Death of Young Man at Langarud Police Station; Five Police Officers 'Arrested'

Following reports from several local media outlets in Gilan and social networks about the death of a young man due to 'torture and assault' at the Langarud police station, the public prosecutor of Lahijan announced the temporary arrest of five police officers. Elias Hazrati, head of the government's information council, also stated without naming Mohammad Mir Mousavi, that Masoud Pezeshkian had instructed the Minister of Interior to form and send a committee to Lahijan to investigate all aspects of the incident and report back. According to the Borna news agency, the public prosecutor's announcement published on Wednesday, September 7, did not mention the identity of this young man, but local media in Gilan province identified him as 'Mohammad Mir Mousavi.' However, Ibrahim Ansari, the public prosecutor of Lahijan, stated that 'judicial authorities immediately arrived at the scene after this incident and took the matter seriously.' He mentioned that this issue has also been raised in the special events follow-up committee of the judiciary in the province, and the provincial citizen rights committee is also investigating the suspicious death of this young man by traveling to Lahijan. This announcement came after several local media outlets in Gilan, the Hengaw human rights website, and the Dadban legal website published images of the bloody body of a young man being washed in a morgue, noting that signs of 'torture and severe assault' were evident on his body. After the release of this shocking video, the identity of this young man was revealed as 'Mohammad Mir Mousavi,' 36 years old, from the village of Seyed Mahalleh in the Rudbneh district of Lahijan. Reports indicate that he was arrested during a local dispute by special forces of the police in this county and died after 'severe beating' at the Langarud police station. The Hengaw human rights organization reported that this young man died on the day of his arrest, but due to the autopsy marks visible on his chest and abdomen in the video, it is unclear when his body was handed over to his family. Hengaw also released a video of his funeral, stating that the ceremony took place on September 6. Following the rising reactions to this news, on Friday, the state news agency announced a 'special order from the commander-in-chief of the police regarding the investigation of this incident' and quoted General Radan promising that 'the results of the supplementary actions will be made public.' The death of this young man occurs on the eve of the anniversary of the death of Mahsa Zhina Amini in the custody of the morality police in 2022, which turned Iran into a scene of widespread protests. This is not the first time news of the deaths of prisoners and detainees in Iran's prisons and detention centers has been reported. The death of this young man at the police station has been compared on social media to the death of Sattar Beheshti, a young worker and blogger who was killed under interrogation after being arrested by the cyber police. Amnesty International previously announced that from December 2009 to September 24, 2021, at least 72 deaths occurred in 42 prisons and detention centers in various cities across Iran. According to this report, in 46 of these deaths, torture or other physical mistreatment of prisoners by officials and prison authorities was the main cause.