Report on Widespread Arrests of Families of November 2019 Protest Victims
On Monday, July 11, at least 10 members of families whose relatives died in the November 2019 protests were arrested by security forces. Simultaneously, the Fars News Agency, close to Iranian security institutions, labeled the detainees as “rioters” in a published article.
According to a report by HRANA, the news agency of the Human Rights Activists in Iran group, on Monday, July 11, 2022, a number of family members of those who died in the November 2019 protests were arrested by security forces.
Today, Nahid Shirpisha and Mehrdad Bakhtiari, mother and uncle of Pooya Bakhtiari, Sekine Ahmadi mother of Ibrahim Ketabdar, Rahimeh Yousef Zadeh mother of Navid Bahoodi, Mahboobeh Ramazani mother of Pejman Gholi Pour, Saeed Daamore brother of Vahid Daamore, and Somayeh Jafarpanah, sister of Mohsen Jafarpanah were arrested by security forces. On the other hand, BBC Persian also reported the arrest of Talat Meshki mother of Mohsen Jafarpanah, Iran Elahi Yari mother of Mehrdad Moeinfar, and Zeinab Mohammadi mother of Mohammad Taheri. HRANA has not been able to independently confirm the arrest of these citizens so far.
The arrests of Sekine Ahmadi, Rahimeh Yousef Zadeh, and Mahboobeh Ramazani took place at Yousef Zadeh’s personal residence in Tehran, and the arrest of Saeed Daamore took place at his personal residence in Karaj. It is also reported that Mehrdad Bakhtiari’s arrest occurred following the release of a video regarding how Shirpisha was arrested and the publication of images of a broken lock at her home.
As of the time of compiling this report, there is no information about the location and fate of these citizens.
Hours after the arrest of family members of the November 2019 protest victims, the Fars News Agency, close to Iranian security institutions, labeled the detainees as “rioters” in a published statement and accused them of “receiving money to create riots and insecurity” in Iran.
It should be noted that the November protests refer to a series of nationwide demonstrations that began on Friday, November 15, 2019, following the announcement of an unprecedented increase in gasoline prices in dozens of Iranian cities with an unprecedented presence of protesters in the streets and continued for several days. Mohammad Javad Kolivand, representative of Karaj in parliament, said these protests occurred at 719 locations across the country. Seyyed Hossein Naghavi Hosseini, then spokesman for the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of parliament, also announced that the number of arrests during these protests was around 7,000 people. According to reports from human rights institutions, hundreds of people also lost their lives following these violent protests.
Source: HRANA
