Protesters at a child’s funeral whose family says he was killed by Iranian security forces they chanted anti-regime slogans and ridiculed the official account of his death.
Hundreds of mourners flocked to the southwestern city of Izeh Iran for Kian Pirfalak’s funeral, according to images posted online.
His mother said at a funeral ceremony that security forces shot Kian on Wednesday, though Iranian officials insisted he was killed in a “terrorist” attack carried out by an extremist group.
“Hear it from myself about how the shooting happened, so they can’t say it was by terrorists because they are lying,” his mother told mourners, according to video released by the 1500 Twitter accounts of tasvir activists. “Maybe they thought we wanted to shoot or something and riddled the car with bullets… Plainclothes forces shot my son. That’s it.”
Ridiculing the official version of events, the protesters chanted: “Basij, Sepah, you are our Isis!” according to a video released by Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR). Basij is a pro-government paramilitary force and Sepah is another name for Iran’s feared Revolutionary Guard. Isis is an alternative name for the extremist group Islamic State.
“Death to Khamenei,” they shouted in another video posted by 1500tasvir, referring to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Activists have put Kian’s age when he died at nine or 10 years.
Opposition media based outside of Iran said another boy, Sepehr Maghsoudi, 14, was shot dead in similar circumstances in Izeh on Wednesday.
Funerals have repeatedly become the focus of protests in the movement that began after the death on September 16 of Mahsa Amini, who had been arrested by Tehran’s morality police.
Iranian state television reported that seven people had been buried, including a nine-year-old boy, saying they had been killed by “terrorists” on motorcycles.
The Guard-affiliated Fars news agency quoted Khuzestan province governor Sadegh Khalilian as saying “foreign elements” were responsible.
“Kian Pirfalak, 9, and Sepehr Maghsoudi, 14, are among at least 56 children killed by Iranian forces working to crush the 2022 Iranian revolution,” said Hadi Ghaemi, director of the Center for Human Rights. in Iran, based in New York.
IHR also said anti-regime slogans were chanted at the funeral in the northern city of Tabriz for Aylar Haghi, a young medical student who activists say fell to his death from a building attributed to security forces.
In a separate development, videos showing the ancestral home of the late founder of the Islamic republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, in flames have been widely shared on social media, with activists saying it was torched by protesters.
Reuters verified the location of two video clips using the distinctive arches and buildings that match the archival footage. The semi-official Tasnim news agency, however, denied that Khomeini’s house was set on fire, saying a small number of people had gathered outside the house.
Videos on social media show dozens of people cheering as a flash of fire ignites in a building. Reuters could not independently verify the dates the videos were filmed. 1500 Tasvir said the incident happened Thursday night in Khomein’s hometown of Khomein, south of the capital Tehran. The house had been turned into a museum.
“The report is a lie,” the Tasnim news agency said, adding: “The doors of the house of the late founder of the great revolution are open to the public.”
