For the past two years, Mahboobeh Ramezani has been grieving the loss of her son while calling for justice over his death at the hands of Iran’s security forces.
Pejman Gholipur was shot and killed during a November 17, 2019, protest in Tehran triggered by a sudden rise in the price of gasoline. He was 18. Ramezani has kept her son’s bloody clothes as evidence that he was murdered.
Gholipur was among thousands of citizens who joined the protests in more than 100 Iranian cities and towns prompted by the government’s sudden decision to increase gas prices. The protests quickly turned political, with many chanting against the Iranian clerical establishment and its leaders.
The government responded with lethal force, according to Amnesty International, which recorded 324 deaths of protesters and bystanders, including children. The London-based rights group believes the real number of those killed is even higher.
Among them was Gholipur, who was reportedly shot in the heart. His family found his body in a hospital hours after he left home to join the demonstrations.
“My son’s bloody clothes are in a box. They’d removed them in the hospital. There were holes in them,” Ramezani testified online last week during a tribunal in London that heard evidence from her and other witnesses about the crackdown on the 2019 protests.
“We want justice. Hear our cries,” Ramezani said. “Tell us who killed our children…. We lost our loved ones in our own homeland,” she told the international people’s tribunal formed by NGOs to assess whether actions by Iran’s clerical establishment constituted “crimes against humanity.” The tribunal, which does not have any legal bearing, is expected to release a report next year.
Ramezani is among the grieving mothers of those killed in the November 2019 protests who have been speaking out about the killings and demanding that the authorities bring those responsible to justice. Many have reportedly faced state intimidation and pressure. But they have refused to be silenced.
Source: RFERL
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