Scientist, mountaineer, violinist: Iran protest crackdown victims come to light

Tight communications controls have slowed verification of events during protests that began in late December before surging in size and intensity.

Iranian authorities have blamed “rioters” and “terrorists” for the deaths and damage during the unrest but have given no official total toll.

Two rights groups have verified more than 3,400 deaths, while some estimates put the figure as high as 20,000.

Norway-based Iran Human Rights said most of those killed were young men, though women and minors are also among the dead.

Here are some of their stories:

– The biotech graduate –

Negin Ghadimi was a “cheerful” biotechnology engineering graduate from Tehran who loved painting and swimming, a source close to her family told IHR, which analysed and verified her case.

The 28-year-old was shot while at a public gathering in Tonekabon in Mazandaran province and bled to death in her father’s arms.

At the rally, security forces fired tear gas, sending the crowd scattering, the source said.

Ghadimi and her father were separated from the rest of their family and he told her to get somewhere safe.

“Negin replied, ‘Why should we go back? What are you afraid of?’ She took one step forward and was immediately hit by a live bullet,” IHR reported.

Hit in the side, she did not die immediately and was carried into a nearby house but never reached a hospital, as shooting continued in the streets.

– The cabinet maker –

Reza Eskandarpour, a 37-year-old protester who ran a cabinet-making workshop, was killed while trying to save a friend who had been shot while they protested in western Tehran on January 8, a source close to his family told IHR.

He had gone into the streets with a group of friends, telling his family he knew he might not return, the source said.

As Eskandarpour tried to help his friend, he was struck by six bullets by a shooter at the top of a building nearby.

Eskandarpour was buried at the Behesht Zahra cemetery in Tehran.

Thousands of bodies were at the site, with families of the dead chanting anti-government slogans, the source said, adding that Eskandarpour’s family had images of the burial deleted from their phones by security agents.

In a final Instagram post he said: “By the time life reached us, it was cut off, banned, censored, cancelled, made expensive, turned into war, turned into killing. What a tragic ending…”

– The mountaineer –

The Hengaw rights group, also based in Norway, has confirmed the killing of at least 33 women during the protests as of Monday, including a pregnant woman and mothers of young children.

In Rasht city, 45-year-old Sara Behboodi was shot and killed. A mountaineer, she had climbed major peaks in Iran.

Images obtained by the IranWire news outlet showed Behboodi smiling in bright sunlight wearing a coordinated vivid yellow hat and jacket at the top of Mount Kamal in East Azerbaijan province at 3,700 metres .

Rasht, near the Caspian sea, “has been one of the main centres of the protests”, IHR said.

– The violinist –

In Lahijan, near Rasht, violin instructor Sanam Pourbabayi was also killed, Hengaw said.

A video circulated after her death reportedly showing Pourbabayi playing along with a guitarist, a black scarf balancing on the back of her dark hair.

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