Police Commander: The Issue of 'Fabricated Deaths' in Recent Protests is Suspicious

The commander of the Islamic Republic's police force stated on Wednesday, January 17, that during the recent nationwide protests in Iran, no police officer had a 'military weapon' and referred to the deaths of several individuals in these protests as 'fabricated deaths.' According to the Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA), quoting Hossein Ashtari, the police commander, 'none of our officers [police] had military weapons.' Last Sunday, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, the spokesperson for the judiciary, announced that 25 people were killed during the protests in January 2018. On Wednesday, Ashtari referred to the protests as 'riots' and the victims as part of a 'fabricated deaths' narrative, stating that 'this issue is under investigation.' He did not provide further explanation; however, this is not the first time that the deaths of ordinary citizens in street protests in the country have been described as 'suspicious' and unrelated to the government. One example of this response to the deaths of protesters is Neda Agha-Soltan, a young woman who lost her life in the early days of Iran's Green Movement in Tehran. In July of this year, Ali Shirazi, the representative of the Supreme Leader in the Quds Force, stated: 'In the sedition of 2009, in which the West was involved, a person named Neda Agha-Soltan was suspiciously killed by their own agents....' Previously, Mohammad Bagheri, the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic, had also described the deaths in the recent nationwide protests as 'suspicious' and denied that military and police forces had come to the streets 'with weapons.' This senior military official also did not provide any explanation regarding this matter. Two weeks ago, nationwide protests erupted in Iran, starting in Mashhad with slogans criticizing the economic situation and quickly spreading to political issues and the core of the Islamic Republic system. These protests brought people to the streets in over a hundred cities, resulting in several casualties and thousands of arrests. In this context, on Sunday, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, the judiciary spokesperson, placed the terms 'people' and 'loyal forces' in opposition, stating that 'in total, 25 people from both the public and loyal forces were killed in the streets, and their deaths were not due to gunfire from military and police forces.' According to this judicial official, 'it was emphasized that there should be no shooting, and some individuals had no weapons at all.' The Iranian police commander also stated on Wednesday that all individuals arrested by the police during the protests were 'handed over to the judiciary in the early days.' According to this police official, the police categorized the detainees into two groups: 'Individuals we believed had no role were released. The others were among those who required further investigation, but since we did not want to keep them in custody, we released them; however, we wanted them to come to the police station in the early days while investigations were incomplete to clarify their status.' After the start of the street protests in Iran, which initially began with the slogan 'No to Price Hikes' and quickly escalated to political demands, all official figures in the country, including the Supreme Leader, the President, and his deputies and ministers, attributed the unrest to 'enemies.' In this context, the UN's request for an investigation into the deaths and the observance of the rights of detainees in the protests has been noted, with Asma Jahangir stating in an interview with Radio Farda: Iran should announce the names of the recent detainees. Representatives expressed concern over the number of casualties, stating, 'The prison organization is responsible for the lives of prisoners.'