On Saturday, November 16, 13-year-old Amir Reza Abdollahi was killed by security forces during protests in Islamshahr, a suburb of Tehran. He was one of the 218 that IranWire understands were killed. Abdollahi had left home on an errand and was not involved in the protests. But as he was crossing an area near a gathering of protesters he was killed by the indiscriminate shooting of security forces.

It took three days for Abdollahi’s parents to recover his body from the authorities. They took the body to Parsabad-Moghan, a city in the northwestern province of Ardabil, to bury him in a private ceremony which only family members were allowed to attend.

Mohammad Abdollahi, Amir Reza's father, is a construction worker who moved from Parsabad to Islamshahr five years ago. Security officials had threatened that they would prevent the Abdollahis from burying their son’s body if they spoke to the media about his death; as a result, they kept their silence until he was buried.

Iranian government officials have so far refused to provide an exact number of those killed in recent protests.

But the numbers provided by non-governmental organizations and independent media outside Iran continues to climb. A government source told IranWire that as of Monday, November 25, 218 people were killed in the violence. The source within the Interior Ministry added that further 4,523 people have been arrested.

Related Coverage:

Government Source: 218 Dead and 4,523 Arrested in Iran Protests, 25 November 25 2019

She was Helping the Injured when They Killed Her, 25 November 25 2019

The Names of the Dead, 23 November 2019

He was Unemployed. He Protested. They Murdered him, 22 November 2019

Politician Says 130 Dead in Recent Protests, 21 November 2019

Shutting Down the Internet to Get Away with Murder, 19 November 2019

Twenty Dead as Shots Fired From Friday Imam’s Helicopter, 19 November 2019

Iranian Kurdish City Under Siege and Family of the Dead Ordered to be Silent, 18 November 2019

Murder and Mass Arrests to Silence Behbahan Protesters, 18 November 2019