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 further manpower, fired three warning pictures into the air and charged towards the gang.
Two extra pictures rang out. When the smoke cleared on Zerhi Road, 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 stated the college pupil 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,” considered one of two witnesses to the capturing advised RFE/RL’s Radio Farda on situation of anonymity out of issues for his or her security.
Each of the eyewitnesses stated Moayidi was shot after becoming a member of others to assist the protester who was being crushed. A 3rd stated Moayidi’s physique was taken away shortly after he was shot.
Sources with data of the scenario, additionally talking on situation of anonymity, stated the household obtained the runaround from the authorities as they tried to find out Moayidi’s destiny, and have been solely capable of verify 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 taking part on the street demonstrations and was hit by a bullet fired by demonstrators as he drove on one other metropolis avenue.
The authorities’ claims, mixed with stress on the household to comply with the official line that Moayidi was a “martyr” of the nation’s clerical regime, have solely satisfied his relations 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 question 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 stated left as many as 1,500 protesters lifeless.
The protests in Shiraz have been additionally a neighborhood 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 at the least 458 protesters have been killed by authorities forces through the state’s crackdown on the demonstrations, which have posed one of the crucial severe 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 stated that Moayidi’s brother was with him, however they have been separated when the safety officers attacked. His brother returned house safely and the household instantly got down to decide Moayidi’s whereabouts.
After repeated calls from Moayidi’s mom on the evening of November 13, a person answered Moayidi’s cell phone and advised her that her son had been arrested and he or she ought to contact the data workplace of the native department of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, in response to the sources.
Repeated follow-ups led to additional referrals to the native police, Intelligence Ministry department, and different authorities places of work, the sources with data of the scenario stated. Lastly, after three days, the household acquired 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 stated 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 response to the sources with data of the scenario.
The sources advised Radio Farda that representatives of assorted companies went to the household house and advised Moayidi’s dad and mom that he was shot by protesters whereas driving his automobile, an account that the household didn’t settle for.
In accordance with 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 introduced with Moayidi’s physique, it was utterly lined apart 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 clarify the top wound.
That declare prompted the household to file an official grievance with the native department of the Intelligence Ministry wherein they demanded to know who killed Moayidi.
As Moayidi’s funeral approached, in response to 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 stated that they have been burying Omid and would have a ceremony for him,” the sources stated.
The intention, the sources consider, was to make use of Moayidi’s identify to spotlight the loss of life of a member of the Basij paramilitary pressure who shared Moayidi’s final identify and died in Shiraz the identical evening. “They declared Mohammad Moayidi [the Basij member] a martyr and wished to carry up Omid as effectively and say that we have now misplaced two martyrs,” one of many sources advised Radio Farda.
However regardless of threats that his brother and father might 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 stated, ‘You killed my youngster…do no matter you need [to us for refusing],'” one of many sources near the household stated.
Moayidi was ultimately buried in a non-public ceremony, in accordance with the household’s needs. However the nameless sources stated that the ceremony was restricted to shut relations. The household was not allowed to announce Moayidi’s funeral, the sources stated, and the 50 individuals who attended have been watched over by a whole lot 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 stated that his loss of life had led to a number of arrests on the scene and {that a} felony investigation continues. State media has reported that Moayidi’s loss of life occurred on November 14, the day after the protests.
