Rallies In Iran Continue With Mourning Ceremonies For Protesters

Friday protests in Iran were mainly focused on the mourning ceremonies for people killed during 75 days of unrest, with Bandar Anzali, Arak, and Izeh being the hotspots of the rallies.

One of the mourning gatherings was for Mehran Samak, a 27-year-old resident of Bandar Anzali in the northern province of Gilan, who died in hospital after being shot in the head with a bullet this week while he was celebrating after the Iranian soccer team’s loss against the US in the World Cup. Many Iranians wanted their team to lose because players had not shown support for antigovernment protests.

But once people crowded the streets after the football match ended in Qatar, security forces opened fire at cars that were honking as a sign of celebration, hitting Samak and many others. The government was ready to celebrate a win against the US team and security forces who had been prepared to wave flags and distribute sweets to people, were in no mood to see protesters expressing happiness for Iran’s loss.

Hours before Samak’s mourning gathering Friday, security forces had blocked the roads leading to the designated location. However, the protesters attended the mourning ceremony for the third day after his death, chanting "We will fight, we will die, we will take back Iran..."

In the city of Arak, people gathered for the 40th day anniversary of the death of Sina Malayeri, chanting slogans such as “Poverty, corruption and high prices, we are going to overthrow the government."

They chanted, "Death to Khamenei" and "This year is the year of the blood, Ali Khamenei is downed.”

Malayeri was reportedly killed by security forces and his body was found in a workshop near his place of residence, but the city’s prosecutor claimed that he died due to a drag overdose.

In the city of Izeh in the oil-rich Khuzestan province, people held gatherings in honor of Hamed Slahshour, a protester whose body was buried in a graveyard near the city by the security forces. His body was exhumed by his family members and re-buried in the family’s plot, but did not manage to do so under pressure of the security forces. The Iranian Human Rights Center reported that the 22-year-old was killed under torture after his arrest.

The mourning protest gatherings came on the backdrop of widespread rallies in the Baluch-majority cities across Sistan-Baluchistan province as the government has killed nearly a hundred people in the impoverished region since September 30. Protesters marched after Friday prayers particularly to voice support for their religious leader Mowlavi Abdolhamid.

The popular protests demanding an end to Islamic rule started in mid-September when 22-year-old Mahsa Amini was killed in the custody of the so-called “morality police,” igniting the boldest protest movement against the Islamic Republic in its 43-year history.

About 18,000 people have been arrested since the beginning of the protests, and some death sentences have already been issued for the protesters, though none have been carried out. According to Norway-based HRANA on December 2, 469 protestors and 61 members of the security forces have been killed in protests since September 17.