During protests in the city of Amol last month, Iranian security forces shot and killed a 21-year-old male, a source close to his family told.
Erfan Rezaei was shown on camera ripping down a government billboard depicting the supreme leader just before his death on September 21, according to a source.
They stated that he was shot in the shoulder and back with a pistol at close range.
Officials have not reacted, but a source claims that his family is under pressure to claim that he was slain by demonstrators.
Since the death in detention six weeks ago of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who was detained by the morality police for reportedly wearing her hijab, or headscarf, “improperly”, anti-government protests have rocked Iran.
Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) in Iran says that security forces have murdered 248 protestors, including 33 minors.
Erfan’s mother, Farzaneh Barzekar, was informed by officials that he had been admitted to the hospital shortly after the protest.
The nurses at the hospital refused to tell her where he was; however, after three hours of searching, she discovered his blood-soaked clothing outside an operating room and fainted.
The source stated that Erfan died due to significant kidney and spleen damage induced by the bullet wound to his back. They said that the bullet was shot from a distance of 5 meters (16 feet) using a pistol.
According to the source, the authorities returned Erfan’s body to his family two days later on the condition that they hold a discreet funeral.
According to the source, security personnel also exerted pressure on them to claim that Erfan was a bystander who was killed by “rioters,” as Iran’s leaders have characterized the demonstrators.
The source noted that Erfan’s father was a veteran of the Iran-Iraq War who still suffers from exposure to chemical weapons and post-traumatic stress disorder, therefore the family was permitted to hold a burial (PTSD). Iranians venerate those who fought in the battle between 1980 and 1988, in which over one million people were slain.
“Every day, I cry for hours while looking at your photograph. I observe your vacant bed and books. I read aloud your books to your empty bed “Two weeks ago, Erfan’s mother posted an Instagram message beneath a video of his tomb.
Authorities have applied similar pressure to the families of numerous other teenage protestors purportedly murdered by security forces during the current crisis.
Sources informed that the family of Abolfazl Adinezadeh, a 17-year-old slain at a rally in Mashhad on 8 October by a shotgun fired at point-blank range, had been instructed to pretend he was a member of the Basij, a renowned paramilitary unit implicated in the crackdown.
