Pressure on Families of Victims as True Dimensions of November Crackdown Are Still Emerging
December 23, 2019
A month after the Iranian government’s deadly crackdown on protests that ensued after tripling of the price of fuel, the true dimensions of the crackdown are still emerging. According to a Reuters report quoting Iranian government officials, about 1,500 Iranians were killed during November 2019 protests. Separately, a source who spoke with IHRDC reported that according to a person in Iran’s Ministry of Interior, the authorities had originally arrested 21,000 persons, but they released 13,000 after a brief detention. As a result, 8,000 persons remained in detention in the immediate aftermath of the protests. It is not clear how many persons are still detained.
The Iranian government has put immense pressure on the families of those killed in the protests in order to prevent them from publicizing the names of the victims. The case of one victim, whom IHRDC can only identify as A.A. due to concerns for his family’s safety, is illustrative of the difficulties involved in assessing the extent of the government’s crackdown. According to a source who spoke with IHRDC, A.A. was fatally shot on November 18, 2019 in southern Tehran. The bullet struck him in the forehead. According to individuals who witnessed the events, government forces picked up his body and placed it in a truck that was carrying about 15 to 20 bodies. The family of A.A. have been threatened, and they have not publicly spoken about A.A.’s killing. IHRDC’s source could not confirm whether the family has even received the remains of A.A. for burial.
The pressure on families of victims have been widely reported. On December 23, 2019, Mehr News reported the arrest of family members of Pouya Bakhtiari, one of the victims of the protests. Pouya Bakhtiari’s parents gave several interviews to Persian-language media outlets operating outside Iran, and invited people to join them for a public memorial service for their son on January 26.
In addition, IHRDC has learned of at least two other instances in which family members of victims have been arrested because the authorities suspected them of disseminating news of the death of their loved ones.
