The world in shock at the horrific crimes of the Islamic Republic killing defenceless protesters in a complete news and internet blackout

Horrific pictures and videos of the bodies of innocent protestors killed by the security forces and militia of the regime of the Supreme Religious Leader, Khamene’i, have been published, that evidence the bloodshed perpetrated on 7^th and 8^th January 26 during the deathly shutdown of the Internet – which has been imposed in Iran since last week and is ongoing; and reveal another systematic crime of the anti-popular rule of the regime, displayed before the eyes of the world.

With characteristic brutality the regime embarked on a massacre, deploying all kinds of weapons and even the use of proxy forces, to kill the people who took part in peaceful demonstrations protesting poverty, corruption, tyranny, and dictatorship, piling the dead high, to continue its disgraceful rule for a few more days.

Statistics point to the high number of dead, wounded, missing or arrested in various cities of the country. The images of the mothers and families of the deceased and desperate people searching for a sign of their loved ones, in long lines, to see the bodies, or among the mass of “piled bodies” in the forensic sheds or in open air, are heart-rending scenes. These are reminiscent of the heartbreaking and painful scenes that the world has witnessed being perpetrated by fascist and dictatorial regimes, with the unique characteristic that this crime against the suffering masses who are protesting oppression and injustice, is conducted by the regime against its own people. The shameful record of the criminal regime includes the violent repression of people whose demands are simply for basic human rights. The regime’s brutal crackdown of previous protests and uprisings have included shooting directly at the head, or aiming at the eyes and blinding the protesters, imprisonment, torture, and execution.

According to numerous reports, including one from the state Radio and Television (Seda and Sima), who disseminate information not out of compassion but in order to create psychological terror in the society, explaining in a live report, that the number of those killed and arrested was so great that the normal infrastructure could not handle it and they were caught by surprise. For example, in the Kahrizak district coroner’s, one of the witnesses talks about the traffic of large trucks and cars carrying the bodies of the dead. Such a scene is reminiscent of the regime’s criminal massacre of dissidents in the ‘national disaster’ in the summer of 1988 when innocent political prisoners were put to death, a disaster that is repeated in a different way today. The witness to the extensive and horrific crime in Tehran’s Kahrizak district, says: “From the door at the back and the one next to it that also opened, I saw 40-foot refrigerated trucks coming and there were three or four rows of corpses, and they would throw these corpses. I saw a lot of small trucks that were full of children. They threw these kids”. This moving report relates only a small part of the regime’s crimes and bloodshed, in Tehran alone, and is part of the savage killing that has been repeated in many cities of Iran, large or small, such as Kermanshah, Shahsewar, Mashhad, Abdanan, Rasht, etc., and the real figures and its true scale are not announced, as usual.

The Democratic Organisation of Iranian Women, offer condolences to the brave and suffering people of our country, and sympathise with the survivors of this horrific crime. We ask all progressive forces and individuals, and all human rights bodies, to protest this brutal massacre of defenceless people, and echo the voices of the mothers and families for justice and in general the voice of all the people of our country against this horrible crime. The brave men and women of Iran who have been fighting, peacefully and non-violently and in various forms for decades in the face of all the prohibitions and red lines, for the right to organise in workers’ and political organisations, and for freedom, equality, and social justice, say ‘no’ to any interference by foreign states in determining the fate of our country. Aware and alert people of Iran know very well that this dictatorial regime has not only brought the country to the brink of economic collapse and the destruction of its natural and environmental resources, but also brought it face to face with the serious and repeated threat of foreign interference and war, or the threat of the current tyranny being replaced by another form of tyranny by the servants of US imperialism and the genocidal government of Israel.

Currently, the lives of thousands of brave protesters who have been arrested or have been injured and unable to seek medical assistance are in great danger. Through numerous campaigns and in a united and universal struggle, we must stop the state apparatus of repression and killing deployed by the dictatorial regime of Supreme Religious Leader, and demand the immediate and unconditional release of all the detainees of the January 2026 movement along with all the political, ideological and civil prisoners who are currently held in the regime’s torture chambers all over the country.

Democratic Organisation of Iranian Women

16^th January 2026