Family Of Slain Iranian Teenage Protester Endure Threats, Intimidation As They Seek Justice

RFL/RE – In late September, Pedram Azarnush was taking part in an anti-regime protest in southwestern Iran when he was shot dead.

Nearly five months on, the 17-year-old’s family is still seeking justice. In their attempts to bring the perpetrators to account, the family has endured constant threats and intimidation from the authorities, informed sources told RFE/RL’s Radio Farda.

Azarnush is among the at least 480 protesters who rights groups said have been killed in the state’s brutal crackdown on the months-long antiestablishment protests, the biggest threat to Iran’s clerical regime in decades.

Eyewitnesses told Radio Farda that security forces attacked Azarnush, a local karate champion, on September 22 when he tried to help a young female protester who was being beaten by police officers in Dehdasht, a city in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province.

The police officers then turned on Azarnush, beating him and shooting at him with rubber bullets, said eyewitnesses who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution. A sniper located on the rooftop of a nearby building then shot the teen in the chest using live ammunition, the eyewitnesses added, killing him.SEE ALSO:’He Enjoyed Seeing Detainees Cry’: Female Iranian Protesters Recall Beatings, Abuse In Detention

Azarnush’s father suffered a heart attack when he saw his son’s body, which had been taken to a hospital, according to sources with knowledge of the situation, also speaking on condition of anonymity.

The sources said the family filed a criminal complaint and called on the authorities to identify and punish his killer. They also demanded the police return Azarnush’s personal laptop and camera, which he had with him when he died.

After reviewing the evidence, including CCTV footage, a local judge concluded that Azarnush was killed without justification, informed sources said.

But more than 20 police officers have since claimed they were assaulted and injured by the teen, an allegation refuted by Azarnush’s family.

“How could a 17-year-old injure 20 [armed police officers] with his bare hands?” one of the informed sources said. “He had taken to the streets to demand his rights and the rights of his countrymen. He wasn’t armed.”SEE ALSO:Iranians Rally Behind Executed Poultry Worker, Kids’ Coach

“[The judge] said they could have shot him in the leg instead of his heart. Yet, [the authorities] play games. [The case] has remained open and they keep summoning his father,” the source added.

Azarnush’s father, a veteran of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War, has been warned by the authorities to remain silent about his son’s killing, sources said.

Sources added that two of Azarnush’s cousins — Shayan and Reza Azarnush — were detained in January in an apparent attempt to pressure the family.

The antiestablishment protests erupted after the September 16 death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who was arrested by Iran’s morality police for allegedly violating the country’s hijab law.SEE ALSO:’They Deserve To Die’: Iranian Doctors Who Treated Wounded Protesters ‘Arrested, Tortured’

The protests began as a rebuke against police brutality. But they have snowballed into one of the most sustained anti-regime demonstrations against Iran’s theocracy, with protesters calling for an end to clerical rule and demanding their social and political freedoms.

The protests have waned in recent weeks, although sporadic rallies continue to be reported in different parts of the country.

Sources said Azarnush was angered by Amini’s death in a Tehran hospital three days after she was arrested and allegedly beaten in custody.

Azarnush told his sister that he had joined the protests because he could not remain silent about state violence against women.

“Imagine they had done this to you. How could I remain silent?” informed sources quoted the teen as saying.