Testimony from medics, morgue and graveyard staff reveals a huge state effort to conceal the systematic killing of protesters in Iran. A doctor, identified only as Dr Ahmadi due to fear of reprisals, told the Guardian that he and his wife began treating wounded young people outside the government hospital system after many avoided hospitals for fear of arrest. Initially, injuries were superficial, but within days they became close-range gunshots and severe stab wounds, often fatal.
Ahmadi assembled a network of over 80 medical professionals across 12 provinces to share observations. They estimate the death toll could exceed 30,000, far surpassing official figures. The Iranian government has acknowledged more than 3,000 dead, while HRANA has verified over 6,000 and has 17,000 more under investigation. Other estimates range up to 33,000 or more.
Evidence from morgues and graveyards indicates concerted efforts to conceal the true toll: bodies transported in ice-cream vans and meat trucks, hasty mass burials, and hundreds of bodies disappearing from forensic facilities. At one morgue, staff were overwhelmed by trucks full of corpses; when two trucks were moved, the bodies could not be traced, raising suspicions of mass burial.
Doctors described the violence as brutal beyond limit. One Tehran-based medic said, 'I am on the verge of a psychological collapse. They’ve mass murdered people. No one can imagine … I saw just blood, blood and blood.'
