Shocking footage shared from Iran appears to show scores of bodies in black bags strewn across a forensic facility in the capital, Tehran.
It comes as rights groups warn that well over 500 people have been killed in a bloody government crackdown after two weeks of nationwide protests calling for regime change.
Five separate clips shared by activists online show bodies, some bloodied and just in their underwear, littering the compound of the facility, where identification and death certificates are reportedly being issued.
Mourners are seen sobbing uncontrollably, some collapsing on the ground, as they move between the dead who are laid out inside several warehouses and even along an internal road in Tehran.
Two Iranian activist accounts, which have become credible sources of images smuggled out of the country, named the location as the Kahrizak forensic laboratory. They separately wrote that the regime had summoned civilians there to identify their dead.
With a nationwide international blackout in place, The Independent was unable to verify the footage, but matched parts of the buildings in the videos to satellite imagery of the sprawling facility, which is located just 20 km south of the city centre.
It comes as more than 544 people, 496 of them protesters, have been confirmed killed, according to US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), which has accurately reported on past unrest in Iran.
The true death toll is expected to be higher, as verification is near impossible under a total communications blackout. Only people with access to satellite technology, or who have left Iran, are able to relay information.
HRANA said more than 10,600 people have also been detained over the two weeks of protests.
Even Iranian state television has aired footage of dozens of body bags on the ground at Tehranâs coronerâs office, though it claimed the dead were victims of âarmed terroristsâ.
Nationwide protests against Iranâs authoritarian regime erupted two weeks ago when the local currency, the rial, spiralled, sending costs soaring.
HRANA said the rallies have now spread to all 31 provinces of the country. Video footage shared from around the country shows thousands taking to the streets in multiple cities calling for the downfall of the ruling clerics and even the return to the former Pahlavi royal dynasty that was ousted in the 1979 revolution that heralded in the Islamic Republic. In several clips, the sound of continuous gunfire can be heard in the background.
Eyewitness accounts shared with activistsâ Twitter accounts via Starlink describe widespread slaughter. One person, reportedly speaking from the Narmak neighbourhood in the north east of the capital, said they saw the authorities âwashing the blood… off the asphalt with high pressure water after massacring themâ.
Another added that mobile and landline calls are not working and that the regime is sending texts warning citizens not to leave their homes because âarmed terrorists are outâ. Shops are empty and food is running out.
In the west of Iran on Thursday, the last time most areas had mobile network access, one man told The Independent that fuel was also scarce. âThe situation is terrible, but everyone is optimistic that the regime will fall,â he added.
Iranâs embattled regime has faced mounting international pressure as the violence escalates.
Iranâs foreign minister alleged on Monday that nationwide protests in his country âturned violent and bloody to give an excuseâ for Donald Trump to intervene. Abbas Araghchi offered no evidence for his claim. The regime has yet to release an official casualty list.
Trump, who has threatened to strike Iran, said on Sunday the regime has proposed negotiations. He is due to meet his own officials on Tuesday to consider option.
Iran has warned it would retaliate if attacked, but it is unclear how that would be possible. Most of its air defences were destroyed in a disastrous 12 day war with Israel last year.
Israeli and American forces targeted military infrastructure and nuclear facilities, killing several top military commanders and nuclear scientists.
