IRGC kill 17-year-old child Reza Ghanbari in Kermanshah

Hengaw – Monday, January 5, 2026

Reza Ghanbari, a 17-year-old Kurdish child from Kermanshah (Kermashan), was shot dead by forces of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) during protests in the city. He is the second child reported killed in connection with the recent protests in Kermanshah.

According to information received by Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, Ghanbari, a 17-year-old who was engaged in child labor in Kermanshah, was killed on the evening of Saturday, January 3, 2026, during protests in the Jafarabad neighborhood after being shot directly by IRGC forces.

Sources familiar with the incident said the teenager was fatally wounded during an armed assault by Iranian forces on a gathering of civilians on Artesh Street, after being struck by gunfire in the back and side.

Hengaw has learned that government institutions in Kermanshah subsequently pressured the child’s family to falsely claim that their son was affiliated with the Basij militia.

On the same night, Rasul Kadivarian, another 17-year-old child, was killed instantly after being shot directly by Iranian forces in the Jafarabad neighborhood of Kermanshah.

Reza Kadivarian, 20, Rasul’s brother, who had fallen into a coma after being shot by these forces during protests in the same neighborhood, died the following night at Taleghani Hospital on Sunday, January 4, 2026.