Iranian lawmaker says 230 killed in November protests

Iranian lawmaker Mojtaba Zolnouri said about one fifth of those killed were members of the security forces. He said about one quarter of those killed were passers by not involved in the protests, some of whom were shot in the head or chest from close distances. He said 22% of those killed in the unrest had criminal records.

Tehran:An Iranian lawmaker said Monday that 230 people were killed in November’s anti-government protests in Iran, the official news agency reported.

This is the first time a prominent Iranian lawmaker has given a death toll figure for November’s protests. The unrest was the most widespread and violent Iran had seen since the Islamic Revolution in 1979.

IRNA quoted lawmaker Mojtaba Zolnouri, the head of the influential parliamentary committee for national security and foreign policy as saying, “The incidents saw 230 killed."

Zolnouri said about one fifth of those killed were members of the security forces. He said about one quarter of those killed were passers by not involved in the protests, some of whom were shot in the head or chest from close distances. He said 22% of those killed in the unrest had criminal records.

Protesters attacked 92 security, police and public buildings in the course of the unrest, he added.

Amnesty International has said more than 300 people were killed over the four days of unrest in cities and towns across Iran in November, which were sparked by a sharp rise in subsidized gasoline prices.

During the violence and in the days that followed, Iranian authorities blocked access to the internet.

Tehran has yet to release any official statistics about the scale of the unrest, though two weeks ago the government acknowledged that the security forces shot and killed protesters.