Father of Poya Bakhtiari: I Fought on the Fronts for Five Years, in Response They Targeted My Son’s Brain

Manouchehr Bakhtiari, father of Poya Bakhtiari, told Radio Farda in an interview that his 27-year-old son was killed by gunfire on Saturday, November 16, “next to his mother in Mehr city, Karaj”.

Poya Bakhtiari, born in 1392, participated in a march on the second day of protests against the gasoline price increase with his mother and sister. According to his father, his skull was targeted by gunfire during this march and he died before reaching the hospital.

Poya Bakhtiari was an electrical engineer and managed a small family workshop. His father says he intended to immigrate to Canada. He was interested in poetry and Iranian history.

Manouchehr Bakhtiari says that on the morning of November 26, he went along with other families of the deceased to Behesht-e Sakineh cemetery and waited until 5 p.m., but a prosecutor’s representative told the families to leave the area so the prosecutor’s office could contact them.

According to Mr. Bakhtiari, the prosecutor called him the next day and handed over the body, and on November 28 the body was laid to rest.

In his interview with Radio Farda, he quotes his wife as saying, “I saw for a moment that the crowd picked up someone’s body and I saw it was my son.”

Mr. Bakhtiari also describes his wife’s condition this way: “My wife is lost (mentally) because she saw her son’s shattered brain with her own eyes.”

According to Poya Bakhtiari’s father, he only went to the march on Saturday last week to ask why gasoline had become expensive.

At the end of his interview with Radio Farda, he says: “I am proud that my son went for the freedom of the country. I myself am a merchant and have not been able to work for nearly five months, everything has fallen apart.”

MohammadReza Bakhtiari had a presence in the Iran-Iraq War for five years.

A new round of widespread protests in Iran began in the last days of last November with the sudden news of the increase in the price of free gasoline to three times its previous rate.

The Islamic Republic government responded to these protests from the second day, Saturday, November 16, by cutting off people’s online connections and suppressing the protesters extensively.

According to Radio Farda’s estimates and Amnesty International, the government’s response to the protesters’ dissent has resulted in at least 143 deaths and more than four thousand arrests.

Among the victims of the protests were two children aged 13 and 14.

This is while Iranian officials have been talking about “victory over the wicked” for nearly a week now.

Source: Radio Farda