Media in Iran are daring to question its official coronavirus death and infection counts, showing how the outbreak is challenging even the most authoritarian states

• Iranian journalists have questioned Iran's official coronavirus statistics, an unusual example of dissent under an authoritarian regime.
• "Statistics: that is the question!" read the headline in Eqtesad-e Saramad on Wednesday. Iran has been accused of fabricating its statistics.
• Even the official figures mark Iran as one of the worst-hit countries in the world, but some sources have suggested the true scale is even worse.
• China, another authoritarian state, also faced a backlash for censoring social media posts about the outbreak and muzzling state critics.
• Iran and China have both imposed vague, harsh laws about posting COVID-19 content online, allowing them to crack down on unfavorable commentary.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

A leading Iranian newspaper questioned the country's coronavirus statistics, the latest example of how even the most authoritarian regimes are facing a domestic backlash.

"Statistics: that is the question!" read the headline in the financial newspaper Eqtesad-e Saramad on Wednesday, according to BBC Monitoring.

The outlet, which monitors international media, said it was "an example of the first seeds of doubt in the Iranian press over official coronavirus stats."

Iran has reported 291 deaths from COVID-19 on Tuesday, with health ministry spokesperson Kianoush Jahanpour saying there were 8,042 confirmed cases.

Iran has been accused of covering up the real scale of the outbreak, and those numbers are expected to be far higher.

On February 28, the BBC reported that 210 people have died from the coronavirus in Iran, citing sources in its healthcare system.

The number was six times higher than the 34 deaths the government claimed had taken place by that date.

The day Iran reported its first coronavirus case, February 19, it also recorded two deaths. That seemed odd to many given that typically the disease infects between 30 and 50 people for every one it kills.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said at the time he was "deeply concerned" that Iran "may have suppressed vital details about the outbreak."

"All nations, including Iran, should tell the truth about the coronavirus and cooperate with international aid organizations," Pompeo said.

On February 24, one of Iran's own politicians, from the city of Qom, accused officials of suppressing cases, claiming there had been at least 50 deaths in Qom alone.

Iran's parliament said that anyone "spreading rumors" about the outbreak would be flogged and could get three years in prison.

These "rumors" have often encompassed real information about the virus, rather than outright falsities, as Business Insider's Sophia Ankel reported.

Iranian medical staff say they are being threatened with interrogation if they provide any information about patients, shortages, or fatalities to the media, according to the New York Times.

While the lead story in Eqtesad-e Saramad questioned the numbers, no concerns were raised in Wednesday's edition of the official government newspaper, nor in any of Iran's English-language newspapers.

Iran is the latest authoritarian regime to see dissent amongst its citizens.

China, renowned for censoring what citizens can see on the internet, muzzling state critics, and surveilling its people, has also faced a backlash.

Hashtags calling for an end to state censorship garnered millions of views before they were themselves censored, campaigners and doctors criticizing the response were muzzled, news laws criminalized online criticism, and foreign journalists were expelled.

Read more:

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The Middle East is coping with the coronavirus by disinfecting mosques and canceling Muslim prayers

From silencing medics to banning 'rumors': Here's why Iran is struggling to contain its coronavirus outbreak

Another senior politician has died of coronavirus in Iran, where 8% of the parliament is infected

China is recording so few new coronavirus infections that South Korea looks like the new center of the epidemic