Tehran's Pars district on January 8: Demonstrations against the regime have been going on for twelve days. Despite the internet being shut down throughout Iran during the evening, crowds have once again gathered at one of the district's squares.
Sina Ashgbousi, who had just turned 16, leaves his mother and father, who are also demonstrating, and stands at the front. Together with about twenty others, they hold each other's hands in a kind of human chain.
Slogans between volleys
Through travel abroad, Sina Ashgbousi had experienced "what freedom really feels like." He dreamed of experiencing the same feeling in his homeland.
He was hopeful, his relative, who wishes to remain anonymous, tells TT by phone.
The idea was that the 16-year-old would soon travel to his relative in exile to continue his studies.
And then, between 9:30 and 10 p.m., they shot all the young people at the front of the line, the relative says.
Footage verified by The New York Times shows security forces firing from a rooftop at protesters in Tehran's Pars district for several minutes. In other clips, slogans can be heard continuing between the volleys.
A video from a nearby hospital, recorded the next day, shows dozens of filled body bags on the floor.
Wiretapped family
Sina Ashgbousi's parents see the blood on the street and try to call their son. Finally, a strange voice answers: Sina has been taken to a hospital. There he is found dead, with a gunshot wound to the stomach and another to the heart, the relative says.
The Ashgbousi family quickly found out where their son was and were able to find the remains. Relatives of other victims have reported having to open body bag after body bag to find their family member among dozens of dead bodies piled up.
In order to bring the body home and bury their son, Sina Ashgbousi's parents had to sign a non-disclosure agreement. Their phones were tapped. Relatives abroad heard indirectly how the 16-year-old had been killed several days later.
The mass shooting in Tehran Pars is just one of many reported massacres across Iran in the first days of mass protests after the internet was shut down. The communication blackout, coupled with the regime's methods of withholding bodies, means that the number of protesters killed in Iran has not yet been determined.
The regime has said that around 3,000 people have been killed. However, according to some estimates, the number could be over 30,000.
The wave of protests began in late December 2025, when shopkeepers took to the streets to express their dissatisfaction with skyrocketing costs and a lowered standard of living. The unrest is rooted in a battered economy with soaring inflation and a currency, the rial, that has collapsed.
The protests rapidly grew in scale and soon encompassed the entire country. Like the wave of protests following the death of Mahsa Zhina Amini at the hands of the so-called morality police in 2022, the anger is directed at the regime at large.
On the evening of January 8, the regime blocked access to the internet and phone services. Thousands of protesters and other civilians were then killed and thousands more were injured. The worst crackdowns occurred on January 8–9, according to testimonies from inside Iran and human rights organizations in exile. Members of the security forces were also killed and injured.
Due to the lockdown, there are no definitive figures on how many people have died. Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has admitted that it is in the "thousands." Sources within Iran's health ministry, as well as doctors in the country, have told various media outlets that the death toll could exceed 30,000.
Tens of thousands of demonstrators arrested during the protests risk the death penalty.
