Iranian exiles in Turkey scramble to find news from home

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+ MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST: One month after Iran's government brutally crushed protests, it is still unclear how many people were killed. The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency relies on a network of sources inside Iran. It has identified nearly 7,000 people but believes the total death toll could be much higher. More than 51,000 people have been arrested in the aftermath - that's according to the same group - with at least 300 people making forced confessions. In neighboring Turkey, a community of activists in exile is trying to understand what happened and how to help. Durrie Bouscaren has this report. DURRIE BOUSCAREN, BYLINE: A couple of weeks ago, Somaye's sister had a question. SOMAYE: (Speaking Farsi). BOUSCAREN: Her sister is a doctor in Iran, who works at a hospital that has been forbidden to treat protesters. Somaye requested NPR only use her first name because she fears for her sister's security. Her sister was trying to find a way to get her patients out of Iran and into Turkey without passing the metal detectors at the border gate. SOMAYE: (Through interpreter) Because some of them have bullets in their body - if you want to cross the border, the detectors would show the metal is inside the body. BOUSCAREN: The Iranian government has been so intent at tracking down protesters and the doctors who treated them that her sister took a machine from the hospital so she could do blood transfusions at home. SOMAYE: (Through interpreter) They check the blood type, and they transfer the blood between family members. They take it from one person. They give it to another person because they can't even go to hospital to take the bullet out. BOUSCAREN: Now, she says, her sister's only hope is to keep her patients alive until they can somehow leave the country. But it's been a month now. And her sister recently told her one neighbor has an infection that's setting in badly. SOMAYE: (Through interpreter) Everybody's helping each other. People are helping each other because there's no other help coming from outside. They have to. They have no one else. BOUSCAREN: Although the internet blackout has slowly begun to lift, activists in Iran are struggling to get information out to the rest of the world. I meet activist Saeed Seifi at a cafe popular with Iranians who live in Istanbul. It's full of chintz armchairs and glasses of hot tea. SAEED SEIFI: So this is our website, Iran Prison Atlas. BOUSCAREN: These days, Seifi spends his days at his laptop, painstakingly making a list of names. SEIFI: It's about their cases, and we have also timeline for them. BOUSCAREN: Rights groups say more than 50,000 people have been arrested in a sweeping crackdown following the protests in January. And Seifi, a former political prisoner himself, is part of a group trying to identify them all. SEIFI: (Through interpreter) Many are wounded. They don't have access to medical treatment, and they're not allowed to contact their families. We have no access to them to see their condition. BOUSCAREN: Seifi says so many people have been arrested. They're being held in warehouses and private residences across the country, not formal prisons. Some, he says, are in danger of execution. SEIFI: (Through interpreter) We are recording these human rights violations to hold the people who have done this responsible for their actions. We record so they can be held accountable. BOUSCAREN: This work has caught the attention of the Iranian government. One Iranian activist in Turkey, who requested we not use his name, says he has received dozens of death threats in recent weeks. UNIDENTIFIED ACTIVIST: (Through interpreter) The messages I receive - some of them say it doesn't matter where in the world you are, we'll find you and kill you. BOUSCAREN: He says he's sure that the death toll from the protests is much higher than previously reported because people are under so much pressure to stay silent. SEIFI: (Through interpreter) The level of fear they're creating for these families - it's so high. This is the main reason it's impossible to get precise statistics. People are too scared to even share the name of their loved one who was killed. BOUSCAREN: He says that's why it's so important to record every single one. For NPR News, I'm Durrie Bouscaren, Istanbul. (SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Copyright &copy; 2026 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record. 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