Nearly a year after the nationwide November uprising, Iran Human Rights Monitor has managed to confirm the identities of 20 protesters killed as they fled in Mahshahr marshland by security forces.
Using eyewitness testimonies and other credible sources, Iran HRM has identified:
- Ahmad Rouhanifar
- Abbas Ansarian
- Ali Jelveh
- Alireza Ghanavati
- Asghar Rajaei
- Amir Boushehri
- Ehsan Sadeghi
- Hassan Veisi
- Homayoun Dashti
- Hayawi Sharifat
- Jaber Saberi
- Jafar Panahi
- Jamshid Malahan
- Javad Payabi
- Javad Nezarat
- Kamran Davari
- Kourosh Ahwazi
- Mojtaba Rezaei
- Mohsen Sarafraz
- Mershad Dehi
There were almost 100 people killed in the marsh on November 18, 2019, as the Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) members shot blindly into the area with heavy machine guns.
New Report by Javaid Rehman: Iran’s IRGC, Basij, and Police Opened Deadly Fire on Protesters
The majority of those killed were unarmed young men, but some were women and children. They had been holding a peaceful protest when the IRGC stormed Chamran township and blocked the roads to the rest of Mahshahr, so they ran for the marsh with the hope of hiding.
Overall, the state security forces shot dead at least 1,500 peaceful protesters in the crackdown on nationwide protests, while thousands more were wounded and yet more were arrested. Some were even arrested in the hospital and taken directly to prison without treatment. Some of those arrested were tortured to death, executed, forcibly disappeared, or are still being held without trial or charge. Relatives are being kept in the dark about the fate of many missing protesters.
This is a clear example of a crime against humanity committed by the government against its own people, for which the mullahs must be held to account. On September 2, Amnesty International exposed parts of tortures and ill-treatment that interrogators and judicial officials practiced against detainees. Several arrested protesters were compelled to confess what they had not committed, which filed and used against them in Revolutionary Courts.
Iran HRM wrote: “The UN Security Council, world governments and the international community [must] take urgent action to immediately halt the murder and suppression of the protesters. We urge the United Nations to quickly dispatch fact-finding missions to Iran. Iranian leaders must face justice for perpetrating crimes against humanity and the Iran protests massacre. Silence and inaction are both a violation of international conventions, laws, and standards, and embolden the government to continue its crimes.”
Over the past 11 months, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) has managed to identify 811 martyrs of the uprising, naming a further 56 last month.
NCRI President Maryam Rajavi urged the international community to do something now to save political prisoners’ lives. She advised establishing an international commission to investigate the massacre, visit prisons, and meet prisoners.
