The flow of information out of Iran has been heavily disrupted by the regime’s internet blackout. While the restrictions have limited what reaches the outside world, their most immediate and severe impact has been felt by those inside the country, according to Rebin Rahmani of the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN).
Families have been left unable to confirm the safety of their loved ones. Social media platforms have been shut down, phone calls have been blocked, and authorities have begun removing satellite dishes from private homes. Rahmani said the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has also been deployed at the entry points of major cities, effectively restricting movement and further isolating communities.
“The internet has been blacked out for one week. They also cut the telephone lines, and now they’re also trying to prevent the only way that people get information from outside Iran, which is the satellite dishes…they’re bringing those down as well,” he explained.
The communications blackout has coincided with a sharp escalation in violence. While regime officials confirmed last week that some 3,000 people have been killed in the unrest, Tehran has used the absence of international monitoring to shape the narrative around the casualties. Authorities have claimed that roughly 500 of those killed were security officials, as previously reported by Reuters.
Rahmani: Families forced to sign false statements, coerced over protester deaths
Rahmani said the network has documented attempts to coerce families into supporting this version of events. In at least two cases confirmed by KHRN, families were forced to sign statements declaring their deceased relatives were members of the Basij paramilitary forces. These signatures were required as part of a payment package in exchange for the return of the bodies.
In other cases, families were compelled to sign documents stating their loved ones had been killed by protesters or through other causes, even when bullet wounds were visible. According to Rahmani, some families were also asked to pay between 700 million and one billion Iranian tomans to recover the bodies of those killed.
Stationing the IRGC outside of hospitals and arresting protesters seeking treatment, the medical sector has also been deeply impacted by the regime’s attempts to repress minorities.
The scope of detentions has expanded alongside the violence. Speaking to The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday, Rahmani said the network had confirmed the detention of 2,000 Kurds. The fate of nearly 200 others remains unknown. With online communication cut off and authorities refusing to provide information, families often do not know which detention centers their relatives are being held in.
In some cases, they do not know whether those detained are still alive or among the thousands of unclaimed bodies. Among the 200 missing are at least 18 children, some of whom were reportedly taken from hospital beds after being severely beaten during protests.
Rahmani placed these developments within a broader pattern. The Islamic regime has frequently used periods of unrest to target minorities. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has previously complained that Tehran employed executions “as a tool of state intimidation,” with a “disproportionate impact on ethnic minorities and migrants.”
An anonymous Iranian official confirmed to Reuters that the most intense unrest occurred in ethnic Kurdish areas in the northwest, aligning with reports from human rights groups that regime forces used live fire against protesters. Despite the blackout and the risks involved, the network has continued its documentation efforts.
Rahmani said KHRN has confirmed the identities of 53 of at least 150 Kurdish protesters killed by the regime. Children are among those identified.
“Thousands of people are being killed, and this time the killings is so unprecedented. It’s so widespread, it’s unprecedented in Iran, and the reason why the regime is cutting the Internet,” Rahmani said.
“The Internet shutdown is because they want to prevent the leakage of these videos, footage, and images to outside Iran through the internet.”
Iran has “always been repressing the people, but this time, the difference is that a massacre is taking place,” he continued. “From the information we get from cities like Tehran and Kermanshah, and other cities, they are opening fire with military weapons on protesters, and they are committing a massacre. It’s unprecedented.”
The risks facing detainees remain acute. Rahmani warned that many of those whose whereabouts are unknown were likely taken to detention centers operated by Iran’s Intelligence Ministry or the IRGC’s intelligence arm. Before the internet shutdown, sources told the network that 250 protesters were detained and beaten by special units in one of the country’s largest prisons.
A Kurdish political prisoner told the network that one woman, who had sustained severe leg injuries, was left in prison without receiving any medical treatment. The network has also confirmed the death of at least one protester after he was beaten in prison and said it is investigating initial reports of another death. It is currently unclear whether that individual was beaten before or after being transferred to a detention center.
Some protesters who were later released told the network they had been tortured and threatened with execution. No official charges were filed against them.