Exclusive Hengaw Report on the Suicide of a Child Laborer Following Sexual Assault and Extortion by Two Individuals in Qorveh

Hengaw; Wednesday, August 21, 2024

Farid Saadeghi, a child laborer from Qorveh and a child of divorced parents, was just two months away from his fourteenth birthday when he tragically took his own life. Over the past year, he had been subjected to repeated sexual assaults by two men, aged 35 and 45, who filmed the assaults and used the footage to extort and blackmail him.

According to information received by the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, on the night of Monday, August 12, 2024, Farid Saadeghi, a 14-year-old boy, hanged himself in his family home in the village of Chamaqloo Ganji, Qorveh County. The severe psychological pressure from the repeated sexual assault and financial extortion by the two men, identified as "H.T.", 45, and "K.A.", 35, drove Farid to end his life.

A member of the Saadeghi family told Hengaw: "After Farid's suicide, when we checked his mobile phone, we discovered that the two individuals, 'H.T.' and 'K.A.', had been continuously threatening him for the past year on social media platforms 'Shad' and 'Rubika' with the release of a video they had recorded during the assault. Over the past year, these two individuals forced Farid to comply with their inhumane and immoral demands and extorted money from him."

A resident of the village of Chameqloo Ganji, confirming this information to Hengaw, said: "On the evening of the incident, Farid was extremely distressed, holding a knife, and said he was going to the neighboring village to kill the two men who had been tormenting him. Ultimately, a group of villagers persuaded him to abandon his plan and return home."

Hengaw has learned that on the day of the incident, Farid's father and stepmother had taken his younger sister, who had suffered a leg burn, to Qorveh for treatment, leaving Farid alone at home, where he took his own life.

It is worth noting that Farid's parents had divorced five years ago, and both had remarried. Farid had been able to continue his education until the first year of middle school, after which he dropped out and began working. For the past year, he had been employed in a fruit and vegetable market in Tehran.

According to a close relative of Farid, he had returned to Qorveh from Tehran on August 7 to visit his family. The two men who had assaulted him began harassing him again, leading to his decision to end his life.

Hengaw's investigations reveal that one of the two men, both of whom were arrested by the police on Tuesday, August 20, is the cousin of Farid's mother's new husband. Also, the Sadeghi family have filed their complaint on Tuesday at a court.

Additionally, Farid's body was buried in his village of birth following autopsy and forensic investigation.