Tehran , 10 January (H.S.): Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi issued a stark warning on Friday, cautioning that security forces in the Islamic Republic may perpetrate a massacre under the cover of a sweeping communications blackout following the imposition of a nationwide internet shutdown.

Ebadi, a veteran human rights campaigner living in exile, emphasized on her official Telegram account that the blackout constitutes not a technical failure... it is a tactic designed to obscure regime violence against peaceful demonstrators.

She cited credible reports of hundreds of individuals rushed to a Tehran hospital on Thursday, January 8, suffering severe eye injuries from pellet gun fire, underscoring the escalating brutality of the crackdown.

The protests, now in their thirteenth day since erupting on December 28, 2025, over soaring inflation and economic woes at Tehran's Grand Bazaar, have engulfed all 31 provinces with explicit demands to dismantle the clerical regime.

Monitoring groups like NetBlocks confirmed the internet flatlined to 1% of normal levels by Friday, severing global connectivity and domestic services while telephone lines also faltered, as crowds rallied in Tehran, Esfahan, Shiraz, and Kermanshah.

Norway-based Iran Human Rights reported at least 51 protester deaths—including nine children—over the unrest, with Amnesty International decrying the shutdown as a ploy to conceal grave human rights violations involving metal pellets, beatings, and rifle fire.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in a televised address on Friday, branded protesters terrorists backed by the United States and Israel, vowing intensified action despite U.S. President Donald Trump's expressions of support for demonstrators.

Ebadi urged Western governments and international bodies to demand an immediate halt to live fire on civilians, safeguard hospitals, and restore communications, warning that silence equates to complicity in potential atrocities.

As defiant marches persisted into Saturday amid bonfires and debris-strewn streets, the blackout—deemed Iran's most extreme by cybersecurity experts—left citizens dying in the dark.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar