The slogans of “Mullahs must go” and “Javid Shah” have disappeared from Iran’s streets. What has replaced them is far more chilling. Media reports suggest that a nightmare is unfolding in the digital darkness unleashed by the clerical regime of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Accounts of prisoners being left naked in freezing cold conditions and detainees being injected with unidentified substances are surfacing all over the internet. These reports are alleged to have originated from Iranian jails.
A profound number of examples of patchy phone calls and fragmented Starlink messages from Iran have revealed the scale of killings and atrocities being carried out. Images of bodies wrapped in black bags, stacked on floors and gurneys, and families wandering in trepidation in search of loved ones have emerged from Iran after reports of protests died down.
The Deadliest Protests
The anti-Khamenei protests that erupted in Iran in the last week of December were the deadliest since the 1979 Iranian revolution. What began as demonstrations over a collapsing economy turned into a direct challenge to the clerical regime that has ruled Iran for 45 years. An Iranian official, who refused to be identified, told Reuters that authorities had verified at least 5,000 people, including about 500 security personnel, had been killed in the protests.
The Khamenei regime responded with overwhelming force. It deployed the loyal Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and enforced a nationwide internet blackout. The clerical regime also brought in 5,000 Iraqi Arab militias to brutally crush the protesting Iranians. The crackdown coincided with repeated warnings from US President Donald Trump, who urged protesters to persist and warned Tehran of consequences, even as Western Asia edged closer to a wider regional crisis.
What Happened to Protesters Inside Iran’s Prisons
According to media reports by the Daily Express, Iranian detainees have detailed horrifying abuse in custody. Reports by the British tabloid detail that prisoners were forced by officials to strip naked in prison courtyards and left exposed to freezing conditions. Iranian prison officers reportedly sprayed prisoners with cold water and tortured them further.
Additionally, several detainees have claimed they were forcibly made part of unexplained medical procedures and were injected with substances not identified or explained by prison staff.
Air Filled with Blood, Dead Protesters, Relatives Asked to Pay for Bullets
What followed after the nationwide internet blackout on January 8 is now coming to light. Starlink messages and smuggled footage all point towards mass killings across cities, towns, and even villages. Days after the internet blockade, the Khamenei regime reportedly used Chinese or Russian military-grade jammers to disrupt Starlink. Security personnel also raided homes to seize communication equipment, attempting to hide the mass killing spree in Iran.
Reports suggest that the government and its loyalists were able to communicate through a protected “whitelist” network as they brutally suppressed protests raging at over 300 locations. The internet is replete with some of the most brutal details of the crackdown, with families alleging that they were asked to pay for bullets used to kill their relatives.
How Many People Were Killed by the Khamenei Regime
The death toll from the Iran protests has climbed to 4,029, according to the US-based human rights news agency HRANA. The organization said 26,015 people had been arrested, while at least 5,811 others sustained serious injuries during the anti-Khamenei protests.
The regime labeled the protesters as Mohareb, meaning “one who wages war against God.” Protesting carries the death penalty under this charge. Khamenei blamed the protests on what he called US- and Israel-linked “terrorists and rioters.” Iran’s judiciary echoed this line, signaling that mass executions were a real possibility.
