The uprising that swept across Iran last month was not the first time Iranians have taken to the streets in massive anti-regime demonstrations, but there was much about the latest round that was sharply different from previous ones. Most ominously, authorities launched a counterattack of unspeakable brutality.
The official death toll released by the government was 3,117, but a U.S.-based Iranian rights advocacy group put the number at nearly 7,000, with another 11,000 reported deaths still under investigation and many more grievously wounded by security forces. One estimate by Iranian medical workers was as high as 30,000 massacred in just a few days. Adding to the cruelty, relatives of the dead are being asked to pay for the bullets that killed their loved ones when they retrieve their bodies from overflowing morgues.
The regime’s ruthlessness was predictable, even if it was shocking in its scale. What was genuinely surprising, however, was the name that emerged from the chants of protesters: that of Reza Pahlavi, son of the deceased former shah of Iran.