Security pressures on Mehrdad Moinfar's family; bullets fired in response to protest

A relative of Mehrdad Moinfar, who died from a gunshot wound on Sunday, November 16, said in an interview with the Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that his family did not allow their son to be declared a "martyr" despite pressure from security agencies.

According to him, Mehrdad Moinfar was shot in the stomach on Valiasr Street in Shahriar, but his family has not been given a death certificate.

There are no accurate figures on the number of people killed in the November protests in Iran. The Islamic Republic's authorities refuse to provide official figures on the number of people killed and detained. Amnesty International has documented 304 cases, and Reuters, citing sources in the Iranian Interior Ministry, reported that around 1,500 people were killed during the November protests, as well as an order from the Iranian Supreme Leader to end 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.

Mehrdad Moinfar was a protester, according to his relatives. One of his relatives told the campaign: “Mehrdad, 32, had a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and was an employee of a pharmacy. He was an athlete and bodybuilding coach and was scheduled to participate in a bodybuilding competition in Turkey in December. Mehrdad was a protester and suffered from the economic situation and the poverty of the people and the situation created by the government. He said he suffered from seeing a woman who left her subsidy card at the bakery to buy just a few loaves of bread, or from seeing a man who did not have money to buy meat at the butcher shop and was looking for leftovers. He saw these things and got up and went out into the street and his protest was answered with a bullet. Instead of asking what you are protesting about? What is your pain? They shot Mehrdad in the stomach and then went to his family to declare him a martyr, but the family did not allow it.”

A relative of Mehrdad Moinfar told the Campaign about the pressure being placed on his family by security agencies: “After The release of a video of Mehrdad’s mother and sister, who said that Mehrdad’s family was put under severe pressure after his death. The Ministry of Interior and the governor’s office had gone to their house to declare Mehrdad a martyr and had said that the Iranian Broadcasting Corporation would also come for an interview and that you should say that he was a martyr. Mehrdad’s family, however, refused and said that their son, a martyr, was on the path to freedom. He died for the sake of his people and they would not allow his killers to call him a martyr. They came and went several times and threatened that if you interview him and say anything, we would arrest Mehrdad’s sister. Mehrdad only has one sister who is not in a good condition after her brother was killed, and the family has remained silent to protect her.”

According to Mehrdad Moinfar’s relatives, they took a pledge from his family when they handed over the body. One of his relatives told the campaign: “Mehrdad had a bank card with him, which they used to identify him. One of his relatives works in the intelligence department and he had informed the family that Mehrdad was in Sajjad Shahriar Hospital. However, at the hospital, they said that he had been sent to the Kahrizak forensic medicine. They did not take any money from his family, but they took a pledge from them that they would not take the body to the house or hold a funeral, and that everything would be held in silence. They did not even allow posters to be printed. The family buried him in silence in Ferdowsieh Shahriar, where they live.”

Source: Human Rights Campaign