Iran turns off internet to hide killings in escalating violence in 2019

Tehran used a massive internet shutdown to hide the "true scale of unlawful killings by security forces," according to a new Amnesty International (AI) report.

This new report by the human rights organisation is based on the protests that took place a year ago in the Islamic Republic in protest against the rise in petrol prices, but which were a breakthrough for Hassan Rohani's government. 

The human rights group said on Monday that it had verified 304 people killed by security forces during the November 2019 protests, 23 of them children, but suspected the actual number was much higher.

Tehran instigated a violent crackdown after demonstrations against a huge increase in fuel prices turned into widespread protests against the regime.

The Amnesty report states: "Security forces illegally used lethal force against the vast majority of demonstrators and bystanders killed, shooting most in the head or torso, indicating the intention to kill. To this day, no official has been held accountable for the unlawful killings".

Already in its latest report entitled 'Trampled Humanity: Mass arrests, disappearances and torture since Iran's 2019 November protest', AI documented the accounts of dozens of protesters, passers-by and people who were arrested by the Iranian regime in connection with the demonstrations that filled the streets of Iran's major cities in November 2019. In total, 7,000 people, including men, women and children, were arrested by the Iranian authorities.  The report notes that the victims included children as young as ten years old.

Last year's announcement by Iranian President Hassan Rohani of a 50 percent increase in fuel prices prompted an immediate reaction from the population, which decided to take to the streets in protest. However, this rise in oil prices was used as a pretext for protesting against the inequality and social injustices in the country.

The government's response was not soft and it decided to take several radical measures such as blocking the internet for the 80 million Iranian inhabitants. According to Amnesty, these revolts led to the death of 143 people, in addition to the arrest of another 7,000.

The prison sentences imposed on those convicted range from one month to ten years in prison on charges which, according to the human rights organisation, are false, such as "gathering to commit crimes against national security", "spreading propaganda against the system", "disturbing public order" and "insulting the Supreme Leader".

"Amnesty International is aware of more than a dozen cases where flogging sentences have been imposed in addition to prison sentences and in at least two cases, the flogging sentences have been executed," reads the statement of the organisation.