Eyewitness accounts from Iran have surfaced, alleging severe abuses including sexual assaults on detained teenagers and demands for exorbitant fees—up to 10 billion rials—from families wishing to reclaim the bodies of deceased protesters.
The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI-US) informed Fox News Digital on Wednesday that such “barbarity” persists throughout the country, with allegations of detainees being killed in custody and their remains being incinerated.
These disturbing reports emerge as the Iranian government announced it had effectively quelled widespread unrest that had gripped the nation for weeks.
The demonstrations, which began on December 28, were ignited by public outrage over political oppression, economic struggles, and state brutality, rapidly spreading across Iran.
In an image captured on January 8, 2026, Iranian protesters are seen taking to the streets in Tehran, expressing their discontent over the plummeting currency value. (Image: Stringer/WANA/Reuters)
“The unrest has concluded,” stated Iran’s Prosecutor General Mohammad Movahedi, as reported by the judiciary’s Mizan News Agency.
“And we must be grateful, as always, to the people who extinguished this sedition by being in the field in a timely manner,” he added, according to The New York Times.
The regime’s claims emerged on day 25 of the protests with the number of confirmed fatalities reaching 4,902, and the number of deaths still under review standing at 9,387.
The total number of arrests has risen to 26,541, the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said.
Demonstrators burn a poster depicting Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during a rally in support of anti-government protests in Iran, in Holon, Israel, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
The France-based Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) also said it received information indicating that some families were forced to pay sums of up to 10 billion rials to recover the bodies of their relatives.
In many cases, funeral ceremonies were held under heavy security control in the hometowns of those killed.
Some families were reportedly subjected to threats and pressure to falsely attribute responsibility for the killings to protesters.
KHRN further said that two protesters, including a 16-year-old, said they were sexually assaulted by Iranian security forces who detained them in Kermanshah, according to reports.
Iranian security forces allegedly killed detainees and burned bodies during protests, with clashes continuing in Kermanshah, Rasht and Mashhad despite government claims. (NCRI)
Meanwhile, NCRI’s Ali Safavi said eyewitnesses reported that “several young women and men were forced to undress, so the military could see whether they had pellet wounds.”
“There has been barbarity with people who were detained. When they were killed, their bodies were burned,” he added.
Safavi also said clashes continued in multiple cities Tuesday night, including “Kermanshah where protesters and armed units of the IRGC fought in parts of the city.”
“There was the same in Rasht and Mashhad where the people and the regime will not return to the status quo even if the uprisings have slowed down. This is because of the blood of thousands of martyrs on their hands.”
“The regime is still in power, and it won’t abandon brutal and bloody suppression so there is no pathway to a velvet revolution in Iran.”
“The shoes and sneakers seen left along the sidewalks remind us of the 30,000 MEK members and Iranian prisoners who were hanged during the 1988 massacre based on a fatwa by Khomeini,” Safavi added.
