The number of people killed in the protests in Iran has exceeded 500, a US-based news agency announced today, quoted by the Associated Press.
"Human Rights Activists" reported today that 538 people have died in two weeks of demonstrations - 490 demonstrators and 48 security forces. More than 10,600 people have been detained.
The agency warned that the death toll is likely to continue to rise.
These figures have not been independently verified.
However, the death toll according to "Human Rights Activists" is significantly higher than yesterday. At that time, the agency reported at least 116 dead.
Earlier today, the Norway-based non-governmental organization "Human Rights in Iran" announced that the death toll from the two-week-long demonstrations has risen to 192.
The number, which has also not been independently verified, represents a sharp rise from the organization's previous death toll of 51. The organization warned that the death toll could be even higher because the internet connection in Iran has been down for several days, making it difficult to count.
It was previously reported that at least 420 protesters have been killed in the past 15 days during anti-government demonstrations in Iran.
As of Sunday, at least 203 people had died in the protests, including 41 security personnel, according to a detailed count provided to CNN by Skylar Thompson, deputy director of the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA).
At least eight of the protesters killed were under 18 years old. HRANA also reported that at least 3,285 people were arrested.
It remains unclear whether the number given by HRANA fully captures the scale of the victims, given the nationwide shutdown of internet access and telephone lines by the authorities.
The old town continues to be without internet. “I have never, ever seen anything like this.“ Expert Says Iran's Internet Shutdown Is Unprecedented in Scope
According to a cybersecurity expert, Iran's internet shutdown is unprecedented in scope and has affected “every single channel of communication”.
Amir Rashidi, director of cybersecurity and digital rights at the Iran-focused human rights organization Miaan Group, told CNN on Sunday that he “has never, ever seen anything like this”.
“It's not about shutting down the internet anymore. It's about shutting down every single channel of communication – mobile phone, landline, text messaging.“
Although authorities in Iran have imposed internet shutdowns in the past, the latest shutdown has some key differences, Rashidi said.
“2019 was the worst internet shutdown we've ever seen... but the local network was working, the internal network was working,“ he said. “Every other shutdown they've had, the internal network worked, text messages worked, phone calls worked.“
Meanwhile, Rashidi said the ongoing shutdown has brought Iran's internal internet network to a standstill, as well as email, some websites and other communication channels.
Even media outlets affiliated with the Iranian state and security apparatus appear to have been affected by the internet shutdown, with significantly fewer updates than usual since the shutdown began.
Doug Madori, director of internet analytics at network intelligence platform Kentik, which studies internet outages, agreed that the ongoing shutdown feels different than in previous years.
“This is among the two most frequent shutdowns of all time for Iran, and maybe number one, depending on your criteria,“ he told CNN on Saturday. “This is a key moment for the country.“