Identity of three more killed during the Tehran and Karaj protests confirmed

Hengaw – Friday, January 16, 2026

The identities of Hamed Basiri, Reza Eskandarpour, and Amirhossein Mohammadzadeh—who were killed by direct gunfire from Iranian government forces during protests in Karaj and Tehran—have been confirmed after one week.

According to information received by the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, Hamed Basiri, a 35-year-old resident of Karaj and the father of one child, was shot in the face with live ammunition by government forces on the evening of Friday, January 9, 2026, during protests in Fardis, Karaj, and later died from his injuries.

Sources report that authorities demanded Basiri’s family either register him as a member of the Basij militia or pay one billion tomans in order to receive his body. The family rejected these conditions and, after four days, was forced to bury him under heavy restrictions, without holding a funeral ceremony, in the city of Eshtehard, Karaj.

Meanwhile, Reza Eskandarpour, a 37-year-old MDF designer from Tehran, was killed on the evening of Thursday, January 8, during protests in the Sadeghiyeh district after being shot directly by government forces. According to sources close to his family, Eskandarpour was struck by six live bullets to the chest and heart. His funeral was held on Sunday.

On the same night, Amirhossein Mohammadzadeh, an 18-year-old  player for the Delavar Afraz Tehran football team, was killed by direct gunfire from government forces in the Afsarieh district of Tehran. Sources report that authorities fabricated a case against him and released his body to the family only on the condition that he be identified as a member of the Basij. Under coercion, his body was buried in Section 42, alongside those referred to by authorities as the “martyrs of the 12-day war.”