Reactions to the Suspicious Death of Ashkan Baluch After Re-Summons: The Islamic Republic Killed Him

The suspicious death of Ashkan Baluch, a former political prisoner, following his re-summons to the prosecutor's office, has sparked reactions on social media. Ashkan Baluch, son of Daryush Baluch and Niko Ghafari Tabrizi, a young protester residing in Tabriz with a history of arrests during the nationwide protests of 2019 and 2022, passed away in recent days. An announcement of Ashkan Baluch's death, which was published on social media, states that he died on December 30 and was buried in the 'Wadi Rahmat' cemetery in Tabriz. The Committee for Following Up on the Status of Detainees, citing Milad Abdi, a former political prisoner who was a cellmate of Ashkan Baluch in Hall 1 of 'Fashafouyeh Prison', confirmed his death and stated that this young protester had been arrested in October 2022. Ali Ghasemi, a former political prisoner and one of Ashkan Baluch's cellmates, introduced him as a 'kickboxing coach' and shared images of the deceased protester on Instagram, writing: 'Ashkan was one of those athletes whom the security system of the Islamic Republic could not execute openly and officially; in 2019, they tried to extract forced confessions from him and include the destruction of a gas station in his case, and last year, they imposed severe imprisonment and torture on him.' According to Ghasemi, Ashkan Baluch had previously 'attempted suicide once in the prison shower', but 'his cellmates had arrived in time and saved him from death', and 'the second time, he jumped out of the window in Lukman Hospital', and this time, when he was contacted a few days ago by the police to 'come for explanations and a few questions' to this governmental center, 'he could no longer bear it.' This former political prisoner stated that 'when Judge Salavati announced his heavy sentence, he decided to commit suicide', adding: 'In the prisons of the Islamic Republic, abuse and torture have various dimensions, and the law has left the torturers free, especially psychological torture, which is more appealing and pleasurable for filthy torturers and petty agents. Later, there is no trace of it except for a hidden record.' Ashkan Baluch's former cellmate also noted in another statement that 'after every social and political movement, a long period of depression grips the people', saying that 'during this period, suicides and murders increase', and the Islamic Republic 'creates a river of blood to survive', and 'we people must pay more attention to each other. We have no one but each other.' Journalist Hediyeh Kimiaei also pointed out that Ashkan Baluch was arrested during the protests in Tehran in October 2022 and was transferred to the sixth ward of Greater Tehran Prison, where Abolqasem Salavati, head of Branch 15 of the Islamic Revolutionary Court, sentenced him to five years in prison, which was 'exactly confirmed' in the appeal stage. She emphasized that 'the Islamic Republic killed Ashkan', citing his friends' statements, adding: 'Ashkan had been severely tortured during interrogation to force him to confess against himself, but they could not force him to do so.' In recent months, following the nationwide protests of 2022, several detainees have died suspiciously after their release, with their deaths being declared as 'suicides'. The deaths of several prisoners after their release, such as Maryam Arvin, Mohsen Jafari Rad, Arshia Imam Qolizadeh, Yalda Aghafazli, and Hasti Hossein Panahi, have raised many questions about how the authorities of the Islamic Republic treat prisoners. Concurrently with the death of Ashkan Baluch, which some have reported as 'suicide' and others blame the Islamic Republic for, the Supreme Court has confirmed the death sentence of Mojahid Korkor and Reza Rasayi, two detained protesters.