Witness’s name and surname: Withheld
Sex: Male
The place about which he testifies: Withheld
Witness’s status: Witness to firing at people, killing of people, witness to injuries caused by shooting
Type of testimony before the Tribunal: Withheld
16 November, I was sitting in my office when I noticed that several young men were staging demonstrations. They were not throwing stones nor using sticks nor doing anything at all. I joined them I entered the ground from behind where an injured man had fallen and was lying on the ground. I shoved the people aside to see if I could give him first aid. Regretfully, the bullets had hit him on the face and the chest, I could not do anything at all.
There was a burst of fire at a the Square, , between 12 – 1 pm and three-four persons by my side fell to the ground and died. I did not see the burst of fire, I only heard its sound. However, what I saw was police second lieutenant carrying NP5. He loaded his weapon and aimed it at the people. I pleaded to him, “Lieutenant, hold it upward and fire it in the air.” He was standing barely five feet away from me.
In the square there is a traffic police station. Several persons were standing there and filming the crowd. Police officers were firing shots and one person was struck straight in his abdomen.
17 November, On 26th, I wanted to go to the pharmacy and purchase certain things. I saw that several people had assembledI saw a Basiji holding a Kalashnikov obliquely, he shot a man in the neck. That man fell on the spot. A few feet ahead, there was a young man about 18 years old. This boy was holding a food container and had nothing to do with the demonstrations. Suddenly I saw his head explode, he fell in front of me. Even my own clothes became bloodied. It was clear that the bullet had been fired from high above. If I were standing a few steps further, it was possible that the bullet would have hit me. I saw his blood, pieces of flesh, and brains on my clothes. There were two very tall cranes in the street. Shots were being fired from its top.
Those forces were not in uniforms. Each of them carried a tear gas firing weapon in their hands, and they fired the tear gas. The Sepah officers were the leaders of those Basijis. I saw a Sepah MI1 helicopter fly closely above the crowd. It landed at an army camp Militia forces got off the helicopter immediately and moved towards the crowd.
It was 12:30 – 1:00 am, I came close to them by posing as a mentally handicapped person. I saw six men under the age of 25 years being forced to lie on the ground, they were handcuffed. They fired at them from behind. (Those who fired) were plainclothes men. I collected the bullet shells that had fallen from their weapons on the ground. There were some bullets, high-dose hand grenades, and tear gas shells as well.
There was a middle-aged, 50- 55-year-old, man who had a shop. They fired at his shop. He had not even participated in the demonstrations. He was a shopkeeper who had closed his shop to go home when he saw there were demonstrations. They shot him. He died. End of story.
When a person was shot and fell to the ground, they would come and arrest him. An ambulance would appear and they would shove him in it at once and drive away. Ambulance service was there but not for the wounded, it was there to carry away the arrested persons.. One of my friends who works for a Hospital, Shahryar, told me that a girl of about 20 years old had come to the hospital. They had fired two shots at her. I told a friend who was inside the hospital to secretly send those who were brought to the hospital to my house for medical treatment. I started their medical treatment from 16-18 November but continued until two months later. Some of the people, when injured, would go home hoping that they would get well naturally. However, when they developed intense infection or fever, they would come back and try to find a physician. Friends would send them to me for medical treatment. But I was not the only one; there were other physicians too (who did the same as me). At the initial stage, I had four injured persons who were shot by pellet guns. I did not have resources of general anaesthesia at home; I only had Lidocaine, sutures, and bandages. I extracted as many pellets as I could immediately to prevent their penetration or their movement towards the central nervous system. Those that I could not remove, I would leave. I extracted them gradually. I mean, I had divided them in two groups: urgent and non-urgent. I would extract the bullets of those falling in the first group immediately, stitch them, and send them home.
I extracted assault weapon bullets from the bodies of six persons and pellets from the bodies of about 12 to 20 persons. The total number of those I gave medical treatment far exceeded this number. Bullets of assault weapons were shot towards people’s chests, shoulders, hands, and legs; they were mostly on the shoulders and the sides. Pellets, 0.7 to 0.62 size, had struck all over their body parts. Since the pellets were very small, when they exploded, they had no particular targets. They fired it so the people would fall like leaves from a tree. Those who were struck by them in the eye or the coronary artery in the neck had problems, they lost their eyesight or died. I had two such cases (of blindness) and their files are available. I had no case of death. All the people who came to me were successfully treated. I had some medical resources, such as the oxygen capsule, sutures, and bandages. Some of it was purchased and brought to me by people and I would use it on them. For instance, one vial of Lidocaine is used for more than 60 cases of local anaesthetics. I used about 24-25 Lidocaine vials of 100 ml. I am not an autopsy expert, but what I noticed is that the intensity of the blow and the type of wound inflicted on them was caused, I believe, by shots fired from a long distance. I know a pellet-gun victim. He was up close because the number of pellets which struck his body was high. The more the distance, the more the pellets spread out. When you extract 20-30 pellets from the body of a person, it is clear that they were shot from a short distance.
The information related to wounded persons transferred to the hospital was recorded since their arrival and admission by the Intelligence Department, it was sent to the police officers stationed there. At that time, Persons wounded in the protests were sent to our hospital. I saw and heard that they took away the wounded persons from the hospital. Every night, an ambulance would come and haul away the wounded persons. I also know about other hospitals . I heard that a number of Basijis were stationed around the hospital. There were plainclothes men and policemen as well. Those whose houses were located close to the hospital were not even allowed to come out of their homes. (Those who transferred the wounded) were in plainclothes. Vehicles and ambulances were of the Iran University Faculty of Medical Sciences. For that reason, we tried to stop the injured persons from being referred to the hospital because we knew what would happen to them. I mean, I tried to provide medical treatment to the wounded at my home as far as it was possible for me and entailed no risk of life for them.
There were a group of persons whose corpses were brought to (our) hospital. Bullets had struck them directly on their heads or chests. (During those few days) about 100 to 120 bodies were brought (to our hospital). I know about another hospital where 170 dead bodies were brought in two days.
