Iran Body Count

This space has been created to show the violence and deliberate killing of people in Iran after the presidential elections on the 12th of June 2009. Principally it is dedicated to the victims of shootings and people tortured to death in detention centres. If you have any information on these cases, please send them to iranbodycount@gmail.com. If you do not wish, we will not publish names and sensitive details.

این وبلاگ به منظور نشان دادن گوشه ای از خشونت و کشتار حکومت غاصب جمهوری اسلامی در دوره انتخابات است ۲۲ ذخرداد مخصوصا برای قربانیان بعد انتخابات و کسانی که در تیر اندازی ها به صورت رحشیانه ای از دست رفتند نظرات خود را می توانید به این آدرس ارسال کنید و کسنی که مایل به چاپ مشغخصات خود هستند بی نام و نشان چاپ می شوند از حضور گرم شما سپاسگزاریم
iranbodycount@gmail.com.

3/27/2011

Behnoud Ramazani

Behnoud Ramazani - بهنود رمضانی

He was a 19 year old student was killed by basiji forces in Tehran the night of Chaharshanbe Soori - the Persian Fire Festival, March 15th.

Eyewitness report:

Last night, Behnoud Ramezani was in the Narmak area in Tehran around Square 22, when he was attacked and killed by Basiji forces in Tehran. It was around 10 PM local time, a number of young Iranian’s were heading back home from after celebrating Char Shanbeh Soori ( The Iranian Fire festival),when Basiji forces mounted on Motorcycles attacked and beat the defenseless youths with electric batons .

Behnoud like many young Iranians was carrying home-made fireworks in his pockets. During the attack all the fireworks in his pockets exploded, and he was injured severely during the explosion, as his body was literally torn apart. It was probably one of the worst scene I have ever witness in my life. Apart from myself, there were several others witness as well, and after hearing our screams and cries for help others soon arrived at the scene. Two of the basijis abandoned their motorcycles and escaped with the help of other basijis on motorcycles.

10 minutes later an ambulance arrived and brought Behnoud to the hospital and his friends followed the ambulance with their own cars. After 30 minutes the staff at Al-Qadir hospital told us that his condition was critical, and there was little hope. Today, when I went to the same place and asked people about last nights situation, everyone told me that they didn’t know anything! It was very strange for me!

After searching awhile in his neighborhood, finally I saw some of his friends with his picture in their arms and they told me that he had died. I asked them about Behnoud, and they told me that he was student at Mechanical Engineer University in the Northern part of Iran, but he was from Tehran-Pars area in Tehran, and since he was a close friend of ours, he had come to visit us, but unfortunately he was killed by basiji forces.

Sources: here, here, here and here

Amir Hossein Tehranchi

Amir Hossein Tehranchi - امیر حسین طهرانچی

Amir Hossein Tehranchi died on February 15th after he got shot by a bullet in Tehran on February 14th. The Inteliggece service agents stole his body and about nine days later he was buried in section 312 in Behesht-e Zahra cemetery. The news of his assassination at age 22 was announced by his friends, and they reported that: “the intelligence service authorities have arrested his brother and threatened the family not to contact any media or news agency about his death. Even when they wanted to bury his body they were not allowed to see his face. The agents and security have buried his body in section 312. They informed the family if they talk about his death to any one, then their other son will have the same story and will be buried just like him. Source here.

3/12/2011

Elnaz Babazadeh

Elnaz Babazadeh - الناز بابارده

According to HRANA, three members of the Basij militia misused their ID cards in the city of Tabriz to abduct, beat, assault, rape, and kill a young woman with a gun. They dumped her body in the outskirts of the city. The news has stirred a lot of emotional reactions from the public. (The report is from July 11, 2010)

Based on information obtained by HRANA reporters, after Elnaz Babazadeh went missing, her family reported the disappearance to all official Iranian government agencies. After a week-long search, her body was delivered to the family by the coroner’s office while the coroner, after examining the body, confirmed assault, battery, rape,and murder by shooting. The police announced that the body was discovered near Emamieh Cemetery in Tabriz.

After the family filed a complaint against the murder of their daughter [demanding to press charges], the police arrested three citizens from Tabriz who are active members of the Basij [militia]. The main suspect and defendant confessed to all the above-mentioned charges in the police station. The defendant stated he entered the vehicle of the young woman in Tabriz’s Valiasr neighbourhood under the pretext of “*ordering to what is known to be virtuous”, and to give a notice to the young woman for “bad hijab”, in the context of the hijab and chastity program undertaken by the police and the Basij forces. The defendant then used his firearm to threaten the woman. The police forced her to drive to the outskirts of the city. That is where they raped her. Then, she died from three gun shots to the chest.

It is reported that the main suspect of the case is currently held by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) due to the sensitivity of the issues involved.

*It is an Islamic obligation that requires everyone to invite people to do the right thing. It is used by the Taliban, the government of Saudi Arabia, and the Iranian Islamic regime to justify interference with various aspects of the lives of citizens; for example, the way they dress, their involvement in intimate relationships, and private gatherings they hold.

Sources: In Persian, in English.

Mohsen Bikvand

This is already an older case but since I really don´t have time to catch up with all cases, I post it only now. Mohsen Bikvand has been tortured to death in Rajaishahr prison in Karaj, Ward 6, Hall 16. After the report, he was not a political prisoner and he passed away on 31st of August 2010. Bikvand was transferred to solitary in the beginning of June 2010. Gohardasht Prisoners believe that prison officials ordered his murder and the murder of other dissident prisoners is carried out systematically by prison officials. The Human Rights Activists in Iran published a film of the tortures of this prisoner and according to this document, both of his feet broke as a result of torture, his hands were made useless and his body was burned.
Source.