Unrest sparked by a 300 percent hike in petrol prices on November 15 morphed into anti-government protest and caused havoc in the country for five days, spurring the authorities to order a vicious crackdown.
Iran ordered a virtual internet shutdown to prevent information and video footage of the protest from getting out of the country leaving human rights organisations including Amnesty unable to reach the country for several days.
As authorities gradually reconnected the country to the web on Monday, Amnesty issued a short statement calling on Iranian people to provide information about the “bloody crackdown of protests” to the watchdog in order to hold the Iranian government accountable.
The organization revised its November 23-reported death toll of 115 civilians.
“140+ Iranian protesters have been killed in 5 days. Iranian security forces shot unarmed people on streets, from rooftops & a helicopter. 1,000+ protesters have been arrested. The internet was blocked to stop the world from seeing this. Watch what's been happening in #Iran,” Amnesty tweeted.
Monday’s updated tally coincided with huge rallies organised by the government and the paramilitary Basij to condemn the protesters and reaffirm their pledge to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
“Believe me, we are in the middle of a big world war and at this moment you are in the process of defeating the Arrogance and believe me the war that raged in our streets in recent days was a global conspiracy,” Hossein Salami the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps told the gathering in Tehran.
Salami then proceeded to threaten the United States, the United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia with annihilation. “You have been struck with our decisive slap and were not able to respond,” Salami said. “If you cross our red lines, we will destroy you.”
