Tehran [Iran], February 22: The Iranian government has again blamed "terrorists" for the killings of thousands during last month's nationwide protests after United States President Donald Trump and human rights experts weighed in.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Saturday that the government has released a list of 3,117 people, whom he described as "victims of recent terrorist operation", including about 200 security personnel.
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"If anyone disputes accuracy of our data, please share any evidence," the diplomat, who has previously stated that 690 people on the list were "terrorists" armed and funded by the US and Israel, wrote on X. Araghchi's comments come hours after the US president told reporters that 32,000 people were killed during the protests, adding that "the people of Iran have lived in hell" under the theocratic establishment.
The Iranian foreign minister has also been speaking with multiple US media outlets to advocate for a "fair" agreement with Washington over Iran's nuclear programme. The threat of war looms increasingly large over the country and potentially the region, with Serbia on Saturday becoming the latest country to call on all its citizens to immediately leave Iran.
Mai Sato, United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in Iran, has said more than 20,000 civilians may have been killed, but information remains limited amid heavy internet filtering by the state, six weeks after a nationwide communications blackout was imposed.
The US-based HRANA says it has documented more than 7,000 people killed during the nationwide protests, and is investigating nearly 12,000 more cases.
Sato was among 30 special rapporteurs and international human rights experts who signed a joint statement on Friday calling on Iranian authorities to fully disclose the fate and whereabouts of tens of thousands arrested, forcibly disappeared or missing in the aftermath of the nationwide protests, and to halt all related death sentences and executions.
"The true scale of the violent crackdown on Iranian protesters remains impossible to determine at this point," the experts said. "The discrepancy between official figures and grassroots estimates only deepens the anguish of families searching for their loved ones and displays a profound disregard for human rights and accountability."
Source: Qatar Tribune
