Over the past three weeks, Iran has crossed a terrifying threshold. The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency has verified that as of early Thursday, at least 4,902 protesters have been killed, with many more feared dead, and 24,000 arrested since the anti-government protests began on Dec. 28. But credible reports from Iranian journalists, which are unverifiable due to the country’s internet blackout, indicate that the death toll could be much higher, exceeding 16,500. If true, this would be more than five times the number of casualties during the Iranian Revolution, which unfolded over 13 months in 1978-79.
In response to the most recent uprising, the Islamic Republic has returned to its most reliable tactic: cutting off the internet and severing communication to impose a blackout that isolates the population and allows atrocities to unfold unseen. This is not crowd control; it is eradication.
