Iran protest death toll said to be at least 12,000

More than 12,000 people are feared dead in Iran after a sweeping crackdown on anti-regime protests, with CBS Newsreporting on Tuesday that sources inside and outside the country believe the toll could be as high as 20,000 and newly verified video showing hundreds of bodies stacked at a morgue near Tehran. The true scope of the bloodshed has been obscured by a near-total shutdown of internet and phone service imposed by Iran’s rulers over the past five days, with only limited outgoing calls allowing word of the killings to leak out, according to the report.

Activist networks citing medical sources around the country told the network they now believe the death toll stands at a minimum of 12,000 and could reach 20,000, even as an unnamed Iranian official told Reuters some 2,000 people had been killed since the unrest erupted Dec. 28.

The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency said on Tuesday that it has confirmed 2,403 protester deaths, and that 18,434 people have been detained. HRANA also said that 1,134 people with severe injuries have been reported.

In one indication of the scale of the crackdown, CBS News reported it had verified video posted online Tuesday showing at least 366 and likely more than 400 bodies of slain protesters crammed into a morgue in a Tehran suburb, many bearing gunshot, shotgun and other severe wounds as relatives crowded around trying to identify them. (Read More)