Nearly 50 women and children killed in Iran protests, rights group says
Shafaq News– Tehran
Iranian security forces have killed at least 21 children and 26 women during nearly three weeks of anti-government protests, a rights group said on Sunday, as demonstrations in the country appeared to ease.
In a report, Hengaw Organization, which monitors rights abuses in Iran’s Kurdish regions, documented seven additional children were killed by direct gunfire today, as well as six more females, including a pregnant woman.
Six more women, one pregnant, killed in Iran’s crackdownSholeh SotoudehSara BehboodiZahra BagheriSanam PourbabayiAida AghiliZiba Dastjerdi https://t.co/CLF4tSJK5l
— Hengaw Organization for Human Rights (@Hengaw_English) January 18, 2026
The victims included Kurdish, Turkish, and Lor children killed in Fars, Kermanshah, Isfahan, and Alborz provinces, while women were killed in Gilan, Isfahan, Razavi Khorasan, and Tehran, Hengaw added.
Iranian authorities did not release official data regarding the protest casualties; however, Reuters said that more than 5,000 were killed.
The protests began on December 28, 2025, following a sharp currency collapse, and spread to 187 cities across all 31 provinces. Kurdish and Lor-populated provinces, including Kermanshah, Lorestan, and Ilam, saw some of the “heaviest violence,” according to Hengaw.
Eyewitness videos document crackdowns and mass destruction in RashtA resident of Rasht who recently returned to his home abroad has published several videos on Instagram showing large sections of the city’s streets and bazaar burned and destroyed during the recent protests. He… pic.twitter.com/esHRBHum0j
— Hengaw Organization for Human Rights (@Hengaw_English) January 18, 2026
Earlier, the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) reported an overall toll of more than 3,300 people killed nationwide as of January 17. Verification efforts, the agency explained, were hampered by the nationwide internet blackout, with hundreds of additional deaths still “under review.”
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei previously acknowledged that “several thousands” had been killed, the first such admission by the country’s top authority, while blaming US President Donald Trump for inciting the unrest.
Read more: Iran’s protests between economic crisis and political contestation
