Bodies of arrested protesters found in rivers and dams
As the regime officials keep silent about the number of arrested and killed protesters during the country-wide protests in November, unofficial reports claim that bodies of several arrested protesters have been found in dams and rivers across Iran.
In recent days some social media users have posted images that they claim shows police discovering drowned bodies of their relatives or fellow citizens who had been arrested during the November protests.
In one case, one Twitter user reported on Sunday that the body of a young man named Ershad Rahmanian has been found in the Garan dam in Kurdistan province. According to his report, Rahmanian was arrested by the security forces in front of a hospital during the protests last month.
This Twitter user writes: “They keep lying to his family. One day, they say he’s in Sanandaj prison, another day they say he isn’t there. They searched all the hospitals and organizations and keep hearing lies. Until his body surfaces in Garan dam in Marivan. With a destroyed body. We neither forgive nor forget.”
The “Human Rights in Iran” Twitter page announced that torture marks were visible on the young man’s body and the family is being pressured to announce his death as a suicide.
Another video was published on social media on Friday which showed a body has been discovered in Karoun River in Khuzestan province. Some citizens claim that the body belongs to one of the arrested protesters.
Five more bodies were also reported to have been found in the Vahdat dam in Sanandaj on Thursday. According to Iran Kargar (Worker) website, these young men were arrested during the November protests. Iran Kargar also claims that four bodies were drowned in Zaribar lake in Marivan.
While the unofficial reports of massacre across the country continue to surface, Javan newspaper, tied to Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) previously estimated that the number of protesters killed in November is close to 1981 massacre.