Witnesses told Iran International that elderly women and men were among those killed during a violent crackdown on protests in the city of Malayer, in Iran’s western Hamadan province.
According to the accounts many families were forced to bury their dead quietly and without public funerals.
The source said security forces held at least 35 bodies and demanded large sums of money from families in exchange for returning them.
A shopkeeper who sheltered protesters was shot dead by security forces in the southern Iranian city of Shiraz during nationwide demonstrations, people familiar with the matter told Iran International in messages received on Wednesday.
Local sources said Gholamreza Zareh, the owner of the Linda flower shop on Qadamgah Street in Shiraz, was killed on the evening of Jan. 8 after giving refuge to several protesters.
They said that when Zareh later opened his door to check whether the security crackdown had ended security forces immediately shot him in the neck, killing him instantly. The fate of the fleeing protestors remained unclear.
A 19-year-old Iranian protester, Shahab Fallahpour, was killed by security forces during demonstrations in the southwestern city of Andimeshk, people familiar with the matter told Iran International.
The sources said Fallahpour, a wrestler and a resident of the Shohada neighbourhood in Andimeshk, was shot during protests on Parto Street on Friday, January 9. They said he was targeted by sniper fire from a rooftop and that the shooting was carried out without warning.
According to the sources, Fallahpour’s body was buried three days later, in the early hours of January 12, at around 4 a.m., in the presence of his parents, without a funeral ceremony and under the supervision of government forces.
The sources said the family has been pressured and threatened not to speak to the media.
