On September 21, the Iranian regime’s state security forces (SSF) attacked a ceremony held at the grave of Mohsen Gheysari in Ilam, one of the protesters murdered by security forces during the 2022 uprising. Security forces arrested the brother of this slain protester along with several other citizens. They severely beat and injured some of the attendees. In the evening, they also raided the home of the family of Javad Heydari, another slain protester, in Rahmatabad village, Qazvin province, and arrested his 70-year-old father and two brothers.
Reports indicate that the SSF prevented the commemoration ceremony of the protesters in at least 19 cities in Iran, including Tehran, Khorramabad, Kermanshah, Islamabad-e Gharb, Quchan, Divandareh, Shahriar, Garmsar, Pakdasht, Karaj, Saqqez, Oshnavieh, Urmia, Rasht, Sari, Amol, Nowshahr, Qazvin, and Ilam.
Fatemeh Heydari, the sister of Javad Heydari, reported on September 21 that her 70-year-old father and two brothers were arrested by the security forces.
According to Ms. Heydari, as a result the attack by the SSF on their home in Rahmatabad village, Qazvin, her mother’s physical conditions became critical and she was transferred to the hospital for several hours.
Javad Heydari was an agricultural engineer and a protester who was killed on September 22, 2022, by direct gunfire from the regime security forces during the nationwide protests in Qazvin province west of Tehran.
With the anniversary of Javad Heydari’s death approaching, the security forces entered the village where the Heydari family resides and the location of his grave on Thursday with several vehicles. They arrested Javad’s father and brothers in an attempt to exert pressure on this grieving family and prevent the commemoration ceremony.
Once again, dozens of security forces entered Rahmatabad village on Friday, September 21, and “attacked Javad Heydari’s home with bullets and tear gas, beating his family members on the anniversary of their loved one” and kept members of this family confined to their home for hours.
Meanwhile, Abbas Kazemi, the Deputy Governor for Political, Security, and Social Affairs of Qazvin province, denied the videos that clearly showed SSF in front of Javad Heydari’s family home firing tear gas at the house, and described the presence of these forces as “protecting the locals” against the “provocative call” for protests.
Kazemi claimed that “cutting off the internet in Rahmatabad village and beating and injuring members of Javad Heydari’s family and their relatives” are not true.
The arrest of three members of Javad Heydari’s family has been carried out while several other families of killed protesters , including the family of Mohsen Ghaysari, were attacked and assaulted by the security forces in the city of Ilam on Friday.
According to the Hengaw human rights website, “SSF arrested Mohammad Hossein Ghaysari, the brother of Mohsen Ghaysari, who was killed during the protests, by attacking the participants in the Behesht-e-Reza Cemetery located in Hanivan town on Friday, September 22.”
Mohsen Ghaysari , a young protester, was killed on September 21, 2022, during the early days of the protests in Ilam, as a result of direct gunfire by security forces.
According to Hengaw, the Ghaysari family was holding a ceremony on Friday, September 21, to commemorate the anniversary of Mohsen’s death when they came under attack by security forces.
In addition to the “temporary detention” of Mohsen’s brother, several other individuals who had attended the ceremony were also detained by security forces, and at the same time, a number of attendees were severely beaten and injured and were taken to a hospital in Ilam and the condition of several of these injured individuals has been reported as “very critical.”
Published videos from the streets around Pakdasht Cemetery in Tehran province show that dozens of special forces personnel were stationed in the area, preventing access to the graves of two killed protesters, Mohammadreza Eskandari and Mohsen Pazouki, even to their families.
At the same time, Shabnam Eskandari, the sister of Mohammadreza Eskandari, wrote on her X account: “The ceremony for my brother on Friday has been canceled.”
Meanwhile, reports indicate that on Friday in many cities, including Kermanshah, Islamabad, Ilam, Ghouchan, Divandareh, Shahriar, Varamin, and Karaj, government security forces prevented the commemoration ceremonies for the killed protesters by exerting pressure on their families and deploying a large number of forces around the cemeteries.
In Gilan and Mazandaran provinces, where government forces had previously arrested several families of the killed protesters, the commemoration ceremonies for the killed protesters were also prevented on Friday.
Frazaneh Barzehkar, the mother of Erfan Razaei, as well as Vahid Kia and Masoumeh Azari in Nowshahr and Mahsa Yazdani in Sari, are still under arrest.
Fatemeh Mojtabai, the mother of Ghazaleh Chelabi, a killed protester in Amol, also posted on her Instagram account on the anniversary of her daughter’s death, mentioning the pressures and increased threats, saying: “The judicial system, the police, the security apparatus, all have conspired to intimidate us, the grieving families.”
The pressures on the families of the protesters have been increasing for a long time before the anniversary of the death of Mahsa Amini in the custody of the State Security Force, and the family of Mahsa Amini was also not granted permission to hold a commemoration ceremony on September 16.
