Iranian Father Suffers Fatal Stroke After Son’s Death in Custody

An ethnic Baluch man died of a stroke five days after his 19-year-old son, Mahmoud Rakhshani, lost his life in the hands of intelligence agents of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), according to a human rights group.

Haalvsh, an organization that monitors rights violations in Sistan and Baluchistan province, reported that Ebrahim Rakhshani, a 62-year-old construction worker, passed away on December 16.

His son Mahmoud was arrested on September 3 by IRGC intelligence agents who had stormed the family’s home in the eastern Iranian city of Zabul without a court order. 

The agents accused them of possessing a weapon, which was not found during the search.

While in detention, Rakhshani was beaten on the head by the IRGC intelligence officers who demanded he hand over the alleged weapon. 

The young man succumbed to a severe concussion on December 11 after remaining in a vegetative state in hospital for three months.

The family were allowed to retrieve the body after they reluctantly signed a document in which they pledged not to launch any legal action and talk about the death publicly.