Hengaw verifies the identities of seven more protesters killed in Tehran

Hengaw – Friday, January 16, 2026

Hengaw has verified the identities of seven additional people who were killed during recent protests in Tehran after being shot directly by Iranian government forces. The victims have been identified as Mahan Qadami, Ehsan Abedini, Armin Motamed-Amini, Nima Parsa, Farzam Ghasemi, Mehdi Bastani, and Pouya Akbarzadeh.

According to information received by Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, on the evening of Friday, January 9, 2026, Mahan Qadami, 23, a rap singer and barber, was killed after being shot by government forces during protests in Islamshahr, Tehran.

On the same day, Ehsan Abedini, 35, originally from Qom and a resident of Tehran, was shot in the head and killed during protests on Sattarkhan Street in Tehran. He owned a business called Javanan on Shadman Street and had openly expressed support for protesters on social media since the beginning of the demonstrations.

Also on January 9, Armin Motamed-Amini was shot in the heart by government forces during protests on Andarzgoo Boulevard in Tehran. His body was handed over to his family in Kahrizak on Sunday, January 11. 

According to informed sources, he was accompanied by a friend at the time of the incident. That individual was shot in the abdomen and later died in hospital due to severe bleeding. His identity has not yet been verified.

On Thursday, January 8, Farzam Ghasemi was killed during protests in the Sadeghieh area of Tehran. According to informed sources, at around 11:30 p.m., his family received a phone call stating that he had been injured by pellet gunfire.

Hengaw has also verified the identities of three other people who were killed during the widespread crackdown in Tehran on January 8 and 9. Mehdi Bastani, 29, was shot dead by government forces using a Kalashnikov rifle during protests in the Pirouzi neighborhood of Tehran.

Nima Parsa, also known as Mohammadamin Parsa, a former student of the University of Bologna and an Italian-language instructor on the YouTube channel Nebia Academy, was killed by live ammunition fired by government forces during protests near Vanak Square. He had been publishing his educational content free of charge on YouTube, and the project remained incomplete at the time of his death. 

Pouya Akbarzadeh was also killed after being shot by government forces during protests in District 20 (Dolatabad) of Tehran.