Iranian security forces have raided the homes of at least five families of protesters killed in January 2026 demonstrations over the past two weeks, seizing personal belongings including clothes, diaries, books and even children’s dolls, according to Iran International.
3+Three of those killed were under 18, the report said. Sources told the outlet the raids targeted families who had been active on social media trying to publicly preserve their children’s memory. The father of a slain teenage girl said seven plainclothes security agents entered the family’s home, searched the rooms and took clothes, diaries, books and two dolls from his daughter’s bedroom. In another case, a mother said security agents confiscated a watch and the clothes her child was wearing when killed, then threatened the family to stop posting photos and videos online. She said they were told that if they continued, “nothing will be left in the child’s room.”
3+The latest raids come months after Iran was rocked by nationwide protests that began on Dec. 28, 2025, amid a sharp collapse of the Iranian currency, soaring inflation and deteriorating living conditions. What began with shopkeepers closing their businesses in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar rapidly spread into demonstrations across the country, with protesters increasingly calling for an end to the Islamic Republic.
The unrest ultimately reached all 31 Iranian provinces, according to the UN Fact-Finding Mission cited by Amnesty International. As demonstrations intensified, the regime deployed the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Basij forces, police and plainclothes security personnel against protesters.
3+Amnesty International documented security forces firing rifles and shotguns loaded with metal pellets at demonstrators, including reports of protesters being shot in the head and torso. The organization described January 2026 as the deadliest period of repression it had documented in Iran in decades.
The regime also imposed an extensive internet blackout beginning Jan. 8 as the crackdown intensified, severely restricting the ability of Iranians to document events and communicate with the outside world. Thousands were arrested, including minors, while reports emerged of nighttime raids, enforced disappearances and detainees being removed from hospitals. Even after the demonstrations were largely forced from the streets, pressure on the families of those killed continued.
3+Reports in the immediate aftermath of the crackdown described families being pressured to bury their relatives quickly and privately, sometimes under heavy security restrictions. Iran International also reported allegations that some families were ordered to pay money before the bodies of their loved ones would be released.
The latest raids appear to extend that campaign from controlling the victims’ funerals to controlling their memory. Authorities have reportedly restricted memorial ceremonies, blocked SIM cards, pressured relatives to remove social-media posts and even vandalized gravestones — targeting families who continue publicly commemorating those they lost and demanding accountability for their deaths.
Months after suppressing the protests themselves, the Iranian regime’s crackdown is continuing inside the bedrooms, homes and memories the victims left behind.