Exclusive to Voice of America; An Eyewitness Account of Popular Protests from Najafabad: We Created a Epic

An eyewitness from Najafabad sent a shocking audio file to Voice of America, recounting the widespread participation of various sectors of society in popular protests, the severe repression by the Islamic Republic's forces, and the large-scale killing of protesters in this city. This eyewitness, with a choked voice filled with tears and fear, describes a night when, according to him, 'everyone was on the streets' and ultimately 'they shot everyone.' This account has emerged in the darkness of a 'digital blackout' following years of political dissatisfaction with the Islamic Republic's regime. 'By God, we created an epic,' the eyewitness, who remains anonymous due to fears of identification and arrest, begins his conversation with a heavy sob and states, 'They killed the people, I am very upset.' He calls for the voices of the Iranian people to reach the global community, saying, 'We are tired, come to our aid. By God, we created an epic.' He emphasizes that on January 18, 'everyone was on the streets; all were there; old and young, those wearing hijabs and those without, everyone was there,' and this widespread presence was unimaginable for him and many citizens. According to this witness, on January 18, at the height of the protests, in a small county, 'I don't think anyone stayed at home; everyone, everyone came.' He describes this presence as a 'popular revolution.' From two hours of chanting to shooting, the eyewitness describes the details of the first hours of the protests, saying, 'The 18th was great; everyone was on the streets for two hours, we chanted beautifully and had no problems.' However, according to him, the scene changed rapidly: 'After two hours when everyone had come, we got tired and separated. Then they shot everyone.' He states that in that small urban area, 'in this tiny space, 300 to 400 people were dead,' and he views this scale of killing as a sign of the regime's will to completely suppress the protests. While trying to control his emotions, this witness speaks of the psychological pressure of living under the shadow of repression: 'Our nerves are frayed, and our voices do not reach anyone; do something.' He directly references security risks, adding, 'I might be monitored, they might come and arrest me,' but despite this fear, he emphasizes the necessity of conveying the people's voices to the 'free world' and urges audiences outside Iran to 'please go and tell these stories.' In his account, what has happened in Najafabad and similar cities is not merely 'economic protest' but a political effort to change the power structure that has been met with bullets. He states, 'In the first two days, we created an epic,' and the scale of people's presence was so vast that even the protesters were 'shocked that so many people had come,' but this epic was soon met with widespread killing and an atmosphere of terror and threat. The engineered internet blackout and war with narratives: This eyewitness also refers to the deliberate internet shutdown by the government. According to him, the purpose of this internet cut is to 'prevent the protests from reaching anyone's ears after all these deaths.' Independent data from sources like NetBlocks and Cloudflare confirms that since January 18, Iran has entered a 'nearly nationwide internet blackout,' and on some days, the country has been effectively disconnected from the global network for over 120 hours. This digital blackout, alongside targeted disruptions to satellite communications like Starlink and the implementation of a 'whitelist' for government entities, has been the regime's main tool for concealing the extent of repression in cities like Najafabad, Shiraz, Ahvaz, Sanandaj, Zahedan, and other parts of the country. Reports indicate that alongside this outage, security forces have been collecting satellite dishes, confiscating footage from surveillance cameras, and inspecting people's mobile phones to find images and videos of the protests. The protests that have turned Najafabad into a scene of widespread public presence have emerged from years of political dissatisfaction, structural corruption, lack of civil liberties, and a legitimacy crisis of the regime; in this context, economic problems are only part of the reasons for public anger. Reports indicate that the current wave of protests has become the most severe challenge for the Islamic Republic in recent decades since January 2024. According to the latest data released by human rights organizations, including the 'Human Rights Activists News Agency,' the number of fatalities from the protests across Iran has reached at least around 2,570 to over 3,000, while some other sources estimate this figure even higher, up to 12,000, and some Western sources estimate it to be over 16,000 and even 20,000. These figures include thousands of protesters, dozens of children, and some government forces, alongside tens of thousands of detainees and injured individuals. In such an atmosphere, the voice of a witness from Najafabad, who tearfully states, 'By God, we created an epic,' while simultaneously fearing monitoring and arrest, symbolizes the fundamental conflict between a society demanding political change and a regime that, through a combination of bullets, imprisonment, and digital silence, seeks to erase this demand from history.