Accounts from witnesses reveal executions by close-range shots, the transfer of living individuals to morgues, and mass burials, shedding light on part of the bloody suppression during the nationwide protests of 2026.
Iran Human Rights Society, Sunday, 25 January 2026 – In the continuation of the bloody crackdown on the nationwide protests of 2026, reports have emerged from the cities of Babol, Amol, and Mashhad indicating deliberate actions by repressive forces to carry out killings, secretly bury bodies, and eliminate evidence. These accounts are based on direct witness testimonies and reveal aspects of systematic crimes against protesters.
Shocking report from the Galla Mahalleh morgue in Babol
According to a Babol resident, a family went to the “Galla Mahalleh” cemetery morgue to collect the body of their son who had died during the nationwide protests of 2026. While identifying bodies, the family encountered a case that was clearly still alive. According to this witness, the body inside the corpse bag was visibly moving, and weak sounds were heard from within it.
The family immediately informed the on-site agents and demanded the bag be opened. However, the agents refused in a threatening tone and warned that if they continued to pursue the matter, their son’s body would also not be handed over.
The agents present explicitly stated: “We have orders that everyone transferred here—whether alive or injured—must remain there until they die.” The witness emphasized that the agents did not allow anyone to leave the morgue. This report is a clear indication of the deliberate elimination of injured protesters and efforts to prevent the disclosure of the actual number of those killed during the nationwide protests.
Eyewitness testimony of close-range executions of the injured in Amol
In Amol as well, one of the injured individuals present at the scene provided a report from the nights of 8 and 9 January 2026 (18 and 19 Dey 1404), containing shocking details about the behavior of repressive forces. This person, who was himself wounded by gunfire and lying among other injured individuals on the ground, says that armed agents in civilian clothing and speaking with a local accent walked among the wounded and fired close-range execution shots at those who were still alive and moaning.
He wrote: “I saw with my own eyes how the agents one by one shot those injured who were moving in the head or chest.” The witness added that the driver of a Pride car saw him in that critical condition on the ground, quickly threw him into the vehicle, and took him away from the scene of the clash. This action saved his life and spared him the fate of the other injured. He went on to highlight the bravery of the young people in the streets, writing that the people, regardless of foreign support, have made sacrifices for freedom. According to him, “The people themselves will achieve freedom—even if the price is their lives.”
Secret and mass burial of bodies in Mashhad
In Mashhad, accounts point to large-scale nighttime and covert burial operations of those killed in the nationwide protests of 2026. According to an informed source, deep pits were dug in the Behesht-e Rezvan cemetery for mass burials, and approximately two hundred bodies have so far been buried in them without any public announcement.
There is also a report that the body of a protester was buried in Neyshabur, and a family attempting to transfer it discovered that several other bodies had been buried on the same grave.
Additionally, information received from Farabi Hospital in Mashhad indicates that in a single day, more than one thousand signatures for the handover of bodies of those killed in the nationwide protests of 2026 were recorded. A local stonecutter also confirmed receiving an order for 148 gravestones, all belonging to girls and boys aged 16 to 23, born in the 2000s (decade of 1380 in the Persian calendar). Witnesses say these figures represent only part of the reality, and the full scale of the killings remains unknown due to the lack of transparency from relevant institutions.
Imposition of the official narrative during the handover of victims’ bodies
Alongside physical repression, the policy of distorting the narrative has been implemented intensely. In one case, the father of one of those killed in the nationwide protests of 2026 was forced to sign a document stating that his son was a Basiji and “was killed by protesters” when receiving his son’s body. The father signed it without fully understanding the content and was able to take the body. However, in another instance, a family refused to sign such a confession, and as a result, their son’s body was not handed over to them.
Visual evidence of abandoning the injured in active medical condition
Images sent, related to the bodies of those killed in the nationwide protests, show abnormal conditions contrary to medical procedures. In these images, bodies are seen still equipped with breathing tubes, urinary catheters, heart monitoring electrodes, and other emergency equipment. The presence of these tools confirms that the individuals were still under treatment or showing signs of life at the time of transfer to the morgue.
According to recognized medical standards, in the event of a patient’s death, all equipment must be removed from the body and the corpse prepared for the morgue. Transferring bodies in this condition is not only illegal but also indicative of the physical elimination of patients in semi-conscious or unstable states. Local sources emphasized that this practice has been observed in several hospitals and points to a systematic approach to erasing evidence of crimes.
Systematic violation of fundamental human rights in the nationwide protests
Documented accounts from the cities of Babol, Amol, and Mashhad demonstrate widespread and deliberate violations of fundamental human rights principles during the nationwide protests. These cases are compiled based on direct statements from witnesses:
- Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights – Right to life The deliberate use of lethal force against civilians constitutes a violation of the state’s binding obligations regarding the right to life. Close-range executions of the injured in Amol are a clear example of this violation.
- Article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights – Prohibition of inhuman treatment Leaving a living, moaning individual in the Babol morgue and preventing treatment is an instance of inhuman and degrading treatment.
- Article 10 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights – Respect for the inherent dignity of the human person Keeping bodies with medical tubes, mass burials without legal formalities, and forcing families to sign confessions violate the principle of human dignity.
- Article 16 of the Convention against Enforced Disappearance – Prohibition of concealment regarding the fate of individuals Failure to hand over victims’ bodies to families and secret burials in Mashhad are examples of enforced disappearance.
- Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights – Right to know the truth Imposing the official narrative about how protesters were killed and conditioning the handover of bodies on forced signatures is a clear violation of families’ right to know the truth.
See also the below articles:
- Massacre in the Nationwide Protests in Kermanshah; Eyewitness Accounts of Killings and Organ Harvesting from the Wounded
- Mass Transfer of Detained Protesters to Qazal Hesar Prison; Hidden Quarantine to Eliminate Protesters
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