Video shows bodies piling outside Tehran morgue as rights groups allege mass killings

Video shows bodies piling outside Tehran morgue as rights groups allege mass killings



This screengrab taken from handout video footage released by Iran Press on January 9, 2026, shows pro-government demonstrators chanting slogans in Ardabil, northwest Iran. — AFP pic

Monday, 12 Jan 2026 9:51 AM MYT


TEHRAN, Jan 12 — A video whose location was authenticated by AFP yesterday showed dozens of bodies accumulating outside a morgue south of Tehran, with rights groups saying they were victims of the Iranian authorities’ crackdown on protests.

The footage, geo-located to be from the morgue in Kahrizak just south of the Iranian capital, showed bodies wrapped in black bags on the ground outside, with what appeared to be grieving relatives searching for loved ones.


The video first appeared online on Saturday.

The morgue is formally known as the Forensic Diagnostic and Laboratory Center of Tehran Province.

Rights groups have already drawn attention to the footage from Kahrizak, with the Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) group saying it “shows a large number of people killed during the nationwide protests in Iran”.


The Hengaw group, also based in Norway, said it had itself verified footage showing “dozens of bloodied bodies both inside and outside the Kahrizak morgue”, which shows an “extensive and severe crime”.

Activists have accused security forces of using live fire to crack down on two weeks of protests under cover of an internet shutdown and expressed fear that hundreds may have been killed already. — AFP