The massive repression that has been affecting peaceful demonstrations for the past two weeks is increasingly turning into a massacre of innocents.

Due to the shutdown of the internet and telephone connections, it has become extremely difficult to communicate with the cities where demonstrations continue despite brutal repression.

Iranian Kurdistan, where repressive forces are quick to pull the trigger, is bearing the full brunt of this repression. The first four victims of this new cycle of protests were killed on January 3 in Malekshahi, in the Kurdish province of Ilam. Since the general strike launched on January 8 by the Kurdistan Bloc, bringing together all Kurdish political parties and followed on a very large scale, the repression has become more violent and more widespread, striking indiscriminately, including children and adolescents.

Across Iran, according to estimates by Iranian NGOs, several thousand people have been killed and over 20,000 arrested. The NGO Iran Human Rights released a provisional death toll of 3,428 protesters killed as of January 14, 2026.

Behind these numbers are shattered lives, young people cut down in the prime of life, and families enduring immense suffering while struggling to survive under a regime that massacres its youth in order to remain in power.

Here are a few representative portraits of these martyrs of freedom:

Robina Aminian (23), Kurdish student at Shariati Technical University (Iranian Polytechnic), killed in Tehran on January 8, 2026

Rebin Moradi (17), Kurdish student and football player, killed in Tehran on January 8, 2026

Emirali Heidari (17), Kurdish student, killed in Kermanshah on January 8, 2026

Erfan Faraji (18), Kurdish student, killed in Kahrizak on January 7, 2026

Hossein Sherkol, killed in Isfahan on January 8, 2026

Five Kurdish demonstrators, including a 17-year-old young man, killed by direct gunfire during demonstrations in Tehran on January 8, 2026:

Alireza Seidi, Borhan Seidi, Salam Mirani, Ebrahim Ahmadpourian, and Mohammad Zamani.

Golaleh Mahmoudi Azar from Mahabad, killed in Tehran on January 8, 2026

Zahra Moradi from Boukan, killed in Tehran on January 8, 2026

Siavash Shirzad from Boukan, killed in Tehran on January 8, 2026

Erfan Alizadeh from Sirvan, killed in Tehran on January 8, 2026

Ali Abbasi from Gilan-e Gharb (Gilan), killed in Tehran on January 8, 2026