Iranian security forces shoot novice boxer as father searches for missing son in cold weather: source
A novice Iranian boxer was shot dead by Iranian security forces during anti-government protests near Tehran, and his father spent a week searching before identifying his body in a black bag.
Harrowing footage circulating online shows a distraught father searching through piles of corpses covered in black bags, crying for his missing son.
Sepehr Ebrahimi, 19, was killed on Jan. 11 in the Andisheh area, about 19 miles west of the city of Tehran, according to Iranian opposition sources.
“Sepehr was shot and killed in Tehran,” Ali Safavi, head of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), told Fox News Digital.
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A video posted on social media, viewed by Fox News Digital, shows Ebrahimi’s father calling out his son’s name as he searches a warehouse full of unidentified bodies following violence against protesters.
“My Sepehr, where are you?” I heard my father crying. At one point, he shouts, “Stop Khamenei. They killed a lot of people’s children. You killed a lot of young people!”
According to Safavi, Ebrahimi was shot with live ammunition by Iranian security forces during protests against the clerical regime.
His family spent a week searching morgues, hospitals and detention centers before they identified his body among the piles of corpses, which was also shown in the photo.
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The killing comes amid ongoing protests across Iran, as anger continues to flare over political repression, economic hardship and human rights abuses.
Ebrahimi’s death has also renewed attention on the case of another Iranian boxer, Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani, who is on death row.
Vafaei Sani, now 30, is a boxer who was arrested in 2020 for participating in pro-democracy protests across the country.
Iranian authorities accused him of supporting the opposition People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (MEK).
He spent five years in prison, reportedly subjected to torture and prolonged solitary confinement, according to rights groups.
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In 2023, more than 100 human rights experts and international organizations sent a letter to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk, urging urgent intervention to stop the execution of Vafaei Sani.
His death sentence coincides with the case of Iranian wrestling champion Navid Afkari, who was executed in September 2020.
Meanwhile, the death of Ebrahimi and others comes as the death toll related to the protests in Iran continues to rise.
According to the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), at least 6,126 people have been killed since the recent protests began.
HRANA also reported that 214 pro-government forces and 49 civilians were killed, while more than 17,000 deaths are still being investigated.
