of Minoo MajidiImage source, Family of Minoo Majidi
Image caption,
Minoo Majidi died in hospital after being shot by security forces
The 22-year-old Kurdish woman was detained for allegedly not complying
with the strict dress code on head coverings and the mandatory hijab for
women.
State officials have acknowledged more than 300 people have died during
the protests, but their figures include security forces and
pro-government people. According to Iran Human Rights, as of 29 November
at least 448 people have been killed by security forces, including 29
women and 60 children.
Iran Human Rights believe the actual number of people killed is
"certainly higher", as they only include cases they have been able to
verify and they have received a high volume of reports of deaths, which
they continue to investigate.
Identifying the dead
Using painstaking forensic techniques, teams from the BBC have been able
to verify the identities of more than 75 of those killed.
By searching official records, online sites and social media we found
death certificates, images of funerals and harrowing photos of the
deceased. We also spoke to relatives, activists and human rights groups
to confirm and cross-check the information we'd found.
Our research confirmed many of the dead are women, and that high numbers
of those killed come from marginalised ethnic minority groups. The
deaths include children as young as seven.
We also identified that some people killed were caught up in the wider
violence and unrest surrounding protests, rather than being directly
involved in demonstrations themselves.
Please refresh your browser
Minority communities see most deaths
"I believe that what's happening in Iran is not a protest any more. It
started with a protest, but a revolution is taking shape," says Roya.
Roya is from a Kurdish community. Our research has shown Kurdish areas,
as well as regions home to other ethnic minorities - like the Baluch in
south-eastern province Sistan Baluchistan - have seen the highest
proportion of deaths.
32 of the names we verified were from Kurdish areas, while 20 were from
Sistan Baluchistan province.
Sistan Baluchistan is one of Iran's poorest provinces, and one of the
most conservative. Most of the Baluch people belong to Iran's Sunni
minority. According to human rights groups, they face discrimination on
the basis of both religion and ethnicity.
Despite its conservatism, in recent weeks women have joined protests in
the provincial capital Zahedan. In online videos, women wearing the
full-body veil - the chador - can be seen chanting, "whether with hijab
or without it, onwards to revolution."
Image of 7 year-old Hasti NaroueiImage source, HAALVSH
7-year-old Hasti Narouei was also from the Baluch community. This
picture shows her wearing a traditional Baluchi dress.
On 30 September, she was in Zahedan with her grandmother at Friday
prayers. Social media footage from the day shows security forces
responding to a protest by firing into the crowd.
According to local activists, Hasti was hit on her head by a tear gas
canister. She suffocated.
She was her parents' only daughter. She had two brothers, and was just
one week short of her first day at school.
Amnesty International says at least 66 people were killed the day Hasti
died, including 10 children who belonged to the Baluchi minority. It was
the deadliest day on record since protests started. Activists have named
it "Bloody Friday".
Challenges of verifying
Photos of men and boys killed in Sistan Baluchistan province
Image caption,
Some of the victims in Sistan Baluchistan province
For the BBC teams, discovering the identities of those killed in Sistan
Baluchistan province had another layer of complexity.
As one of the most conservative provinces in Iran, people are not
typically online, with almost none of the regular social media posting
that has enabled the identities of others who have died to be shared.
Hasti's family, for example, have not spoken publicly about their
daughter other than on strictly-controlled state media.
The province also has weak internet infrastructure, with few able to
access or rely on home broadband connections.
Of the 20 people the BBC verified as killed in Sistan Baluchistan
province, many appeared to have had no social media or other online
presence. Their post-mortem photos were the only visual record of their
identities we were able to find.
Elsewhere in the country, in areas with higher internet usage, social
media has enabled deaths to get wider attention.
32-year-old Fereshteh Ahmadi, from Mahabad in West Azerbaijan province,
was one of three Kurdish women we identified.
On 26 October, protests were held throughout the country to mark the
40th day of mourning for Mahsa Amini.
Fereshteh died after government forces allegedly shot her in the chest
while she was on the roof of her house. The government has denied this.
The intelligence authorities have summoned her family for questioning.
32-year-old Fereshteh Ahmadi
A photo from the funeral of a little girl thought to be Fereshteh's
daughter Bawan, crying whilst holding a handful of soil from her
mother's grave, was shared widely across social platforms and viewed
millions of times.
On BBC Persian Instagram alone, the picture was viewed by more than 2.5
million people and received more than 198K likes.
Protestors in the north-eastern city of Mashad even started using her
image on billboards to highlight the plight of other children who have
lost their parents.
No chance to mourn
Composite image Roya Piraei whose protest image of her holding her own
hair with her head shaven next to her mother's grave went viral.Image
source, Roya Piraei
Behind the numbers and images are families in shock and grief. In many
cases, unable to speak out because of fear of retribution.
Safely now out of Iran, Roya remembers her mother Minoo. She recalls her
zest for life, her endless calm and patience.
"She was sporty and she loved horse-riding. She even coached ping-pong!"
she says.
"But I just don't feel like I have had the chance to mourn her death. It
was so unnatural.
"The only hope I have now is that Iran will be free one day. That those
who were killed unjustly, didn't die in vain. Iranian people deserve to
have a normal life."
line
Methodology
The map showing protests across Iran was created using data confirmed by
the Critical Threats Project (CTP). The project assigns a confidence
level (high, moderate, or low) to convey their assessment of the
likelihood that the protest occurred on a specific day and in a specific
location. The BBC has used confirmed protests from the high and moderate
data set.
CTP uses social media images and videos and reporting from Iranian state
media to assess the date, location, and size of protests. The CTP, who
have been monitoring protests since 2017, have set their threshold for
reporting as a dozen individuals gathering.
A BBC investigation in October named a total of 45 men, women and
children who had died in the Iran protests. On that occasion,
journalists used the same techniques we have used here, starting with
open-source research and then moving on to contacting sources, rights
groups, relatives, activists, and BBC Persian to gather and cross-check
data. Post-mortem images or funeral footage were also obtained in nearly
all cases.
The images were sourced from social media, human rights organisations or
local media.
Reporting by Lara Owen, Firouzeh Akbarian and Khosro Kalbasi Isfahani.
Verification by Firouzeh Akbarian, Khosro Kalbasi Isfahani, Soroush
Pakzad and Nooshin.
Production and Visual Journalism by Leoni Robertson and Raees Hussain.
Edited by Rebecca Skippage.
BBC 100 Women logo 2022
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