An ophthalmologist in Tehran has documented over 400 eye injuries from gunshots in a single hospital as medical staff struggle to cope with the increasing number of casualties resulting from a violent crackdown on nationwide protests by Iranian authorities.
Iran Protests: Rising Toll and Deliberate Targeting of Protesters
Three doctors reported overwhelmed hospitals and emergency wings filled with protesters who had been shot. Medical staff indicated that gunshot wounds were primarily concentrated on protesters’ eyes and heads – a tactic rights groups say authorities previously employed during the 2022 Woman, Life, Freedom protests.
“[Security forces] are deliberately shooting at the head and the eyes. They want to damage the head and the eyes so they can no longer see, the same thing they did in [2022],” said a doctor in Tehran. Many patients have required eye removal and have been blinded as a result, the doctor added.
The protests began on December 28 over a decline in the country’s currency value and have since evolved into the largest anti-government protest movement since 2009. Tens of thousands of protesters have taken to the streets nightly, chanting slogans against the Iranian supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, such as “death to the dictator.”
Authorities shut off internet and mobile access on Thursday, cutting off Iranians from the outside world. Rights groups have accused the government of exploiting the blackout to carry out a brutal crackdown.
According to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), more than 2,000 people have been killed in the protests – over 90% of whom were demonstrators – and over 16,700 have been arrested. The death toll is expected to rise and is already four times greater than that of the months-long 2022 Mahsa Amini protests.
Doctors in Iran suspect the current death toll is a fraction of the true number of fatalities. They reported a surge in wounded patients immediately after the internet was shut down on Thursday.
“It’s like in the war movies where you see the injured soldiers getting treated on the open field. We don’t have blood, we don’t have enough medical supplies. It’s like a war zone,” the Tehran doctor said. A colleague detailed treating injured protesters on the ground outside in freezing temperatures due to a lack of space in hospital wards.
The network shutdown hindered communication between medical staff and emergency services. Security forces have also reportedly entered hospitals to arrest injured protesters.
“My colleagues are very distressed, tired and horrified. They are breaking down in tears,” the doctor said. One colleague was wounded by authorities while traveling to the hospital.
Medical staff believe authorities are deliberately targeting protesters’ eyes, a claim echoed by rights groups. Authorities have used shotguns firing metal pellets and rifles with live ammunition against protesters.
“Eyes were hit by birdshot pellets and it was deliberate, they are shooting to kill,” said the Tehran doctor. A colleague removed “20 pellets” from a single protester’s body.
Protesters have been shot in the eyes and genitals, with at least one young girl in critical condition after being shot in the pelvic area, according to a spokesperson from the US-based Abdorrahman Boroumand Center for Human Rights.
The spokesperson stated that even “less-lethal” weapons are being used to inflict “systematic mutilation and permanent disability to terrorise protesters.”
The Iranian government accuses protesters of instigating the violence, releasing videos it claims show foreign saboteurs. The government points to videos of protesters attacking police and the killing of a police chief by a Sunni militant group as evidence of a violent turn in the demonstrations.
HRANA reports that at least 135 people affiliated with the Iranian government have been killed in the protests.
Protesters who circumvented the communications blackout reported witnessing authorities targeting peaceful demonstrators. A 20-year-old protester described security officers opening fire at close range on protesters chanting “Javid Shah [Long live the king]” in Tehran on Friday.
“We were just chanting Javid Shah [Long live the king] and plainclothes killers infiltrated the people a few lines ahead and shot point blank, from behind, with guns directly at their head. We ran away and we don’t even know if they picked up the dead bodies,” they said.
Video sent to the Guardian by activists showed a protester lying on the ground with blood pouring from his mouth following violent crackdowns in Fardis, Alborz province. “He’s not breathing! Please hold on, I swear to god, please hold on,” a protester screams in the video.
Despite the crackdown, protests continued into their 17th day, with thousands of protesters filling the streets each night.
Doctors cautioned that the images and data reaching the international media represent only a small fraction of the reality on the ground. “The images and data broadcast by the international media do not represent even one per cent of the reality, because the information simply does not reach them,” a physician who left Iran told the US-based Center for Human Rights in Iran.
“This was a mass-casualty situation. Our facilities, space, and personnel were far below the number of injured people arriving,” the doctor said.
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