Casualties of the Iranian Revolution

rdf:langString Casualties of the Iranian Revolution

rdf:langString The real and imaginary human rights violations and casualties of anti-Shah forces during the Iranian Revolution, such as Black Friday massacre at Jaleh Square and Cinema Rex fire in Abadan. were blamed on the Shah's forces and contributed directly to his overthrow. Observers differ on how many died. The Islamic government uses the figure of 60,000 killed; in reference to this figure, the military historian Spencer C. Tucker notes that "Khomeini's regime grossly overstated the revolution's death toll for propaganda purposes". The sociologist Charles Kurzman, drawing on later more detailed records from the Islamic Republic, believes the number was closer to 2,000-3,000. Tucker explains that the consensus of historians regarding estimated deaths during the Iranian Revolution (from January 1978 to February 1979), numbers between 532 and 2,781. The number of protesters and political prisoners killed after the fall of the Shah by the new Islamic Republic as it consolidated power is estimated by human rights groups to be several thousand. According to Tucker's estimations, in the period of 1980 to 1985, between 25,000 to 40,000 Iranians were arrested, 15,000 Iranians were tried and 8,000 to 9,500 Iranians were executed.