Death of Mohammad Mir Mousavi; Police Forces Announce Dismissal of Lahijan Police Chief

Following the death of Mohammad Mir Mousavi, a citizen who died in the custody of Lahijan police "due to severe beating," the police force announced the dismissal of the police chief of this city while also deferring the final conclusion to the forensic report. The Islamic Republic's police command stated in a statement released on Friday evening, September 9, that the reason for the dismissal of the Lahijan police chief was "insufficient oversight of the performance and behavior of staff." In this statement, which is the third announcement from the police command regarding the death of Mohammad Mir Mousavi in police custody, it was also mentioned that "due to the complexity of the issue," the final conclusion regarding the "cause of death" of this citizen is "contingent upon the definitive forensic report." The three announcements from the police command were issued after human rights media initially reported the death of a citizen "due to severe beating" in the custody of Lahijan police and published a video of his lifeless body. Following the widespread dissemination of this video in the media and social networks, the prosecutor of Lahijan announced the arrest of five individuals in this regard, and Masoud Pezeshkian, the President of Iran, called for the Interior Minister to follow up on the matter. The third announcement from the Islamic Republic's police command was published hours after the second announcement from this agency on Friday morning, which provoked reactions: the police acknowledged the role of unprofessional behavior and "lack of anger control" in the death of Mir Mousavi. In that announcement, it was specified that the death of this young man was due to "excitement resulting from friction between the late Mir Mousavi and police personnel and the lack of anger control and emotions from some staff and disregard for the status of the accused." According to the police, Mohammad Mir Mousavi was arrested on the first of Mordad following a dispute with a group in the village of Naserkiahd from the Lahijan county and was transferred to the Langarud police station. Earlier, the Hengaw human rights organization reported that Mr. Mir Mousavi died on the same day of his arrest, but it is unclear when his body was handed over to his family. The Islamic Republic's police command referred to this incident as an "exceptional event" in its announcements, but the deaths of citizens in the custody of Iranian government forces have occurred repeatedly in the past. The Lahijan incident comes on the eve of the second anniversary of the death of Mahsa (Zhina) Amini in the custody of the morality police. Javad Rouhi, one of the detainees from the "Women, Life, Freedom" protests, also suspiciously died in Nooshahr prison on September 9 last year, and the Iranian judicial system announced the cause of his death as "drug interaction." Previously, several other political prisoners had been killed in Iranian prisons, including Sattar Beheshti, a blogger, and the victims of the Kahrizak detention center in 2009.