Abolfazl Adinehzadeh, a 16-year-old teenager and senior high school student majoring in electronics, was killed by security forces during Iran’s nationwide protests on October 8, 2022.
On the morning of October 8, 2022, his father dropped him off at school, and he was supposed to be at school until 2 p.m. However, around 11 a.m., he was shot with approximately 70 rubber bullets from a distance of less than one meter to his right side at the entrance of Ferdowsi University in Mashhad, northeast Iran. Despite doctors removing 27 bullets from his abdomen during surgery, he did not survive.
Marzieh Adinehzadeh, his sister, stated that if Farabi Hospital, which is near Ferdowsi University, had accepted Abolfazl, he would be alive now, but they did not admit the injured.
According to Abolfazl’s sister, a medical student girl, along with her family, helped Abolfazl and took him to Imam Reza Hospital around 12:30. He was conscious during the journey and kept saying, “Mom, I love you…forgive me.”
After a night of being uninformed and worried, the family was contacted by the security department of the education ministry on October 9 and were asked to bring the bail and take him. However, after Abolfazl’s parents went to the school, they were taken to the Intelligence Office, where they were shown Abolfazl’s body and falsely informed that he had been killed by three rubber bullets.
Khosrow Alikordi, the lawyer representing the Adinehzadeh family announced that the case of the parents’ complaint regarding the death of Abolfazl Adinehzadeh during the suppression of protests in 2022 in Mashhad has been “closed.”
Khosrow Alikordi shared the final verdict on social media on November 6, 2023. According to the issued verdict, the Branch 1 of the Military Prosecutor’s Office of Khorasan Razavi Province declared the case of the parents’ complaint about the death of Abolfazl Adinehzadeh as “closed.” The military prosecutor’s office argued that there was “no solid and convincing evidence of the use of rubber bullet shooting by military and law enforcement forces.”
Despite the fact that around 70 rubber bullets hit the right side of the teenager from a distance of less than one meter at the entrance of Ferdowsi University in Mashhad on October 8, 2022, the court found the evidence insufficient. The court’s verdict, bearing the signature of “Gholamhossein Alvandi, the investigator of Branch 1 of the Military Court,” stated that the accusation was not supported by sufficient and convincing evidence, leading to the decision of “non-prosecution.”
Additionally, the verdict mentioned that the plaintiffs would be directed to seek compensation from the state treasury through the judiciary.
According to the statements of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), during the nationwide uprising of the Iranian people, at least 750 individuals were killed by regime security forces.
