00:00Welcome to the program. President Donald Trump appears to have dialed back threats of an imminent
00:16strike on Iran. Speaking to reporters at the White House on Wednesday night, he said he's
00:21been assured that the killing of protesters has been halted and that no executions are being
00:27planned. Well, before he made those comments, Amnesty International published a report documenting
00:33mass killing of protesters on what it calls an unprecedented scale. The research group has
00:39spoken to eyewitnesses and reviewed video in order to get a clear picture of the extent of the
00:45crackdown. And joining me live now is Rahab Bahraini. She's an Iran researcher at Amnesty International.
00:52And thank you very much for speaking to us today. We appreciate it.
00:57Hello. Thank you for having me. Just give us a sense, first of all, of your key findings in this
01:03new report. For the past week, we've been investigating the mass unlawful killings that
01:11the Iranian authorities have carried out on an unprecedented scale, particularly since the 8th
01:17of January. The massacre of protesters has taken place while the Iranian authorities maintain
01:24an internet shutdown to hide their crimes. This internet blackout, which is now in its seventh
01:30day, has impeded the ability of human rights organizations to conduct in-depth interviews
01:37and verify the death toll. However, the information that we have managed to gather shows a horrific
01:44situation. By official admission, 2,000 people have been killed. Human rights defenders are reporting a much
01:53higher death toll. What we have been able to document shows that the security forces have
02:00been relentlessly firing at protesters from street level and elevated positions, such as the rooftops of
02:08mosques, residential buildings, and police stations, targeting many unarmed protesters in their head and
02:16chest. We have received the distressing accounts of medical workers who report that hospitals are
02:23overwhelmed with the injured, with many brought in with severe gunshot wounds. Morgues are overflowing
02:30with dead bodies. Distressing footage has emerged from a central morgue near Tehran that shows distressed
02:37families searching for their missing loved ones among body backs. We've received the account of an
02:43eyewitness from Rash who has seen bodies piled up in containers, freight containers. We have received
02:50the account of an eyewitness in a morgue in the central cemetery of Tehran who has seen bodies piled up in
02:58warehouses. The situation is devastating and shows that the Iranian authorities have once again resorted to mass
03:07unlawful killings, this time on an unprecedented scale, in order to wipe out dissent and silence
03:15protesters who demand fundamental change.
03:17Yeah, you talk about an unprecedented scale of this crackdown by the authorities in Iran. Speak to us about how it is that you were
03:26going to conduct this research and reach that conclusion because we know there's been this internet blackout in Iran.
03:32You mentioned it just there. So I can imagine it's been very difficult for you personally to speak to people in Iran and
03:39perhaps there are some individuals who are actually putting themselves at risk in order to speak to you and get this information out.
03:46It has been extremely challenging to conduct in-depth investigations and this is the intention of the
03:55authorities to block communication and to hide their mass international crimes. However, with the help of
04:03human rights defenders and journalists outside Iran, we have managed to obtain the screenshots of texts and
04:10voice messages that dozens of people from nine provinces across Iran have shared. We have also been able to speak to
04:18several informed sources inside the country, including protesters and medical workers. We have also talked to dozens of
04:26journalists and human rights defenders and medical workers outside Iran who have managed to speak with sources inside the
04:33country who can access the internet through Starlink. Let me also note that the Iranian authorities are also reportedly
04:41trying to raid places where they believe Starlink devices exist. We have also verified dozens of distressing videos
04:49that show security forces firing at protesters who pose no threat whatsoever, warranting the use of force,
04:57let alone lethal firearms. The footage shows lifeless individuals on streets or on blood-stained hospital floors,
05:08or it shows protesters fleeing from gunfire or carrying injured protesters on their hands, while the Iranian authorities,
05:17the security forces continue to shoot at them relentlessly. We've received the account of eyewitnesses who've reported how
05:24the security forces even fired at the homes of people who shelter fleeing protesters. In these accounts
05:32that we've received through text messages and voice messages from inside Iran, there are consistently urgent
05:39pleas for help and for global attention.
05:42And look, I must ask you, you know, you may have heard me mention what Donald Trump said at the top
05:48of the program that he has been assured, despite what you have just detailed for us here, that the killing
05:54of Iranian protesters has subsided. Can I ask you then, as someone who clearly is watching this extremely
05:59closely? Is that true? Has the crackdown subsided? And to the best of your knowledge, are Iranians still
06:07in the streets? Let us be clear, the Iranian authorities resort to mass killings to crush protests.
06:16They've been doing that repeatedly in recent years. And in the face of larger potters inside the country,
06:24they have now carried out a massacre on an unprecedented scale. The Iranian authorities,
06:31according to the information that we are currently receiving, have now created a militarized climate
06:37across cities in the country. Agents have been seen roaming the streets, pickup trucks on top of which
06:43machine guns are mounted, are patrolling the streets. The security forces are trying to force people to
06:50stay indoors. If the reports of killings have subsided, it's not because the security forces
06:56are respecting the right of people to protest. On the contrary, they have created a militarized climate
07:03where traumatized people right now cannot take to the streets. Thousands of victims, families and injured
07:09patients right now are in cemeteries and hospitals reeling from this devastating repression.
07:16We therefore call for global diplomatic action. The state members of the UN must recognize that it is
07:25consistent, continuing systemic impunity that is driving this protest bloodshed. And the international
07:32community has the duty to protect protesters from further bloodshed and to signal an end to the era of
07:40impunity that has emboldened the Iranian authorities to persist in their criminal conduct.
07:45All right. Raha Bahreini talking to us. She is a researcher on Iran at Amnesty International. Thank
07:50you very much indeed for coming on to talk to us about what is extremely difficult research
07:56on that crackdown in Iran. Thank you very much.
08:00Thank you very much.
Comments