5 Iranian safety officers pounced on a younger protester after he fell to the bottom, beating him severely. As a crowd approached to intervene, one officer held a gun to the person’s head, threatening to shoot him if anybody got here nearer.
The a number of dozen demonstrators backed away, however the officers, strengthened with extra manpower, fired three warning photographs into the air and charged towards the group.
Two extra photographs rang out. When the smoke cleared on Zerhi Avenue, 20-year-old Omid Moayidi was lifeless.
Eyewitnesses to what occurred on the night of November 13 throughout protests within the southwestern metropolis of Shiraz mentioned the college scholar was first shot within the again as he and different protesters fled. After he fell from the primary bullet, he was then shot at shut vary within the head.
“They shot him. They shot him within the brow,” one in every of two witnesses to the capturing advised RFE/RL’s Radio Farda on situation of anonymity out of considerations for his or her security.
Each of the eyewitnesses mentioned Moayidi was shot after becoming a member of others to assist the protester who was being overwhelmed. A 3rd mentioned Moayidi’s physique was taken away shortly after he was shot.
Sources with data of the scenario, additionally talking on situation of anonymity, mentioned the household received the runaround from the authorities as they tried to find out Moayidi’s destiny, and had been solely in a position to affirm that he had died three days after he was shot by safety forces.
The authorities, in the meantime, have tried to make use of Moayidi’s loss of life to their benefit by portraying him as an harmless sufferer, claiming that he wasn’t collaborating on the street demonstrations and was hit by a bullet fired by demonstrators as he drove on one other metropolis road.
The authorities’ claims, mixed with strain on the household to observe the official line that Moayidi was a “martyr” of the nation’s clerical regime, have solely satisfied his kin that they’re making an attempt to cowl up his killing by safety forces.
Sources with data of the scenario advised RFE/RL’s Radio Farda that there was little doubt Moayidi had joined protests happening in Shiraz on November 13. The demonstrations within the metropolis that day honored the anniversary of “Bloody November,” a lethal crackdown on anti-government protests in 2019 that rights teams mentioned left as many as 1,500 protesters lifeless.
The protests in Shiraz had been additionally an area continuation of ongoing antiestablishment demonstrations that erupted throughout the nation following the September 16 loss of life of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish lady who died shortly after she was arrested by the morality police for allegedly violating the nation’s head-scarf regulation.
Rights teams say a minimum of 458 protesters have been killed by authorities forces throughout the state’s crackdown on the demonstrations, which have posed one of the vital critical challenges to Iran’s clerical institution that has dominated because the Islamic Revolution in 1979.
‘You Killed My Youngster’
Sources with data of the scenario mentioned that Moayidi’s brother was with him, however they had been separated when the safety officers attacked. His brother returned residence safely and the household instantly got down to decide Moayidi’s whereabouts.
After repeated calls from Moayidi’s mom on the night time of November 13, a person answered Moayidi’s cell phone and advised her that her son had been arrested and she or he ought to contact the knowledge workplace of the native department of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, in line with the sources.
Repeated follow-ups led to additional referrals to the native police, Intelligence Ministry department, and different authorities workplaces, the sources with data of the scenario mentioned. Lastly, after three days, the household obtained a name directing them to go to the morgue to establish Moayidi’s physique.
When his father arrived, he was proven solely his son’s face, which he mentioned had a bullet gap within the brow. However Intelligence Ministry officers later advised Moayidi’s father that the official forensic report solely talked about a bullet wound to the again, in line with the sources with data of the scenario.
The sources advised Radio Farda that representatives of varied companies went to the household residence and advised Moayidi’s dad and mom that he was shot by protesters whereas driving his automotive, an account that the household didn’t settle for.
In response to the sources, on the insistence of Moayidi’s mom, she was allowed to see her son’s physique previous to his burial on November 23. However when she was offered with Moayidi’s physique, it was fully lined aside from the face, along with his brow wrapped in a flag.
Safety officers later advised the household that Moayidi was shot whereas driving by somebody who fired at shut vary, resulting in an accident, in an obvious try to elucidate the top wound.
That declare prompted the household to file an official criticism with the native department of the Intelligence Ministry through which they demanded to know who killed Moayidi.
As Moayidi’s funeral approached, in line with the sources, the household was pressured to permit him to be buried as a martyr in a funeral to be paid for by the state. “They went to Omid’s home…and mentioned that they had been burying Omid and would have a ceremony for him,” the sources mentioned.
The intention, the sources consider, was to make use of Moayidi’s identify to focus on the loss of life of a member of the Basij paramilitary pressure who shared Moayidi’s final identify and died in Shiraz the identical night time. “They declared Mohammad Moayidi [the Basij member] a martyr and wished to carry up Omid as properly and say that we’ve misplaced two martyrs,” one of many sources advised Radio Farda.
However regardless of threats that his brother and father may face arrest if the household didn’t adjust to the authorities’ needs and abide by the official line that Moayidi had been killed by protesters, the household refused to go alongside. “His mom mentioned, ‘You killed my youngster…do no matter you need [to us for refusing],'” one of many sources near the household mentioned.
Moayidi was finally buried in a non-public ceremony, in accordance with the household’s needs. However the nameless sources mentioned that the ceremony was restricted to shut kin. The household was not allowed to announce Moayidi’s funeral, the sources mentioned, and the 50 individuals who attended had been watched over by tons of of safety personnel.
Since then, the sources with data of the scenario advised Radio Farda, the household has been pressured to talk publicly on radio and tv to repeat the official narrative that Moayidi was a sufferer of protester violence. However the household has not given in.
Prosecutors in Fars Province, of which Shiraz is the capital, have continued to assert that Moayidi was killed by “rioters.” They’ve mentioned that his loss of life had led to a number of arrests on the scene and {that a} legal investigation continues. State media has reported that Moayidi’s loss of life occurred on November 14, the day after the protests.
