Iranian President Sharply Criticizes West’s Support For Homosexuality

Esmail Dehqani, an employee of the emergency department of Beheshti Hospital in Kashan, was killed July 8 but the news reached the public on Wednesday.

It is not clear why the police wanted to stop his car and under what circumstances. It is also not clear why he did not comply.

Dehqani got married just two months ago and his funeral ceremony was held on Sunday in the presence of many plainclothes security agents.

According to information received by Iran International, immediately after his death, the security and law enforcement authorities of Kashan put pressure on his family to remain silent about the tragic event even four days after his burial.

This is not the only case of indiscriminate killing of citizens by the government agents setting up checkpoints in recent months.

Melika Borji was a 12-year-old child who was shot by police officers in March and died on July 4 after suffering for about four months.

In December, another child was shot dead in her family’s car in Hormozgan Province. Soha Etebari, 12, and her family were on the road to Ahvaz, the capital of Khuzestan Province, when plainclothes security forces started shooting at the car at a checkpoint. Soha died of her injuries on the way to the hospital.

Deris, 49, and his 29-year-old brother Mohsen, were arrested during the Mahshahr canebrake crackdown in 2019; one of the bloodiest suppressions in the Islamic Republic, ignited by the sudden sharp increase in fuel prices in the country. It soon turned into an anti-government movement.

The brothers' initial charges included moharebeh (enmity against God), disrupting public order, and murdering a special unit officer. In October 2022, Mohsen was sentenced to death for the moharebeh charges, while his brother was acquitted.

Iran's supreme court upheld the death sentence issued to Deris last week.

"Our mother suffered a stroke and died after learning the death sentence for our father. We have no one except our father," stated his three children in a video published on social media.

Fereshteh Tabanian, his lawyer, tweeted last week that the Supreme Court had upheld Deris' death sentence without taking into account the objections she had filed on July 5.

According to Tabanian, Deris has denied involvement in the shooting, while the family of the deceased special forces officer has consented to a pardon.

The unarmed protesters in northern Mahshahr were shot dead by security forces after blocking the street. Security forces fired heavy artillery and set parts of the canebrake on fire when protesters ran towards it to take cover. Eyewitnesses said there were at least 20 deaths on the street and 40 deaths in the canebrake.

Ali Rouhi's court session was held Tuesday at Branch 26 of Tehran Revolutionary Court.

He is the father of Hamidreza Rouhi, a university student who was shot dead near his home in Shahr-e Ziba neighborhood in the west of the capital on November 18.

Ali Rouhi was arrested on April 6 after he invited people to attend the birthday of his murdered son. He was released from Evin prison on bail on April 9.

Rouhi's family has been under pressure for attempts to keep their son’s memory alive.

Following the "Woman, Life, Freedom" movement, the families of many of the victims did not remain silent and began to reveal the brutalities of the regime.

However, security and intelligence organs try to silence them by threats, intimidation, and arrests.

Zahra, the sister of Milad Saeedianjou, is one of the petitioners who was arrested for the second time on July 10.

In the past months, the family members of a number of those killed in protests, including Abolfazl Adinehzadeh, Javad Heydari, Reza Lotfi, Hamed Selahshour, Artin Rahmani, Navid Afkari, Pouya Bakhtiari, Farzad Ansarifar, etc., were arrested and charged with political crimes.

Galvani, 24, whose death was announced July 9 was a resident of Mahabad in western Iran and was admitted to Khomeini Hospital after falling into a coma, according to Hengaw Human Rights.

On Tuesday, Radio Farda released the photos of his bruised and battered body that indicated the severity of his injuries.

His family was informed that Galwani had "fallen from a height" leading to his comatose state.

According Hengaw, he died about two weeks after he was violently arrested by the security forces at his family home in Mahabad on June 25.

In the hospital, two security officers kept watch over him and prohibited family visits other than one exception made for his sister who observed extensive bruises on his body, head, and face.

His family says his death was the result of torture inflicted by the security forces, since the otherwise healthy young man did not have any preexisting medical conditions.

He is the second political prisoner who succumbed to his injuries in less than 24 hours as the regime continues its brutal suppression of opponents.

Kurdish human rights organizations reported Sunday that Mousa Esmaili, a political prisoner from Piranshahr in Iran’s West Azarbaijan province was also tortured to death.

Iranian intelligence and security agencies often bring unsubstantiated charges against dissidents, who are then tried behind closed doors without a lawyer. Several have died in unclear circumstances and torture.

Mojtaba Valadbeigi, father of Iman, who is a war veteran, said "My son was born on May 1, 1981 in Isfahan, but he lives in Tehran. He is a mechanical engineer and took part in protests. Even at home, he explained to us how to participate in the demonstrations and told us the details of what happened on the streets."

"Iman went out after the football match between Iran and the United States but did not take his cell phone. Since then, we have no information about him."

He further noted that he has been looking for his son for 223 days, but to no avail.

"The staff of the prosecutor's office told me that there are many examples like Iman and the number of missing people from the events of the 2022 fall is high," the father added.

Iman Valadbeigi is not the only missing person during the anti-regime protests following the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, as there are other citizens who disappeared then.

Reza Abbasi, a 21-year-old resident of Robat Karim region of Tehran, is one of the other citizens who went missing since November 12.

His mother also said that they searched "all the hospitals, forensic centers and prisons" but did not find any trace of him.