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Iran-HRM – The state security forces shot a man at point black on September 4 in Mehrshahr district in Karaj, west of Tehran.
The young man has been identified as Morteza Jafari.
In a video circulated on social media, a police officer shot an incapacitated man, who was forced on the ground, at point-blank range. The young man was shot in the head and died later from his wound in the hospital.
A video of the fatal shooting of a man who had been handcuffed & forced on the ground by the state security forces in Mehrshahr, west of Tehran, #Iran
Security forces shot Morteza Akbari at point-blank range & he died in a hospital on Sep. 5.#HumanRights pic.twitter.com/PhPFpyMAkG— IRAN HRM (@IranHrm) September 8, 2021
While confirming the fatal shooting, the Chief of Police of Alborz Province said it was an “accident”.
The Chief of Police of Alborz, a province located just west of Tehran, said the man was carrying a cold weapon in the Mehrshahr neighborhood in Karaj and that he “attacked the officer”, according to the state-run ISNA News Agency.
“While handcuffing the man, because other people were getting close to the police officer to disarm him, a bullet accidentally left the gun and hit the suspect,” Abbas Ali Mohammadian told state-run media.
This is while the video shows the police officer threatening the unmoving Morteza Jafari with his gun while using profanity before he shoots him in the head.
According to social media reports, Morteza Jafari owned a shop in Karaj.
This is not an isolated case. Iranian security forces carry out such shootings with impunity.
In another case in later October 2020, a young man died of suffocation from police pepper spray.
The man was filmed being beaten by a police officer while under custody prior to his death.
A video showed a police officer in Mashhad repeatedly pepper-spraying and tasing the man, Mehrdad Sepehri, handcuffed under custody.
Warning- distressing video from Mashhad, NE #Iran
State police harassed & tortured a young man with shocker & pepper spray.
The young man identified as Mehrdad Sepehri suffocated to death from pepper spray in a police car.
Signs of shocker wounds are evident on his body. pic.twitter.com/hQR7CJbwlr— IRAN HRM (@IranHrm) October 25, 2020
Sepehri was taken to the police car after becoming unconscious. He died before being taken to hospital.
Medical examiners confirmed Sepehri’s cause of death as suffocation from the pepper spray.
