Horror in Iran as ‘morgues are overflowing’ and protesters ‘shot directly in the head’ | World | News
Bodies are piling up at overwhelmed hospitals in Iran as major protests in the country continue, according to reports. The BBC confirmed that the morgue was overflowing at Poursina Hospital in Rasht city after at least 70 bodies were brought there overnight. Elsewhere, a medic at a Tehran hospital said their staff was in crisis mode after protesters were brought in with “direct shots to the heads” and “to their hearts as well”.
The bloodshed comes as Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has signalled a coming clampdown, despite US warnings. Tehran escalated its threats Saturday, with Iran’s attorney general, Mohammad Movahedi Azad, warning that anyone taking part in protests will be considered an “enemy of God”, a death penalty charge.
The statement carried by Iranian state television said even those who “helped rioters” would face the charge.
It said: “Prosecutors must carefully and without delay, by issuing indictments, prepare the grounds for the trial and decisive confrontation with those who, by betraying the nation and creating insecurity, seek foreign domination over the country.
“Proceedings must be conducted without leniency, compassion or indulgence.”
At least 65 people have died and more than 2,300 arrested amid the protests in the last two weeks, according to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency.
A hospital worker in the capital city, Tehran, said there have been so many wounded patients that staff have not had the time to perform CPR.
She told the BBC: “Around 38 people died. Many as soon as they reached the emergency beds… direct shots to the heads of the young people, to their hearts as well. Many of them didn’t even make it to the hospital.
“The number was so large that there wasn’t enough space in the morgue; the bodies were placed on top of one another. After the morgue became full, they stacked them on top of one another in the prayer room.”
Iran has also severed the internet connections and telephone lines across the country amid protests over the regime’s handling of the tanking economy.
Just after 8pm Thursday, Iran’s 85 million people were disconnected from the rest of the world. Now, the population is limited in the sharing of images and witness accounts of the nationwide protests.
