CNN
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A former Iran nationwide workforce soccer participant has criticized authorities for his or her “silence” over the dying of a person who celebrated the nation’s World Cup defeat to the US earlier this week.
Mehran Samak, 27, died in Bandar Anzali metropolis, northern Iran, throughout public celebrations by anti-government protesters following Tuesday’s match – by which the US beat Iran 1-0 to advance to the knockout levels of the competitors.
The Norway-based watchdog group Iran Human Rights has alleged, citing “a number of impartial sources,” that he was shot within the head by safety personnel.
Police, nevertheless, have denied he was killed by authorities and have introduced the arrests of a number of suspects in connection along with his dying, in accordance with Iranian state media.
In a video that circulated on social media on Saturday, Mohammad Ahmadzadeh, who performed for Iran from 1988 to 1990 and coached Malavan F.C. from 2018 to 2020, challenged Bandar Anzali’s member of parliament Ahmad Donyamali and referred to as for accountability from metropolis officers.
“Hi there to all my fellow individuals of Anzali who’re bereaved as a result of we’ve got misplaced yet one more youth, Mehran Samak,” he stated. “We’ve misplaced this expensive every one the individuals of Anzali are bereaved.”
“I don’t know what their crime was. I need to ask the authorities of the town – what was their crime? Is it a criminal offense, punishable by dying, to honk your horn or to be comfortable for no matter purpose? I need to ask Mr. Donyamali, who considers himself a consultant of this metropolis – why are you silent? Aren’t you a rep of this metropolis? What response have you ever proven to the occasions thus far?”
The state-aligned Iran College students’ Information Company reported Thursday that the Bandar Anzali prosecutor had opened a case into the “suspicious” killing.
A number of movies had been posted on social media Tuesday evening exhibiting individuals in cities throughout Iran, together with within the capital Tehran, celebrating inside their properties following the match.
“I’m comfortable, that is the federal government shedding to the individuals,” one witness to celebrations in a metropolis within the Kurdish area advised CNN on Wednesday. CNN is just not naming the witness for safety considerations.
Activist outlet 1500tasvir additionally posted movies exhibiting safety forces, reportedly on Tuesday evening, opening fireplace at individuals in Behbahan and beating up a girl in Qazvin. Each cities are south of Bandar Anzali the place Samak is claimed to have been shot.
CNN can not independently verify the knowledge as Iran’s authorities is just not permitting overseas media into the nation, and has not been clear in its reporting on protests and protest casualties.
Demonstrations have rocked Iran for a number of months, sparking a lethal clampdown from authorities.
The nationwide rebellion was first ignited by the dying of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian girl who died in mid-September after being detained by the nation’s morality police. Since then, protesters throughout Iran have coalesced round a variety of grievances with the regime.