Iranian security forces continue to prevent commemorations marking the anniversary of the government’s killing of civilians during last year’s Jin Jiyan Azadi (Woman Life Freedom in Kurdish) uprising.
The first anniversary of the killing of at least 17 civilians was disrupted on 21 September as security and military forces maintained a heavy presence in Ilam, Kermanshah, Eslamabad-e Gharb, Quchan, Divandarreh, Qazvin, Shahriar, Varamin and Karaj.
The identities of these civilians, who were killed last year by gunfire from the Islamic Republic of Iran’s military-security forces, are: Mohsen Gheysari, Iman Mohammadi, Saeid Mohammadi, Anoushirvan Fouladi, Amir Hossein Basati, Sadraddin Litani, Amin Marefat, Milan Haghighi, Ali Mozaffari Salanghouch, Mehdi Babrnezhad, Abdollah Mahmoudi, Danesh Rahnema, Alireza Fathi, Mohammad Zarei, Rouzbeh Khademian, Erfan Khazaei, and Foad Ghadimi.
Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) sources reported the presence of military and security forces around the cemeteries in these cities and their prevention of commemoration ceremonies.
A source in Eslamabad-e Gharb, Kermanshah province, told KHRN that in recent days dozens of civilians and activists have been summoned to the Ministry of Intelligence and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Intelligence Organisation and threatened not to attend the commemorations.
In addition, a source in Ilam, Ilam Province, reported that security forces raided the commemoration of Mohsen Gheysary at the city cemetery and said that the forces beat and arrested at least three civilians, including Mohammad Hossein Gheysari, Mohsen Gheysari’s brother.
KHRN’s sources in Saqqez, Kurdistan Province, the village of Balou in Orumiyeh, West Azerbaijan Province, and Quchan, Razavi Khorasan Province, also reported the cancellation of commemorations and anti-government protests in these cities due to pressure from the security services.
