“Personally, if I see even one symbolic protest in Babol, I will support it. Damn, just once.”
This is one of the last tweets of Mohammad Hassan Torkamaan on his Twitter account, which he wrote in response to the protests against the government killing of Mahsa (Zhina) Amini.
Mohammad Hassan Torkamaan is another victim of the recent protests in Iran. He was shot to death on Wednesday, September 21st, close to the governor’s office in the northern city of Babol.
Mohammad Hasan Torkamaan was a student of business management at Babol Azad University. Although he dropped out of university, he stayed and worked in the city of Babol.
◼️ Listen to Zamane’s interview with an informed source and a close relative of Mohammad Hasan Turkman – In Persian:
In an interview with Zamaneh, an informed source close to Mohammad Hassan Torkamaan, described how he was killed:
“On September 21, one of his friends invited him to their house. Mohammad Hassan’s friend called and said that he would pick him up due to the crowd and protests, but Mohammad Hassan told him not to worry and that he would stay at the shop until 11 p.m., and then he would come. This call was placed around 4 p.m., and after that, one of his friends called him again, and Mohammad Hassan said that it was very crowded there, and it seemed he was in front of the governor’s office at that moment ….”
According to Zamaneh’s source, no one heard from Mohammad Hassan again until 11:00 p.m. The friend who was expecting him at his house became worried and called him several times.
“Finally, after several calls, someone answered his phone; the person who picked up Mohammad Hassan’s phone started interrogating the caller, asking questions like ‘who are you’ and ‘what do you want from Mohammad Hassan?’ Then at one point, the person who was on the phone said that Mohammad Hassan was shot and was dying.”
After this incident, Mohammad Hassan’s friend called his younger brother and explained the situation, during which Mohammad Hassan’s brother and father were in Tehran.
Mohammad Hassan Torkamaan’s father and younger brother came to Babol, and soon after arriving at the hospital, they were informed of the death of Mohammad Hassan. After hearing the news, Kiamars Torkamaan, his father, suffered a stroke and was admitted to the CCU ward.
Zamaneh’s source says that the security forces then pressured Torkamaan’s family to say that he was killed in an accident otherwise, “they would not hand over the body,” forcing the family to stay silent in order to get their son’s body.
“They waited two or three days for Mohammad Hassan’s father to get better and be discharged from the hospital. Then it was decided to move the body to Shahinshahr, Isfahan, and bury him there. In the meantime, to transfer the body to Shahinshahr, the security forces kept changing the hours and days of delivering the body, so the family could not coordinate and inform others. As a result, they ended up having an unusual emergency burial ceremony ….”
The body of Mohammad Hassan was finally transferred from Babol to Shahinshahr by security forces on Saturday, September 24, and the burial ceremony was held on Sunday, September 25.
According to Zamaneh’s source, when the body of Mohammad Hassan arrived in Shahinshahr, one of his brothers wanted to wash the body (Ghusl) and prepare him for burial. However, the security forces did not allow him to do so and said they would do the Ghusl ceremony and let him see the body during the shrouding, but they did not fulfill this promise either.
According to Zamaneh’s source, when the body of Mohammad Hassan arrived in Shahinshahr, one of his brothers wanted to wash the body (Ghusl) and prepare him for burial. However, the security forces did not allow him to do so and said they would do the Ghusl ceremony and let him see the body during the shrouding, but they did not fulfill this promise either.
According to the death certificate of Mohammad Hassan Torkamaan issued on September 22, obtained by Zamaneh, he was killed by being “hit by a round projectile metal object (gun bullet).” In the description of the cause of death, “hypovolemic shock,” “extensive chest bleeding,” and “lung tissue damage” were also mentioned. But in this certificate, there is no mention of a bullet hit to the forehead.
“No one knows for sure by how many bullets killed Mohammad Hassan” the source added.
According to this source, IRGC forces have claimed that Mohammad Hassan Torkamaan was killed by the “People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran.”
“They said they had a video and knew who did it and were investigating, but later there was no news… The atmosphere was agitated; many security officers were in front of Torkamaan residence, and during the burial, they pushed and pressured the family to finish the ceremony early. They did not let the family see Mohammad Hassan’s face,” the source added.
Security forces were present in all the ceremonies held for Mohammad Hassan Torkamaan, and the deceased’s family was pressured in various ways, not being able to say that security forces killed him.
Mohammad Hassan Torkamaan’s father was a prisoner of war in Iraq for eight years during the Iran-Iraq war. This victim’s father is still not in good physical and mental condition after the stroke, and was recently taken to Tehran for treatment and surgery.
Two brothers and two sisters survived Mohammad Hassan Torkamaan. He was born on December 3, 1995, in Shahinshahr, Isfahan, and was only 26 years old when he died.
The protests against the government’s murder of Mahsa started on Friday, September 16, after the medical team at Tehran’s Kasra hospital pronounced Mahsa dead, shaping the first protests in front of Kasra hospital in Tehran. Protests continued after Mahsa’s funeral in her hometown of Saqqez when mourners organized a peaceful rally outside the city’s governor’s office. Security forces outside the office responded to protestors with tear gas and opened fire. Now the protest has spread in nearly all of Iran’s 31 provinces.
Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman, died after falling into a coma following her detention by morality police enforcing hijab in Tehran.
According to reports by Amnesty International published on September 23rd, over 52 people including children, have been killed by security forces using deadly weapons in the nationwide protests against the murder of Mahsa Amini.
