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Iran protests: Family recounts fatal shooting

Sarah Majidi

DW: A grieving family member told DW about how their loved one was killed by security forces in Tehran. Thousands of people have been reported killed but assessing the true scale of the violence remains complicated.

Accessing reliable information from inside Iran is still difficult after the regime shut down internet access and blocked international calls amid the largest uprising against its rule seen in decades.

In recent days, some Iranians abroad have managed to contact relatives in Iran as limited communications access was restored. DW spoke with one of them who lives in Cologne, Germany.

Mohammad Saleh Zarif Moghadam left his home in the capital, Tehran, on the evening of January 8 and headed toward one of the anti-regime protests that had been popping up in cities across Iran.

According to his aunt, Farzaneh, the 28-year-old had also taken part in demonstrations in 2022 following the death of Jina Mahsa Amini, a young Kurdish woman who died in police custody after Iran's notorious morality police accused her of violating the country's strict dress code. 

This time, however, Saleh would not return. 

"He lost his life for freedom," Farzaneh told DW.

Protesters killed by live ammunition

The protests began in late December in Tehran's Grand Bazaar over economic grievances but quickly became political and spread nationwide.

The nights of January 8 and 9 were the deadliest, according to state officials, foreign-based NGOs and eyewitness accounts.

"In the Narmak neighborhood, they [security forces] shot and killed at least five or six people in front of us," according to an eyewitness from Tehran's Narmark neighborhood cited by Amnesty International.

"They have stopped using metal pellets and are shooting with live ammunition."

As security forces moved to crush the unrest, the government throttled internet access, making it nearly impossible for many families to learn what had happened to their loved ones.

Farzaneh only learned about her nephew's death after limited communications were restored late last week.

"Since the protests began, he had told family members that he would participate in every rally," she said. "He was fed up, just like many other young people in Iran."

That night, Mohammad Saleh joined a 25-year-old friend and the friend's girlfriend in Tehran's Arya Shahr neighborhood.

There, they were confronted by militants from the Basij, a volunteer paramilitary faction controlled by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps who routinely assist the anti-riot forces in cracking down on unrest.

"Both Mohammad Saleh and his friend were hit by live ammunition," Farzaneh said.

"The first bullet struck him in the side."

His friend was also killed, she said, adding that the girlfriend escaped and later informed both families what had happened.

"According to his friend's girlfriend, Mohammad Saleh was still alive after he fell to the ground," Farzaneh told DW.

"Then they shot him in the head." >>>