Khuzestan Update: IRIB Confirms that Citizen was Shot and Killed During Last Night’s Protests in Izeh

The Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) confirmed that a citizen was killed during last night’s protests in Izeh, Khuzestan.

According to HRANA, the news agency of Human Rights Actiists, the IRIB report did not specify the identity of the killed citizen. However, it described his death as a result of a “suspicious” shooting—notably vague phrasing, considering that the overwhelming majority of gunfire throughout the protests has come from government forces.

Widespread protest rallies in Khuzestan started Thursday, July 15, in response to the negligence of officials that led to frequent cuts of drinking water and the drying of Karun River.

The demonstrations against the water cuts and lack of proper resource management continued yesterday into their sixth day. Rallies were held in Susangard, Behbahan, Abadan, Izeh, Ahvaz, Khorramshahr and Shadegan.

Hassan Nabovati, acting governor of Izeh, stated that one police officer was killed and another injured during the protests in Mahshahr last night.

As released videos show, the protests in Izeh were disrupted by violence from military forces. There were reports of military officers spraying tear gas and opening fire at protesters.

HRANA Recap: This Week’s Protests in Iran

According to HRANA, the news agency of Human Rights Activists, a number of protests took place this week against the results of cities’ local elections and inadequate labor conditions. This week also featured the continuation of widespread labor strikes across the country. The oil industry, petrochemical industry and power stations experienced strikes in Abadan, Isfahan, Assaluyeh, Kerman, Qeshm Island, Yasuj, Bid Boland, and Urmia and Bushehr. Below is a brief recap and footage from some of the week’s demonstrations.

 

Saturday and Sunday, June 19-20

Several citizens in Yasuj protested the results of the city’s local elections in front of the Boyer-Ahmad government building.  A group of Tehran Metro staff held protest rallies in front of the metro operating company in Tehran. Project workers of Farab Company of Bidkhoon refinery in Assaluyeh went on strike and left their jobs.

 

Citizens in Yasuj:

 

Tehran Metro staff:

 

Project workers in Bidkhoon refinery in Assaluyeh:

 

Monday and Tuesday, June 21-22

9 protest rallies and 11 workers’ strikes took place. A group of pharmacists in front of the Ministry of Health building in Tehran. Workers of Pars Tire in Saveh in Markazi Province rallied in front of the local factory. Workers of Sepahan Cement Company protested at their workplace, and a group of resident doctors in protested in the cities of Tehran, Urmia, Zanjan, Babol, Shiraz and Tabriz. Workers in Tehran Oil Refinery, Gachsaran Petrochemical Company, phases 13 and 14 of Assaluyeh, phase 13 of Kangan, Lidoma Company located in phase 13 of South Pars, AJC Company working in Abadan Refinery, Bidboland Refinery of Behbahan, Bushehr Petrochemical Company, Sina Palayesh Company Qeshm Island, and workers of Tehran Metro Line 5 went on strike.

 

Workers of Bidboland Gas Refinery in Behbahan:

 

 

Workers of Gachsaran Petrochemical Company:

 

Workers of Tehran Oil Refinery:

 

Workers of Lidoma Company located in phase 13 of South Pars:

 

Pharmacists in Tehran:

 

Resident doctors in Tehran, Urmia, Zanjan, Babol, Shiraz and Tabriz:

Pars Tire workers:

 

Wednesday, June 23

Workers of recently-closed stoning units of Hana Industrial Town located in Neyriz city in Fars gathered in front of the city government building. A group of employees of Ramin power station in Ahvaz city in front of the office building of the station, and a group of employees of Abadan refinery in front of the entrance door.

 

Ramin power station workers in Ahvaz:

Abadan refinery employees:

 

Thursday, June 24

Several residents of Maravneh village of Ahvaz city,  workers of Mapna 3 Qeshm power Station continued their participation in the nationwide protests of the workers of the country’s oil industry.

 

Mapna 3 power Station employees:

Residents of Maravneh village:

 

Friday, June 25

Workers of refineries, petrochemicals and power plants, workers of Yazd Steel, went on strike.

Injured protesters are facing life threatening infections

The nationwide protests of November are one of the most significant events of 2019. During the November protests that lasted more than 10 days simultaneously in 719 parts of the country. At least 7133 people were arrested, hundreds died on the streets, and many protesters got gunshot wounds. This report is compiled by HRANA from field investigations of the injured individuals during the last November’s protests. The majority of the injured who are interviewed for this report are living in Karaj, Eslamshahr, Sirjan, Behbahan, Mahshahr, Qods, and Ahvaz. Their ages range between 19 to 30 and were mostly shot in their feet, chest, and upper body.  They are suffering from life-threatening infections.

Alborz and Tehran

An informed source told HRANA that more than 20 days after the protests, a trusted physician agreed to treat seven of the injured in Karaj. They were shot on the same day in Karaj. Two were shot by bird shots and five were shot by rifle bullets. One of the injured was severely shot in his right foot and right shoulder and was bleeding heavily.

Another informed source in Alborz Province told HRANA that some of the victims from Mohammadieh, Shahriyar, and Eslamshahr who were injured between 16 to 18 November did not seek medical help fearing to be arrested: however, they could not afford private medical treatment. Therefore, one of the injured, a 19-year-old, died because of injuries and infection. The others are relying only on antibiotics to fight infections. The bullets are mostly in the chest and face and the upper body of these victims. Ayob Bahramian is one of the victims who left his house in Shahriar for shopping on November 16 and was shot in the thigh while crossing the street. He was hospitalized and went to a coma. He died on December 18, 2019. He was married and father of a four-year-old and a five-month-old baby.

One of the protesters in Qods city was shot in a foot while filming the security forces beating the protesters. His injury was not serious and was later treated by a trusted doctor.

An informed source told HRANA about the condition of the injured in Qods city “the first night of the protest, about 60 to 70 injured protesters were transferred to the hospital by the police vans and were treating under control of the police. Some of these injured were interrogated and released while being treated”.

Khuzestan

Another protester who interviewed with HRANA was shot by tear gas from a very short distance that broke his ribs. Some of the injured in Behbahan who were hospitalized, and their identities were given to the police are as the following:

1- Ardeshir Omidi, shot in both feet

2- Mohammad Kamrani lost his knee to a gunshot wound

3- Ebrahim Sheikhi, from Asad Abad village in Behbahan who was shot in the eye

4- Iman Alafchin, living in Khorasani neighborhood of Behbahan, who was shot in thigh and hand on November 16 was transferred to Ahvaz Hospital. He lost one foot from the knee down due to severe bleeding and medical negligence. The hospital billed him for approx. $2000. He couldn’t afford to pay this bill, so the hospital refused to release him. He is a baker and lives with his brother.

5- Maryam Payab was shot with a rifle bullet in the waist on November 16 and underwent surgery in Shahidzadeh Hospital in Behbahan She was released three days later by paying approx. $250. She was later arrested on December 19, 2019.

Three of the arrested citizens in Behbahan were also injured and have not contacted their families after their arrest. An informed source told HRANA that the security forces did not allow the personnel of Behbahan Hospital to register the injured individuals. They were even present in the operation rooms and took away the injured right after the bullets were removed from them. They even took bodies out of the hospital. Another citizen was shot in the neck and is in a coma in Ahvaz Hospital where he is under 24-hour monitoring of the security forces. The family of this victim is not allowed to visit him.

Meisam Odgipour, a resident of Khoramshahr, Anvar Matroudi, and Abdollah Yamasi, residents of Shadegan who were injured during the last November’s protest were arrested after being transferred to the hospital. Another citizen of Mahshar who was shot is not yet been treated and his life is in danger. Majid Majdam, a resident of Sarband, in Karun county in Khuzestan, was injured and died in the hospital. In addition, Mansour Dorris, son of Sarabad’s Imam of Friday Prayer was killed by gunshot and was buried on November 26, 2019.

Other provinces

Two protesters in Sirjan were treated by a trusted doctor. They were shot in the stomach. In Yasuj and Gachsaran, some of the arrested protesters were beaten severely. Among them, a 30-year old man had a broken wrist as a result of police beating. He was denied medical treatment and was transferred to the prison where he was only given pain killers for his injury before being released on bail.

Ayub Bahramian

 

Infections of the injured protesters

A Daily Overview of Human Rights Violations in Iran for January 30, 2019

The following is an overview of human rights violations in Iran on January 30th, 2019 based on the information compiled and verified by Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA).

(1) More than five protests were organized across the country on January 30, 2019. The workers of Ahvaz inter-city rail, taxi drivers in Bukan, the customers of SAIPA and IranKhodro companies, the environmental activists in Behbahan, and the employees of Railway Services and Technical Construction Engineering Company (RSTC), have held separate protests to request their demands.

(2) A 27-year old was tried in absentia and sentenced to three years in prison and 74 lashes for “stealing a chicken” in Laly city in Khuzestan province.

(3) A retired teacher, Alireza Kafaei, was arrested in Gachsaran on January 29, 2019. The leader of Islamic Association of Teachers of Gachsaran is suffering from diabetes and severe heart disease. He was released on bail earlier today.

(4) Three Kulbars (Kurdish back carrier) died or were injured in Salmas and Baneh. Saman Salehi and Mohammad Karimi were killed after the Iranian border patrol opened fire to a group of Kulbars. Another Kulbar, Sammy Rashidi, was injured in another accident.

(5) A prisoner was executed in Noor prison on the charge of murder. Two prisoners, Hashem Badrkhani and Houshang Hosseini who were accused of murder, were spared from hanging on gallows by consent of next of kin in Bandar Abbas.

(6) Jafar Azimzadeh was transferred to Evin prison to serve his six years prison sentence. Azimzadeh and Parvin Mohammadi, the members of the Free Union of workers in Iran, were arrested on January 29.

(7) Three poachers have been arrested in Ghomishloo National Park in the Najafabad county in Isfahan province.

(8) The court was in session for eight environmentalists in Tehran without their lawyers on the espionage-related charges. Moreover, five of the detained environmental activists were charged with “corruption on earth”.

(9) A Baloch citizen, Yousef Shahouzehi, was arrested for an unknown reason in Nik Shahr county in Sistan and Baluchestan. His whereabouts is still unknown.

(10) Keyvan Bazhan, a writer and member of the Iranian Writers Association, was released on bail. He was arrested along with two other writers, Baktash Abtin and Reza Khandan Mehrabadi on January 22 on the charge of “encouraging immorality or prostitution”.

(11) Five senior managers of North Khorasan University of Medical Science were flogged on financial-related charges in this university. The head of North Khorasan Justice department confirmed that and added that the court cases fillings have been increasing by 14 percent in the last ten months.

(12) Hassan Hassanzadeh and Hassan Peyghami were released from Urmia prison after completing their prison sentences. They were sentenced to two-year prison term in exile on the charge of “cooperation with the opposition groups” and “acting against national security”.

(13) The school’s roof collapsed due to rains in Pashbard village in Sardasht county in the West Azerbaijan province. Students temporarily use a “conex [shipping container] school “.

(14) The head of Hamadan Mental Health Department & Prevent announced the launch of a campaign to end violence against women such as preventing domestic violence.

(15) The workers of Sisakht municipality in the Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province have two months of unpaid wages. In addition, more than half a million construction workers are not covered by insurance in Iran.

(16) An authority of Farhangian University, Mansour Nikpanah, confirmed the teacher shortage of 14 thousand in Sistan and Baluchestan province.

(17) Six police officers appeal of death penalty conviction was accepted by the Supreme Court. They have been indicted on a murder charge in the killing of three young men.

One Killed, Two Wounded By The Police Forces In Behbahan

HRANA News Agency – The following pictures show the clashes between protesters and security forces in the city of Behbahan in which “one was dead and two were wounded”.

According to the report of Human Rights Activists News Agency in Iran (HRANA), the gathering by a number of people from Shahrooi village, in the city of Behbahan, in protest to not being employed at the Bidboland refinery and employing non-native workers, led to clashes between them and the police forces, on Tuesday 15th December, during which a civilian was killed and two were wounded. Continue reading “One Killed, Two Wounded By The Police Forces In Behbahan”

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Iran: At Least 16 Prisoners Hanged Last Week

HRANA News Agency – 16 prisoners hanged within last week across Iran.

According to a report by Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), 12 prisoners were hanged in different cities of Iran during last week:

Continue reading “Iran: At Least 16 Prisoners Hanged Last Week”