Iran
Amir Hossein Basati, the fifteen-year-old boy shot and killed during demonstrations in Iran. Photo: Hengaw Human Rights Organizatiom. Graphic: Rudaw
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - After over a week of believing their son was detained, the family of a fifteen-year-old boy were informed two days ago that their son was shot dead in the chest by Iranian security forces in Iran’s western Kurdish region (Rojhelat), a human rights watchdog told Rudaw English on Sunday, indicating that the Iranian regime is attempting to conceal the fatalities of weeks-long protests in the country.
Amir Hossein Basati was killed in the Kurdish city of Kermanshah on September 21 by “direct fire from anti-riot forces” after being brutally shot in the chest during crackdowns on demonstrations over a Kurdish woman’s death over three weeks ago, according to Hengaw Human Rights Organization.
The teenager’s body “was given to his family after nine days under tight security,” Hengaw said, adding that his distraught family were unaware of their son’s fate for eight days and later found out his body was being kept at a morgue.
Arsalan Yarahmedi, head of Hengaw, told Rudaw English on Sunday that Basati is the fifth teenager killed by Iranian security forces in the country’s Kurdish areas since the protests began.
Several human rights organizations have documented the use of lethal force and firearms against protestors, leaving at least 92 killed, according to Oslo-based Iran Human Rights Organization (IHR).
Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) told Rudaw English on Sunday that at least 20 protestors were amongst the dead with 490 wounded alone in Iran’s Kurdish provinces.
Kurdish opposition groups based across the border in the Kurdistan Region have called for the second general strike in the Kurdish areas since the death of Mahsa (Zhina) Amini in detention in the capital of Tehran. The strike is also being staged in response to the devastating missile and drone strikes targeting opposition bases in the Region which left 17 dead, including a one-day-old baby, and wounded 49 people.
Meanwhile in Iran’s eastern city of Zahedan, a massacre took place at the hands of security forces which left at least 42 civilians dead and nearly 200 wounded.
KHRN also reported at least 785 arrests across the Kurdish areas, saying the detained protestors are experiencing difficult conditions in detention facilities and are subject to psychological torture to extract confessions.
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