Arrest of Ten Members of Pouya Bakhtiari’s Family; Security Situation in Tehran Streets

One of Pouya Bakhtiari’s relatives, a 27-year-old young man who died from a direct gunshot wound on Saturday, the 25th of Aban, in Mehr City of Karaj, reported to the Campaign for Human Rights in Iran about the arrest of ten members of Pouya Bakhtiari’s family and said that there is no news about the condition of Monoucher Bakhtiari and Nahid Shirpisheh, Pouya Bakhtiari’s father and mother, who were arrested on Monday, the 2nd of Dey.

Bahman Sadeghi Nour, a relative of Pouya Bakhtiari, told the Campaign in an interview that Mona Bakhtiari, Pouya’s sister, and Mona’s husband, along with Pouya’s grandfather and grandmother, have been arrested, and Mehrdad and Asif Bakhtiari, Pouya’s two uncles, and Asif Bakhtiari’s 11-year-old son are also among the arrested, and there is no news about their detention place and condition.

According to Mr. Sadeghi Nour, security personnel arrested Pouya Bakhtiari’s uncle by going to his house, but hours later they released him and arrested another uncle of Pouya.

Mehr News Agency reported on Monday evening about the arrest of Pouya Bakhtiari’s parents with the title “Preventing the Continuation of the Killing Project and Repetition of Armed Actions Against the People.”

Monoucher Bakhtiari, Pouya Bakhtiari’s father, had said in an interview with the Campaign hours before his arrest that he had been summoned twice to the Karaj Information Office and twice to the Awareness and Prosecution of Karaj during the past week, and they had threatened him that if he did not cancel the ceremony of the fortieth day of his son’s death at Beheshte Sakineh in Karaj, they would forcibly prevent this ceremony.

Mr. Bakhtiari had told the Campaign that he fears neither the police force nor the judiciary and will hold the ceremony of the fortieth day of his son’s death at Beheshte Sakineh in Karaj.

Pouya Bakhtiari was a 27-year-old young man who died on Saturday, the 25th of Aban, during public protests that had started one day earlier with a sudden increase in gasoline prices, as a result of a direct gunshot wound. His father told the Campaign that his son’s wish was the people’s peace and a better life for people, and he gave his life for this wish.

Reports received by the Campaign indicate that security forces on Monday confiscated mobile phones and license plates of a number of civil activists who had visited 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 families of the martyrs of ’88… in the presence of Pouya’s mother and in the absence of his father. The intention was to offer condolences and express sympathy with the bereaved family, although in reality in the face of Pouya’s mother’s heartbreaking descriptions, we could only shed tears. On the way back, however, we noticed that several cars were following us and some passengers received unknown calls, and around 12 at night we learned that this pursuit led to the stop of one of the cars and the confiscation of the license plate and the mobile phones of the passengers and initial interrogation of them, which ultimately led to their release.”

According to Mr. Nabavi’s account, “Security personnel who apparently had identified the people present at this meeting through the license plates went to the home of two other car owners and again in a repetitive action 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 Pouya’s family’s arrest appeared on news agencies, and as the evidence shows, after the visitors left their home, they were also arrested in their home. What is painful is that those who speak to us of the right to protest do not even recognize the right to sympathize with the families of the martyrs!”

Bahareh Hedayat, another civil activist who was present at this meeting, wrote on her personal Twitter: “Last night with a group of friends along with Shahnaaz Akmaili we went to visit Pouya Bakhtiari’s mother. She spoke with faithful calm about her son, and her hope for the people’s presence and support in the fortieth ceremony even if she herself were not there, and for all these 10 years alive in front of your eyes: that we went from dozens of killed in ’88 to thousands of killed in ’98. On the way back until we reached Tehran, one of the cars was stopped and the children’s phones were confiscated. Later news came that Pouya Bakhtiari’s family and Mrs. Shahnaaz had also been arrested… They surely know themselves that the blood of these 1,500 ordinary citizens that they killed in three days cannot be collected from the street with arrests and imprisonment.”

At the same time, Mohammad Karim Bighi, the father of Mostafa Karim Bighi who died on Ashura of ’88 as a result of a gunshot wound to his forehead, reported about the summons threatening Shahnaaz Akmaili, Mostafa’s mother, and the raid of the Sepah Information personnel on his house and wrote on his personal Instagram: “After Shahnaaz Akmaili was summoned on Saturday, the 30th of Azar to Evin’s Prosecutor’s Office and threatened by the Ministry of Information interrogator, last night (Monday) around 2 in the middle of the night, a number of Sepah Information personnel along with a representative of the Alborz Province Prosecutor come to arrest Maryam Karim Bighi (Mostafa Karim Bighi’s sister) and summon her by phone from behind the door of her house. When Maryam appears, they confiscate her mobile phone and vehicle identification documents and cut off her license plate and take it with them. Just because we did not attend Pouya Bakhtiari’s ceremony on the 5th of Dey. In what part of the world is mourning and shedding tears for loved ones who were unjustly killed a crime?”

Shahnaaz Akmaili, Mostafa Karim Bighi’s mother, also wrote on her personal Instagram that “Based on the orders of officials and security and judicial authorities, my call for holding the ceremony of the fortieth day and paying tribute to those killed in the November protests is hereby announced as canceled by me. The relevant officials, because the responsibility for this commemoration should not be on my shoulders as a bereaved mother, announced this matter. I hope that in the end we will see days filled with hope and light together.”

Shahnaaz Akmaili, along with a number of mothers and members of families of political and civil casualties over the past 40 years, by issuing a call on the 5th of Dey announced it as the day of tribute to those killed in November ’98 and called the suppression of recent protests “a crime against humanity.” They declared in their call: “We mothers will not remain silent. We mothers and bereaved families who over the past 40 years have lost our children and our lives in the pursuit of freedom and justice, ask from the noble and free people of Iran and the international community to declare the 5th of Dey (26 December), coinciding with the fortieth day of the killing of our children, as the International Day of Tribute to the Victims of November, and by holding memorial ceremonies, observe a minute of silence. Or in whatever way we can, honor the memory of our loved ones and condemn these crimes.”

At the same time, reports indicate the security situation in Tehran streets. Mohammad Hossein Aghassi, a lawyer, wrote on his personal Twitter: “From this morning, police forces equipped with necessary equipment have been stationed at various points in Tehran. May God bless.”

Mehrdad Khalili, a journalist in Tehran, also wrote on his personal Twitter: “The city squares are full of riot police. I do not know whether this is the prelude to a bloody fortieth or the death of the Darvish pole. Whatever it is, it is not for the security and comfort of the people.”

There is no accurate statistics on the number of people killed in last week’s protests in Iran. The officials of the Islamic Republic refrain from providing official statistics on the number of killed and arrested. Reuters News Agency on Monday, citing sources in Iran’s Ministry of Interior, reported about the killing of approximately 1,500 people during the November protests and also about Iran’s leader’s order to end the protests “by any possible means.”

The Campaign for Human Rights in Iran announced in a statement that the use of violence by Iranian officials against protesters in Iran, including the use of firearms and weapons, has led to the deaths of hundreds of people, and these government actions are in violation of and unjustifiable under international law and must be immediately stopped.

Source: Campaign for Human Rights in Iran