23 January 2026 :
JANUARY 22, 2026 - IRAN. IHR report on 25th day of protests: 3428 victims confirmed
Regime provides downward figures on victims of protests
Iran Protests Death Toll: Official Figures Lack Credibility; UN Fact-Finding Investigation Essential
25 days after the start of the nationwide protests in Iran and fourteen days into the internet blackout, on 21 January, Islamic Republic authorities released their first official figures, announcing that a total of 3,117 people had been killed during this period.
This is while in its last update, IHR documented at least 3,428 killings based on documentation received from reliable sources. This figure was released with the clear caveat that it remains significantly lower than both eyewitness accounts and the organisation’s own assessment of the real number of victims.
It is important to note that the Islamic Republic has a documented and long-standing record of systematically underreporting deadly state violence. For example, over the past five years, authorities have only announced an annual average of 12% of the executions recorded by IHRNGO; the remainder were verified through two independent sources.
If this same pattern of underreporting has been applied to those killed in the protests, the true number of deaths could be around 25,000.
At the same time, government officials are attempting to deflect responsibility by attributing the violence to “other groups” or “terrorist groups”. All the evidence available to us indicates that protesters have been targeted by the government’s repressive forces, including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and affiliated agents, using live ammunition and, in some cases, heavy machine guns. These killings have been widespread and systematic across the country.
IHR stresses the urgent need for independent investigations into the scale and nature of the repression of protests in Iran, and calls for an inquiry by an independent UN fact-finding mission.
Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, the director of IHR, stated: “The figure announced by Islamic Republic authorities, 3,117 deaths, has no credibility whatsoever. All the evidence gradually emerging from inside Iran shows that the real number of people killed in the protests is far higher than the official figure. This statistic has essentially been produced for external use, since the people of Iran are well aware of the scale and targeted nature of the killings of protesters. The announcement of this figure just before the emergency session of the UN Human Rights Council is a deliberate attempt to influence the outcome of the meeting and to mislead global public opinion.” He added: “Attributing the killing of protesters to terrorist groups shows that the government is trying to prepare the ground for issuing and carrying out death sentences against protesters on charges such as moharebeh (enmity against God).”
The United Nations Human Rights Council is scheduled to hold a special and emergency session on 23 January, on the human rights situation in Iran. The stated aim of the meeting is to examine the “alarming violence” against protesters during the widespread crackdown.
https://iranhr.net/en/articles/8546/
