Hard-line paper asks for answers on those killed in Iran protests
The silence of Iranian officials regarding the number of those killed in the November protests has concerned even hard-line media.
Amnesty International has updated its death toll from the protests in Iran in November to 304.
Iranian authorities so far have refused to issue any official numbers, causing frustration even from hard-line media. Abdullah Ganji, the managing editor of Javan, a newspaper linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, wrote an op-ed asking why the official figures have not yet been released. “The reasons for the human causalities from the November riots have not yet been revealed by official centers, but dozens of varying figures of the numbers killed have been mentioned by hostile movements, media and Western figures,” wrote Ganji. Iranian officials often refer to the November protests as “riots” or the “recent events.”
The protests erupted after President Hassan Rouhani announced cuts to fuel subsidies; the demonstrations were met with a harsh crackdown and an extended internet shutdown.
Ganji said the number killed in the recent protests is greater than that in the December 2017-January 2018 protests and the 2009 postelection protests. He said that if officials do not release accurate numbers, others will tell “stories filled with righteousness and spite about this moment in history through a different tale.” He added, “It is not improbable that future generations will read that individuals came to protest over the price of fuel and that the coercive power of the state, without any reason, patience or tolerance,” killed them all.
