Crackdown on the Dey uprising in Semnan: snipers on the Friday prayer leader's office and a women's dormitory

New information on the crackdown on the Dey uprising of January 2026 in Semnan province shows that on the night of 8 January the Islamic Republic's armed forces placed snipers and heavy weapons on the roofs of the Semnan state broadcaster building, the provincial Friday prayer leader's office and the "Maryam" women's dormitory, and that live ammunition was fired at protesters from these positions. Iran International published these details in its new investigation into the Dey uprising, based on accounts from witnesses, people present at the protests and videos.

According to these accounts, a machine gun was also mounted on the Semnan state broadcaster building, and officers aimed directly at protesters' heads and eyes. A day later, on 9 January, security forces raided the Kowsar student dormitory in Semnan, beat students with batons, fired tear gas and arrested a number of them.

Hospitals: from treatment to identifying protesters

Witnesses say that from 8 to 12 January security agents were present at Kowsar Hospital in Semnan and other medical centres. Staff linked to security bodies recorded the details of wounded people arriving with pellet or live-bullet wounds and passed them to the security agencies. According to these witnesses, some of the wounded were arrested on arrival at hospital or before their treatment was complete, and in some cases vital surgery for wounded protesters was blocked.

Shahroud and the Basij bases

In Shahroud, according to witnesses, officers on motorcycles fired military weapons at people in the streets. Detainees taken to Basij bases were shot in the legs with pellets from about one metre away, wounds that led to torn tendons. Detainees were taken with bags over their heads to detention centres of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) intelligence organisation and have spoken of severe torture and ethnic and gender-based humiliation. Surveillance drones, armoured vehicles and widespread internet shutdowns were other tools of this crackdown.

The Dey protests in Semnan province spread to the cities of Semnan, Shahroud, Garmsar and Damghan. The number of those killed and detained in the province has not yet been fully recorded.

The record of the crackdown on the Dey uprising

The account from Semnan is part of a picture that keeps growing more complete months after the Dey uprising: Peyman Ghadiri, a protester from Gharchak, died after nine months in a coma, and Amnesty International has warned that at least 20 protesters of the Dey uprising are at imminent risk of execution.

In Semnan, the roofs of the Friday prayer leader's office and a women's dormitory became sniper positions against protesters.