How the Iran uprising unfolded and what happened to the victims of the crackdown

Cause of death

In almost all the cases we have reviewed, it’s clear that the vast majority of victims were killed by gunfire. But our reporting also reveals inconsistencies in how the regime is officially recording how they died.

Sourena Golgoun was 18, and lived on the coast. In his last Instagram post, from November last year, he said, “another year passed with all its good and bad”.

Just eight weeks later, the young chemical engineering student, who loved karate and playing piano, would be dead.

Sourena Golgoun playing piano

“They shot him from behind. The bullet tore his heart and lungs, and he died at the spot,” Mohammad Golgoun, Sourena Golgoun‘s cousin, told Sky News.

Mohammad claims the authorities threatened people coming to the morgue to collect the bodies of loved ones.

“They put pressure to say… [victims] were killed by terrorists, not with the IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps),” said Mohammad. “We know that it’s not true, we know it.”

Iranian authorities blame the unrest on foreign enemies, accusing people they call terrorists of attacking security forces.

In a letter to the UN Secretary General on 14 January, Iran’s foreign minister wrote: “Peaceful protests started from 28 December 2025 on economic grounds were sabotaged by terrorist elements who turned them into armed riots.

“The high casualties reflect the level of self-restraint that was exercised by the law enforcement officers on one hand, and the level of violence that was practised by terrorist elements against them on the other.”

Amir Ali Haydari, 18, attended a protest in Kermanshah with his classmates on 8 January, and never came home.

“He was shot in the heart, and as he was taking his last breath, they hit him in the head with the butt of a gun so many times that his brain was scattered on the ground,” his cousin, Diako Haydari, told Sky News.

Diako says his death certificate listed his cousin’s cause of death as a fall from a high height.

“The misrepresentation of causes of death is not new,” says human rights lawyer Leila Alikarami. “What is striking today is the apparent scale and consistency of this practice.

“When similar causes of death appear repeatedly in cases where witness testimony, medical evidence, or video footage point to shootings or violent repression, it strongly suggests a deliberate effort to conceal state responsibility.

“From a legal perspective, this undermines the right to truth, obstructs accountability, and violates Iran’s obligations under international human rights law.”