Ten members of Pouya Bakhtiari's family arrested; security situation on the streets of Tehran

A relative of Pouya Bakhtiari, a 27-year-old young man who died from a direct gunshot wound on Saturday, November 15, in Mehrshahr, Karaj, reported in an interview with the Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that ten members of Pouya Bakhtiari's family had been arrested, and said that there was no news about the condition of Manouchehr Bakhtiari and Nahid Shirpisheh, Pouya Bakhtiari's parents, who were arrested on Monday, January 15.

Bahman Sadeghi Noor, a relative of Pouya Bakhtiari, said in an interview with the campaign that Mona Bakhtiari, Pouya's sister, and Mona's husband have been arrested along with Pouya's grandparents, and Mehrdad and Asef Bakhtiari, Pouya's two uncles, and Asef Bakhtiari's 11-year-old son, are also among the detainees, and there is no information about their whereabouts or condition.

According to Mr. Sadeghi Noor, security officers had also arrested Pouya Bakhtiari's uncle after visiting his home, but hours later they released him and arrested Pouya's other uncle.

 Mehr News Agency reported on Monday night that Pouya Bakhtiari's parents were arrested under the title "preventing the continuation of the killing project and the repetition of armed actions against the people."

Hours before his arrest, Manouchehr Bakhtiari, Pouya Bakhtiari's father, said in an interview with the campaign that he had been summoned twice to the Karaj Intelligence Department and twice to the Karaj Public Prosecutor's Office during the past week and had been threatened that if he did not cancel the ceremony marking the 40th day since his son's death in Behesht Sakineh, Karaj, they would use force to stop the ceremony.

Mr. Bakhtiari told the campaign that he was neither afraid of the military nor the judiciary, and that he would hold a ceremony on the 40th day after his son's death at Behesht Sakineh in Karaj.

Pouya Bakhtiari was a 27-year-old young man who died on Saturday, November 15, during public protests that had begun the day before over a sudden increase in gasoline prices. His father told the campaign that his son's desire was for peace and a better life for the people, and that is what he died for.

Reports received by the campaign indicate that on Monday, security forces confiscated the mobile phones and license plates of a number of civil society activists who had gone to visit Pouya Bakhtiari's family and interrogated them.

Zia Nabavi, a civil activist who visited Pouya Bakhtiari's family on Monday, wrote on his personal Twitter: "Last night we were at Pouya Bakhtiari's family home. With a number of friends and former political prisoners and the family of the martyrs of 1988...in the presence of Pouya's mother and in the absence of her father. The intention was to offer condolences and express sympathy to the grieving family, although in practice we could do nothing but shed tears in the face of Pouya's mother's heartbreaking descriptions. On the way back, however, we noticed that several cars were following us and some of the passengers were being contacted by unknown people. At around midnight, we learned that this pursuit led to the stopping of one of the cars, the recording of the license plates and phones of the passengers, and an initial interrogation of them, which ultimately led to their release."

According to Mr. Nabavi, “Security officers who had apparently identified the people present at the meeting from their license plates went to the homes of two other car owners and, in a repeated act during a brief interrogation, confiscated their mobile phones, which of course did not lead to their arrest. In the middle of the night, however, news of the arrest of the Pooya family appeared on the news agencies, and as evidence shows, after the visitors left their home, they were also arrested in their home. It is painful that those who tell us about the right to protest do not even recognize the right to sympathize with the families of the martyrs!”

Bahareh Hedayat, a civil society activist who was also present at the meeting, wrote on her personal Twitter: “Last night, a group of friends and Shahnaz Akmal went to see Pouya Bakhtiari’s mother. She spoke with a calm, pious tone about her son and her hope for the people’s presence and support at the 40th anniversary ceremony, even if she wasn’t there and you were living in front of her eyes for all these 10 years: that from dozens of deaths in 1988, we went from tens of deaths to thousands of deaths in 1998. On the way back to Tehran, one of the cars stopped and the children’s phones were recorded. Later, news came that Pouya Bakhtiari’s family and Shahnaz Khanum had also been arrested. Surely they themselves know that the blood of these 1,500 ordinary citizens who were killed in three days will not be collected from the streets by arresting and binding them.”

At the same time, Mohammad Karim Beigi, the father of Mustafa Karim Beigi, who died on Ashura 2009 after being shot in the forehead, reported the threatening summons of Shahnaz Akmali, Mustafa's mother, and the invasion of his home by IRGC intelligence agents, writing on his personal Instagram: "After Shahnaz Akmali was summoned to the Evin Prosecutor's Office on Saturday, December 20, and the family was threatened by the Ministry of Intelligence interrogator, last night (Monday) at around 2:00 AM, a number of IRGC intelligence agents, along with a representative of the Alborz Provincial Prosecutor's Office, came to arrest Maryam Karim Beigi (Mustafa Karim Beigi's sister) and summoned her by phone from behind the door of her house. When Maryam appeared, they confiscated her mobile phone and car identification documents, took off her license plate and took her away. Just because we did not attend the 5th of January ceremony of Pouya Bakhtiari. Where in the world is it a crime to mourn and shed tears for loved ones who were unjustly killed?"

Shahnaz Akmali, the mother of Mustafa Karim Beigi, also wrote on her personal Instagram that, “According to the orders of the security and judicial authorities and guardians, my call to hold a ceremony on the 40th day and pay tribute to the victims of the November protests has been canceled. The relevant authorities announced this because the responsibility for this memorial is not the responsibility of a grieving mother like me. I hope we will finally see days full of hope and light together.”

Shahnaz Akmal, along with a number of mothers and family members of political and civil victims of the past 40 years, declared January 25 as a day to pay tribute to the victims of Aban 2019, calling the suppression of recent protests a “crime against humanity.” They declared in the call that “We mothers will not remain silent. We, the grieving mothers and families whose children have lost their lives in the cause of freedom and justice over the past 40 years, call on the honorable and free people of Iran and the international community to declare January 25 (December 26), the 40th anniversary of the killing of our children, as an international day to pay tribute to the victims of Aban, and to hold a minute of silence by holding a memorial ceremony. Or in any other way we can, we can honor the memory of our loved ones and condemn these crimes.”

At the same time, reports indicate a security situation on the streets of Tehran. Mohammad Hossein Aghasi, a lawyer, wrote on his personal Twitter: “Since this morning, law enforcement forces equipped with the necessary equipment have been deployed in various parts of Tehran. May God bless them.”

Mehrdad Khalili, a journalist in Tehran, also wrote on his personal Twitter: “The city squares are full of riot police. I don’t know if it’s the bloody 40th anniversary or the death of Qutb Dervish. Whatever it is, it’s not for the safety and comfort of the people.”

There is no exact figure for the number of people killed in last week's protests in Iran. The Islamic Republic's authorities refuse to provide official figures for the number of dead and those arrested. Reuters reported on Monday, citing sources in the Iranian Interior Ministry, that around 1,500 people were killed during the November protests and that the Iranian leader had ordered an end to the protests "by any means possible."

The Campaign for Human Rights in Iran has stated in a statement that the Iranian authorities' use of violence against protesters in Iran, including the use of firearms and weapons, has resulted in the deaths of hundreds of people, and that these government actions amount to a clear and unjustifiable violation of international law and must be stopped immediately.

Source: Human Rights Campaign