Sajjad Rezaei disappeared on Saturday, November 16. After five days of his family searching desperately for him, security forces called and told them that their son had been killed. Then, at 5am on Thursday, November 21, they abandoned his body outside the morgue for his family to take care of.
Sajjad Rezaei was 20 years old. He had finished his compulsory military service just one month ago, and had started a job. He was born into a family that struggled financially, so he was keen to work and build a future for himself, but this ambition was shattered forever by a shot fired by the security forces of the Islamic Republic.
“He loved cars and had a mechanics diploma,” one of Sajjad Rezaei’s relatives told IranWire. “He worked for a car spare parts shop. He started work at noon. In the evening, between six and eight, he left his workplace but he never got home.”
“He grew up in our home,” the relative said. “We grew up together although he was a few years younger than me. He was the only child and had a difficult childhood. He was mischievous, smart, good-looking and athletic.”
On the evening of November 16, as Rezaei was returning from his workplace in Malard, a city in Tehran province, to his home nearby, the streets were crowded – hundreds of people had come out. He joined the crowd but soon, a bullet tore into him from behind and ended his young life.
For days, his family searched for him, but they could find no trace of him. Then, on Thursday, November 21, the security agents called the family and told them that their son was dead. They told them they could have his body; many families have encountered problems trying to get the bodies of their loved ones over the last 10 days. But, as usual in the case of those killed in recent protests, there were conditions: the family was forbidden to talk about what had happened, and the ceremonies had to be private.
“They called after five days and told the family to go and collect the body,” said the relative. “His father took the body to the city of Mahalat [in Markazi Province] for burial. They had left the body outside the morgue. They said that we were not allowed to have a big ceremony and only members of the family were to be present.”
The relative told IranWire that the body of a young woman was also left outside the morgue next to Sajjad Rezaei. “One of our acquaintances was in the morgue and said that the girl was 17 or 18. There was a big wound on her back. It appears that she had fallen down and they had shot her from the back.”
The identity of the young woman is not known to IranWire.
“All of [those killed] were our sisters and brothers,” said the relative. “We are all mourning. Perhaps we can do something. We must do something.”
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Security Forces Kill a 13-Year-Old Bystander, 26 November 2019
She was Helping the Injured When They Killed Her, 25 November 2019
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Shutting Down the Internet to Get Away with Murder, 19 November 2019
Twenty Dead as Shots Fired From Friday Imam’s Helicopter, 19 November 2019
Iranian Kurdish City Under Siege and Family of the Dead Ordered to be Silent, 18 November 2019
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