Sardasht; Barzin Hamzezadeh, one of the Kurdish children arrested in the Jin, Jiyan, Azadi movement, died as a result of injuries caused by torture

Hengaw: Wednesday, January 3, 2023

Barzin Hamzezadeh, a Kurdish child from Sardasht who suffered severe injuries to his internal organs as a result of the severe beating of the Iranian forces, finally passed away 13 months after surgery at the hospital. He was arrested at the age of 15 during the Jin, Jiyan, and Azadi movement and was tortured for a week.

According to the report received by the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, on Tuesday, January 2, 2024, Barzin Hamzezadeh, a 16-year-old injured child from Sardasht, died during surgery at "Khomeini" hospital in Urmia.

According to a well-informed source close to Barzin Hamzezadeh's family, this child lost both his kidneys last year following his arrest and severe strikes and beatings by the Iranian security forces in the fall of last year and later suffered physiological dysfunction.

This source further added: "Over the past year and two months, Barzin has experienced a decrease in his level of consciousness and anesthesia several times, and he has visited the doctor many times for treatment.”

One of the child's relatives confirmed this news and told Hengaw: Before his arrest, Barzin was in perfect physical and mental health and had no signs of illness. However, due to the torture during detention, he lost consciousness several times after his release.

This source further stated that the Iranian security agencies have been pressuring Hamzezadeh's family since yesterday to refrain from publicizing this news.

Barzin Hamzezadeh was arrested by the forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran in early December 2022, after the massive protests on November 20, 2022, in Sardasht, and was subjected to severe torture for nearly a week. The symptoms of this child's illness appeared a few days after his release in December 1401.

It is worth mentioning that, among those who were injured during the 2022-2023 protests in Iran, especially the ones from the Jin, Jiyan, Azadi movement, have suffered mental and physical disorders after their release from prison, and some of them, in the silence of the news, have not been able to resume their normal life and in some cases, they lost their lives.

Based on the statistics registered in the Statistics and Documents Center of Hengaw, more than 300 children have been arrested in different cities of Kurdistan by the security institutions of the Islamic Republic of Iran during the Jin, Jiyan, Azadi movement, and so far the identities of 193 of them have been confirmed for Hengaw.