Iranian security forces are deliberately firing at protesters’ heads to cause them debilitating injuries, local doctors have claimed, citing wounds inflicted on hundreds of patients they have treated.
Over 400 eye wounds from gunshots have been documented at a Tehran hospital by an ophthalmologist working there, according to the Guardian.
The British newspaper reported Tuesday that it received three messages from doctors about conditions in hospitals, which they say have been overwhelmed by demonstrators with gunshot wounds — most of them to the eyes and head.
Security forces have been seen using shotguns to fire metal pellets at protesters, as well as rifles with more lethal ammunition, according to the report.
"[Security forces] are deliberately shooting at the head and the eyes. They want to damage the head and the eyes so they can no longer see, the same thing they did in [2022]," one of the doctors was quoted as saying, referring to anti-government protests at the time.
According to the doctor, many of the injured had to have their eyes removed and were blinded as a result.
"Eyes were hit by birdshot pellets, and it was deliberate; they are shooting to kill," he said.
The demonstrations across Iran
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began in late December over an economic crisis, but have come to include mass calls for the fall of the regime.
A wave of injured people arriving for treatment, which spiked after Iran cut off internet access last Thursday, has left hospitals looking "like a war zone," the doctor said.
"It’s like in the war movies where you see the injured soldiers getting treated on the open field," he said. "We don’t have blood, we don’t have enough medical supplies."
Security forces occasionally enter the medical centers to arrest injured protesters, he said.
Another doctor described treating injured protesters outside in the grounds of the hospital despite freezing temperatures, as there was no space left in the wards.
The US-based Abdorrahman Boroumand Center for Human Rights also accused Iranian authorities of seeking to intimidate protesters with mutilating injuries to the face and genitals.
"The evidence demonstrates that even when utilizing ’less-lethal’ weapons, the Islamic Theocratic
Republicdeliberately targets vital organs, transforming these tools into instruments of systematic mutilation and permanent disability to terrorize protesters," a spokesperson said in the Guardian report.
Doctors who contacted the newspaper said they suspect the official corpse count from Iranian authorities of around 2,000 was far below the actual number of people killed across the country. Estimates from opposition rights groups outside Iran have been much higher.
The report cited a Tehran protester who said he was at a non
Multiple unverified videos posted to social media purport to show volleys of gunfire at rallies in various locations around Iran, often with people seen being hit and falling to the ground.
Other videos show scores of bodies collected in locations, some in body bags.
A doctor who treated injured protesters in Iran but has since left the country similarly told the US-based opposition group the Center for Human Rights in Iran that the toll is much higher than is being reported.
"The images and data broadcast by the international media do not represent even one percent of the reality, because the information simply does not reach them," said the doctor, who spoke with the CHRI in an interview published Monday.
The doctor also reported that authorities were arresting injured protesters in hospitals.
"If someone came in with a gunshot wound, security forces would collect their first and last name, national ID number, and any information they could, to follow up later," he said.