A woman wrapped in an Iranian flag mourns the dead demonstrators in Iran during a minute’s silence in Toronto, Canada.Image: AP
Feb 14, 2026, 10:46Feb 14, 2026, 10:46
In Iran, a month after the brutal repression of protests, statements by a politician caused a stir. Mohammed Seraj, a member of the parliament’s social commission, commented on a report by a student association about 50 still unidentified women’s bodies in the capital Tehran: “Nobody came to look for them, nor did they have any identification documents with them,” the MP told the ILNA news agency.
The organization for legal medicine denied the report, as reported by the state-controlled broadcaster. “All women who died in the events (…) were identified and handed over to their relatives,” it said.
Students report from the morgue
The sociology student association at the renowned Tarbiat Modarres University in Tehran reported about a week ago about a mortuary on the southern edge of the capital. “Who were these fifty women who remain in the morgue in the city of Tehran to this day?” ask the authors on Telegram. “A woman had her teeth clenched hard and her whole face was covered in blood. Fear and anger continued to show on her face,” it said.
According to the radio, the Iranian forensic medicine department said it was not aware of any visit by the student association to the mortuary in question.
Activists: More than 7,000 dead
The latest protests were initially triggered by an economic crisis at the end of December before expanding into a nationwide uprising. Mass protests followed at the beginning of January, which were brutally suppressed. According to the US-based human rights network HRANA, more than 7,000 people were killed, including around 6,500 demonstrators. More than 50,000 people were arrested.
The state, however, spreads a different narrative: mercenaries hired by the arch-enemies USA and Israel are said to have carried out terrorist attacks across the country. According to official information, there were 3,117 deaths. (sda/dpa)
Violent protests in Iran – demonstrators demand the death of the regime
Video: Watson/Lucas Zollinger