Mehrdad Bakhtiari, the uncle of murdered November 2019 protester Pouya Bakhtiari, has recorded a video obtained by IranWire in which he notifies viewers that a fresh court order has been issued against him. Pouya’s family have refused to back down from their public calls for justice since the 27-year-old was shot dead in the street in Karaj on November 16 that year.
On the tape, Mehrdad Bakhtiari explains that in addition to being sentenced to jail, he had been held in detention for several months while his brother and Pouya’s father, Manouchehr Bakhtiari, is still in prison.
"Our story began on November 16, 2019,” he says. “The day my nephew Pouya Bakhtiari took to the streets for a peaceful protest. He was shot by security forces, and his was skull shattered. My brother shouted about this crime, and called for justice, and for the trial of the perpetrators and the killers.
“But the regime that supported the killing and torture arrested all my family members before Pouya's 40th day [after his death]. My brother has been in the regime's prisons and subjected to all kinds of psychological and physical torture. In the absence of my brother, they deprived us of all our civil, social and human rights.
"I do not know what will happen after this video is released. But I urge the government, the people of the US, the people of the world – be our voice if anything happens to us.”
Related coverage:
Father of Murdered Protester Beaten and Arrested at Family Gathering
Grieving Father: Make 1400 the Year of No to the Islamic Republic
Families of People Killed in Protests Arrested in Iran
They Killed My Son. I'll Continue to Fight for His Ideals
Families of Murdered Protesters Ordered to be Silent
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