Narges Mohammadi Foundation Warns of Mass Killings in Iran; Continued Repression Under Internet Shutdown

Recent nationwide protests in Iran have turned into one of the bloodiest periods of repression in the history of the Islamic Republic, showcasing widespread killings, organized internet shutdowns, and a vast wave of arrests and enforced disappearances. In this context, the Narges Mohammadi Foundation, led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi, released a message describing this situation alongside the fortieth day of Mohammadi's detention and that of dozens of other prominent activists as a clear example of the repressive mechanisms of the Islamic Republic. The text published on the official page of the 'Narges Foundation' highlights Mohammadi's deprivation of access to a lawyer, lack of regular contact with her family, and reports of abuse during her detention, warning of the risk of torture and even the issuance of death sentences for her and other political prisoners in the current closed environment. The 'Narges Foundation' calls on the 'United Nations, international and independent human rights organizations, and democratic governments' to take effective action to immediately stop the repression and executions, ensure the unconditional release of political and ideological prisoners, end the internet shutdown, and allow independent observers and free media access to Iran; demands that have also been reflected in recent resolutions and statements from some governments and special human rights rapporteurs. Narges Mohammadi, a human rights defender and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, was violently arrested again in Mashhad amid a new wave of protests. Reports indicate that she, along with several other activists, including Sepideh Gholian and Hasti Amiri, was assaulted during a memorial for a human rights lawyer and transferred to an unknown detention center. The recent protests began in late Azar 1404 (December 2025) in response to a deep economic crisis, the collapse of the national currency, structural corruption, and chronic political repression, quickly escalating to explicit slogans against the entirety of the Islamic Republic and its leadership. The protests of Dey 1404 (January 2026) are seen as a continuation and intensification of a cycle that began with the uprisings of 1388 (2009), 1396-97 (2017-2018), 1398 (2019), and 1401 (2022), this time accompanied by a much broader scope of government violence and human casualties. Estimates of the total number of deaths in the recent protests vary between approximately 5,000 to 20,000, according to various sources including international media, human rights groups, and medical sources; CBS reported an estimated 12,000 to 20,000 deaths based on activists and medical sources, while some organizations based outside Iran have documented at least 3,400 protester deaths by late Dey. Meanwhile, Reuters reported, citing a senior regime official, that the government's official figures indicate 'more than 5,000' deaths during these protests; this official attributed part of these casualties to security forces, but this admission has significantly narrowed the usual gap between official statistics and independent estimates. The Iran Human Rights Organization and 'Hrana' have reported confirmed deaths exceeding 3,300 to 3,400 by mid-January, while hundreds of other reported killings are still being verified, and due to the internet shutdown and severe information restrictions, it is impossible to fully document all cases. Reports from human rights organizations indicate the detention of tens of thousands across Iran; 'Hrana' has verified over 24,000 arrests as of 28 Dey 1404 (January 2026) and emphasized that the actual number could be much higher. Amnesty International and the 'Center for Human Rights in Iran' have reported a pattern of indiscriminate arrests, nighttime raids on homes, abductions of the injured from hospitals and their transfer to security detention centers, and widespread use of solitary confinement and enforced disappearances; according to this report, among the detainees are children and teenagers aged 14 to 18. These organizations also point to the broadcast of forced confessions by state media, including confessions from several teenage girls to 'leading the riots,' viewing this trend as a clear violation of Iran's commitments under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Since the evening of 18 Dey 1404 (January 2026), Iran has entered a near-total internet blackout that, according to assessments from traffic monitoring organizations like NetBlocks, has lasted at least over 200 hours and then over 280 hours, effectively cutting off a 90 million population country from the outside world. NetBlocks and other observers report that national connectivity dropped to about 1 to 5 percent of normal levels shortly after the shutdown began, with only very limited, controlled, filtered, and selective access to certain specific services available; traffic patterns, including on several specific platforms, indicate a strategy of 'whitening access,' where limited access to certain government-approved services replaces free internet access. Technical and human rights sources confirm that during this blackout, the 'National Information Network' (intranet) was also completely separated from the global internet for periods, with only some domestic services available in a limited manner; a network that has been developed over years with the aim of creating a highly controlled informational environment. Simultaneously, reports indicate that the government has attempted to minimize the possibility of coordinating protests, documenting human rights violations, and family communication with their relatives by restricting messaging apps, implementing multi-layer filtering on VPNs, and even widespread cutting of mobile phones and voice calls.