Iranwire – At least two university students have died in suspicious circumstances in the southwestern Iranian city of Shiraz since the eruption of nationwide protests eight weeks ago.
Official media raised eyebrows when they reported that one of the students committed suicide while the other died in a car accident.
Young men and women, including university students, have been at the forefront of the ongoing wave of protests, which is accompanied by a violent repression at universities and elsewhere that has killed more than 300 people. Several thousand have been arrested, including hundreds of students.
The semiofficial ISNA news agency reported on November 8 that a student in computer engineering at Shiraz University threw himself from the 13th floor of a dormitory.
The reasons behind this “self-harming act” remained unknown, the report said.
IranWire sources said the student was named Sina Firouzabadi and that he was originally from the southern city of Darab.
Firouzabadi’s alleged suicide comes after news about the death of a student in business management at Shiraz Azad University went viral on social media in late October.
At the time, the semiofficial Fars news agency reported that 22-year-old Marzieh Doshman Ziyari died after being hit by a car while she was crossing a street.
However, Ziyari’s friends claimed she was arrested during a protest, and died due to multiple baton blows inflicted by security forces.
Right before her arrest, Ziyari spoke to several friends about writing a statement to protest against the suppression of student gatherings, according to information received by Iranwire,
Several of Ziyari’s friends said her family agreed to confirm the official cause of death due to threats from the security agencies.