Identities of two more people killed in Ilam confirmed

Hengaw – Friday, January 23, 2026

The identities of two more Kurdish men killed during recent protests in Ilam Province have been confirmed. Milad Sademiri and Mehdi Ghanbari were both shot dead by Iranian forces using live ammunition during demonstrations in the city of Ilam.

According to information obtained by the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, Milad Sademiri, a 26-year-old unmarried man from Ilam, was killed on Friday, January 9, 2026, after being shot directly by government forces during protests in the city.

Mehdi Ghanbari, a 27-year-old man from Malekshahi, also in Ilam Province, died on Saturday, January 17, 2026, after his condition deteriorated due to severe gunshot injuries sustained during protests on Thursday, January 8. He had been shot in the kidney, intestines, and thigh, and despite intensive medical treatment, succumbed to his injuries days later.

Sources told Hengaw that security agencies imposed coercive conditions on Ghanbari’s family for the release of his body, giving them two options: either to publicly identify him as a Basij militia member killed by protesters, or to pay 500 million tomans and forgo burying him in his hometown of Malekshah.
The family was warned that if they refused to comply with either of these conditions, the authorities would withhold his body.

Due to financial hardship, the family was unable to pay the demanded sum and was forced to comply with the authorities’ narrative in order to retrieve their son’s body. Following this, residents of Malekshahi refused to allow his burial in the town and boycotted his funeral, after learning that he had been officially presented as a government-affiliated force.