TEHRAN — Mohammad Javad Larijani, secretary of the High Council for Human Rights in Iran, hosted a meeting with a number of foreign ambassadors in Tehran on Tuesday.

There was no word about the content of the talks.

However, speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the meeting, Larijani said the number of individuals who were arrested in the last month’s protests is “a few hundreds, not a few thousands.”

“Two incidents happened after the announcement of the gasoline price increase,” he said, according to IRIB news. “The first incident was the people’s protest which we should attend to, but the second incident was systematic measures by guided groups which resorted to violence, destruction and killing under the guise of protests.”

He also said 85 percent of victims of the killings were security forces as well as those who were trying to protect their homes and families.

The other 15 percent were from terrorist groups, Larijani added.

In remarks last week, government spokesman Ali Rabiei said number of police forces who were injured during the November unrest is higher than that of the civilians.

“We cannot announce inflated statistics as America does,” Rabiei told a press briefing in Tehran.

He was referring to a claim by U.S. special representative for Iran Brian Hook, who had said more than a thousand people may have been killed during the protests.

In certain cases, the protests against rise in gasoline price turned violent as some rioters clashed with police, using knives and guns.

Rioters damaged public and private property and put banks and state buildings on fire.

The protests lasted just for a few days.

Earlier this month, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urged relevant state bodies to practice Islamic mercy when dealing with those who committed acts of violence or caused insecurity in the protests.

He said those who were killed without being involved in provoking riots should be considered martyrs and their families should receive stipends. 

Ayatollah Khamenei also called for Islamic mercy in dealing with those suspects involved in sabotage acts.

MH/PA