The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), which monitors developments in Iran, published an updated report estimating the number of confirmed deaths in the protests at 5,459 people, the vast majority of them demonstrators.
However, the organization notes that more than 17,000 additional deaths are currently under review, bringing the total number of deaths linked to the suppression of the unrest to an estimated 22,490.
Beyond that, testimonies emerging from within Iran’s medical system paint an even grimmer picture. Two senior officials in Iran’s Health Ministry, who spoke with Time magazine, said that in just two days - January 8 and 9 - more than 30,000 people were killed, based on data from doctors and first responders in the field, analyzed by an Iranian physician in exile.
The British newspaper Daily Mail published figures from another exiled doctor who estimated the total number of deaths throughout the days of unrest at more than 33,000. The reports also reveal the scale of injuries: about 100,000 wounded, with 30% suffering direct eye injuries - evidence, they say, of deliberate shooting by security forces at protesters.
These figures are far higher than the official statements of the Tehran regime, which claims that the number of fatalities in the protests stands at just 3,117.