Iran execute protesters in hospital beds, with fears the death toll now surpassing 30,000 in ongoing crackdown
Protestors have been found with gunshot wounds to the head whilst in their hospital gowns, according to reports.
Protesters hospitalised after the brutal crackdown in Iran are said to have been executed in their hospital beds as Tehran works to secure power following widespread protests.
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Reports state that wounded demonstrators are being executed at point blank range, taken whilst still connected to heart monitors and breathing tubes.
Bodies have been found lined up in medical gowns, with gunshot wounds to the head.
It is understood that at least 16,500 people have been killed by security forces, however there are fears that accurate figures far surpass this, but are being veiled by Tehran.
Speaking to LBC News' Sandy Warr, the Iranian human rights activist Paul Smith said that based on the latest figures he has seen, the death toll of the uprising is at least 30,0000.
"Based on the latest numbers we have on the network of doctors, nurses and health workers across the country, more than 30,000 peoples' deaths have been confirmed.
"There are approximately 350,000 people wounded and around 12,000 people have been blinded - but obviously these figures only include hospitals.
"Many families bury their children in their own gardens out of fear, without even taking them into medical centres.
"The regime provides no information on whether they are detained or have been killed. Based on the available evidence, a more realistic estimate is at least 45,000 people death -some people estimate it to 80,000."
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Some doctors said they attempted to explain that the patients were midway through treatment, but said the security forces were not interested and were taking the patients regardless.
Even those who fled hospital are said to have been hunted down and dealt with by the regime, according to activists.
There are concerns that similar practice is due to possible behind bars, with many other protesters rounded up and thrown into prisons and some reports suggesting secret executions without trial were taking place.
It comes only days after an Iranian soldier was sentenced to death simply for refusing to fire on protesters.
Doctors estimate that at least 80,000 litres of blood has been spilled over the course of the uprising – enough to fill a residential swimming pool.
As the bloodshed continues, Tehran issued a warning against any US intervention, saying it will treat any strikes as an “all out war”.
The threat comes as the US President moves a considerable fleet of US naval resources towards the region - an escalation Mr Smith believes shows a strike is immanent.
"They don't invest that level of build up just to, to use it as a leverage for negotiation. I'm pretty sure within the next week or two we're going to have a war in the Middle east."
He said that although a retaliatory strike would be almost inevitable, it was what the Iranian people wanted.
"Unfortunately it's a bizarre situation that people of a country been taken hostage and basically they beg to be attacked by a foreign country.
"The ordinary people I've managed to talk right now in Iran, they said 'we've done our part, now it's time for Trump to keep his promises' - because we can't go keep going to the street empty handed and getting killed by machine guns.
"People right now in Iran are waiting for an attack."