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Almost 12,500 people have been arrested and nearly 250 killed since the street protests began in Iran, according to a prominent human rights group, with thousands of anxious families struggling to make contact with loved ones who have gone missing and presumed to be in jail.

The news came as the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, Maj Gen Hossein Salami, said security forces were close to snuffing out the remaining protests. He said: “Sedition is going through its last moments.”

But protesters have insisted that defiance was continuing. One group pointed to truck drivers joining oil refinery workers on rallies, as well as demonstrations among Baloch people in Zahedan. As many as 200 refinery workers have been arrested since their protests started a fortnight ago.

The Writers Union of Iran issued a statement about the crackdown, saying: “Repression of people who protested with empty hands has been a daily occurrence in the last 40 years. But what happened to children and prisoners last week is one of the blackest pages in the record of the current government.”

The union added that “the attack of security forces on schools and prisons and the beating and killing of children and prisoners is a tragedy beyond the killing of protesters in the streets. In this stage of repression, the government, as always, denies the reality, spreads rumours, and distorts public opinion in order to thwart the efforts of people’s organisations and groups to express the truth”.

Some opposition groups say the focus of the largely leaderless social movement must shift to the plight of thousands in jail. Others say its organicnature is its strength since there are no leaders to round up.

The protests were sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old Kurdish woman who collapsed while in custody of the morality police and later died. Lawyers for Amini in a fresh statement disputed the official account that she collapsed due to a pre-existing neurological condition.

The Centre for Human Rights in Iran said 3,000 people had been arrested in Tehran province alone, 835 of whom remained in jail, including 200 university students. As many as 1,300 have been sent to Greater Tehran Central Penitentiary from Evin prison after a fire inside the facility at the weekend. The figure of 12,450 arrests has been given by HRANA, an Iranian human rights news website.

Iranian human rights groups say journalists are being especially targeted, especially if they report on individuals being detained. Mohammad Mehdi Esmaili, the minister of guidance, said the number of journalists that remained under arrest was not high, but according to the International Federation of Journalists 24 have been arrested since the protests started with 11 being held in Evin prison. Reporters Without Borders says there are more than 30 journalists in jail, leaving many publications cowed and censored.

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