The slideshow lasted for hours, they said, adding that many of the victims’ injuries were so severe they could not be identified. One man’s face was so swollen his eyes were barely visible. Another man still had a breathing tube in his mouth, suggesting he died after receiving medical treatment.
Some victims were so badly injured that their families asked to see the pictures again and to zoom in on their faces to make sure it was really them, we were told. At other times people recognised their loved ones instantly and were seen collapsing to the floor, screaming.
Many photos showed unzipped body bags with papers laid close to their faces, identifying them by name, ID number or date of death. In some cases, we were told, the only identifier was a bank card laid on top of a body bag – the victims’ last remaining possession.
BBC Verify has separately corroborated videos from the same mortuary that demonstrate the violence perpetrated against protesters. One shows the body of what appears to be a child, while another shows a man with a clear gunshot wound in the middle of his head. Both videos are too distressing to show.
Some Iranians have been posting the names of victims killed by security forces when they manage to connect to the internet through Starlink or even using networks from neighbouring countries, though these opportunities are incredibly rare.
We checked the names of victims identified in the mortuary against social media posts reporting the names of the dead and found five matches, but are not revealing the names as we cannot contact the victims’ families.
















































