Father's Search for Son Highlights Brutality of Iran Crackdown in New Documentary

Nine months after the largest massacre of protesters in recent history, a new documentary titled "This Is Our Story" aims to expose the full extent of the Iranian regime's crackdown, bringing the suffering of Iranians to global attention.

The documentary, compiled from over 10,000 videos smuggled out of Iran by citizen journalists, premiers on YouTube and features the gut-wrenching account of Esmail Shokri searching for his 26-year-old son, Sepehr, at the Kahrizak Forensics Centre near Tehran. His repeated cries of "Sepehr, my boy, where are you?" echo through footage of hundreds of corpses of mostly young men and women killed on the orders of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

"This is evidence of the Islamic Republic's crimes. The world needs to see this! Look, world, this isn't a movie – this is real!" Shokri exclaimed, horrified by the scale of the violence. Despite his pleas, the documentary argues that the world has largely ignored the slaughter that occurred between December 28 and January 9, with an estimated 30,000 killed, the majority in the first two days.

Manoto, the opposition channel behind the documentary, spent over six months meticulously reviewing the footage. The film, presented without narration and subtitled in English, relies solely on the raw accounts of survivors who risked their lives to record the events. Kayvan Abbassi, founder of Manoto, urges viewers to consider the terror if their own security forces carried out such killings and if families faced reprisals for mourning their loved ones.

The protests were initially sparked by economic hardship, with Tehran's bazaars closing on December 28 in response to a collapsing currency. The unrest quickly spread, with some demonstrators calling for the return of exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi. The regime's feared Basij paramilitary group responded with extreme violence, escalating from non-lethal methods to live ammunition.

Footage shows snipers on rooftops, and individuals bleeding out from gunshot wounds. The documentary depicts civilians attempting to treat the wounded themselves, fearing arrest or execution if they sought hospital care. One man describes bringing his brother home and removing a bullet, only for him to develop a fever, highlighting the desperate circumstances.

Despite the brutality, resistance continued. One young man in Lorestan Province defiantly told regime forces, "Either kill me – or I'm not leaving." The response was often further violence, with instances of protesters being beaten to death and their bodies left in the street.

As protests grew, the regime intensified its crackdown. On January 8, the day Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi called for mass demonstrations, the internet was reportedly switched off across Iran to prevent the world from witnessing the unfolding massacre. Videos show bodies littering roads, and reports emerge of regime forces trapping protesters in the Rasht Bazaar before setting it alight, killing hundreds. Families were forced to hide the bodies of their children at home, with one mother mourning her 13-year-old daughter.

Roham Barjasteh, an 11-year-old boy, was killed in Razavi Khorasan province. His body was buried secretly at night, with his parents forbidden from attending, an act described as sadistic cruelty. Hospitals and morgues were overwhelmed, with one medical worker overheard stating he had personally processed over a thousand bodies.

The documentary also touches on the aftermath for those who lost loved ones. Esmail Shokri was arrested at his son's grave two months after the massacre, while his wife reportedly faced threats of gang rape as part of the regime's ongoing intimidation tactics.

"This Is Our Story" serves as a testament to the courage of Iranians who risked everything to document their government's actions. Producer Salomeh Seyednia stated, "They risked everything to show us. The least the world can do is watch."