Iran: Man killed as anti-government protesters celebrate World Cup defeat

CNN
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A person is reported to have been killed by safety forces in northern Iran throughout public celebrations by anti-government protesters following the national football team’s defeat towards the US on Tuesday.

Norway-based rights group Iran Human Rights (IHR) stated Mehran Samak was shot within the head by safety personnel when he was out celebrating in Bandar Anzali Tuesday evening. IHR stated they confirmed the data by “a number of unbiased sources.”

“His title was #MehranSamak. He was shot within the head by state forces when he went out to have fun the Islamic Republic’s loss at FIFA World Cup2022 in Bandar Anzali final evening like many throughout the nation. He was simply 27 years previous,” Iran Human Rights stated on Wednesday.

IHR and different activist teams had initially reported that authorities have been holding Samak’s physique and have been refusing at hand it again to his household. IHR shared a video displaying individuals gathered exterior the state’s Forensic Medical Group demanding the physique be returned to his household.

Afterward Wednesday, pro-reform information outlet IranWire shared video displaying crowds at Samak’s funeral in Bandar Anzali chanting “dying to dictator.”

Iranian police denied that Samak was killed by authorities and introduced the arrest of a number of suspects, Iran’s state aligned Tasmin information company reported Thursday.

“Following the soccer sport between our nationwide group and the US, various rioters had gathered within the Cheraq Bargh quarter of Anzali and the corpse of a person, round 30, was found. Primarily based on current proof, he had been shot by a looking rifle,” Bandar Anzali police chief Colonel Jafar Javanmardi stated in response to Tasnim.

Javanmardi denied opposition media stories that Samak had been shot within the head by authorities saying, “initially, the counter-revolutionary and opposition media had reported this as this younger man having been shot within the head by the authorities and having later died within the hospital,” in response to Tasnim.

Tasnim additionally revealed Samak’s photograph with the article.

Anzali County’s police chief additionally stated that various suspects have been recognized and arrested and the try to determine the assailant continues, Tasnim reported.

Samak was an in depth pal of Saeid Ezatolahi, a member of Iran’s nationwide soccer group, who had simply returned to Iran after the group’s exit from the World Cup in Qatar. The footballer posted a tribute to his childhood pal on Instagram on Wednesday.

“I want we might all the time keep on the identical age…. with none issues, with out hate, with out jealousy, with out preventing to place one another down…. There may be a lot to say my childhood group mate however sadly persons are drowning in ego and jealousy and turning into a multitude which you could hardly even discover individuals listening to those phrases or they don’t exist in any respect…

“Positively after one other bitter evening final evening and with the information of your dying, my coronary heart is much more on fireplace.”

Iranian prosecutor Mehdi Fallah Miri stated a case into the “suspicious” killing of Samak had been opened after he died “resulting from a pellet bullet,” the state-aligned Iran College students’ Information Company (ISNA) reported Thursday.

“As quickly as this suspicious incident occurred, a case was opened to cope with the problem and the prosecutor of Bandar Anzali is dealing with the case,” Miri added, in response to ISNA.

A number of movies were posted on social media Tuesday evening displaying individuals in cities throughout Iran, together with within the capital Tehran, celebrating inside their houses and residential buildings after the US defeated Iran 1-0 within the World Cup.

“I’m blissful, that is the federal government dropping to the individuals,” one witness to celebrations in a metropolis within the Kurdish area instructed CNN on Wednesday. CNN is just not naming the witness for safety issues.

Activist outlet 1500tasvir additionally posted movies displaying safety forces reportedly on Tuesday evening, opening fireplace at individuals in Behbahan and beating up a lady in Qazvin, each cities south of Bandar Anzali the place Samak is claimed to have been shot.

CNN can not independently verify the data as Iran’s authorities is just not permitting international media into the nation, and has not been clear in its reporting on protests and protest casualties.

Demonstrations have rocked Iran for a number of months, sparking a lethal clampdown from authorities.

The nationwide rebellion was first ignited by the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian girl who died in mid-September after being detained by the nation’s morality police. Since then, protesters throughout Iran have coalesced round a variety of grievances with the regime.

The United Nations Excessive Commissioner for Human Rights Chief, Volker Turk, has stated that the nation is in a “full-fledged human rights disaster” as authorities crack down on the protests.