“Basiji, Arman Ali Verdi, was injured in the Wednesday night riots in Tehran and then was martyred”, this short news was published on Friday, October 28, 2022 by IRGC-affiliated media. After a few hours, the Howzah news agency introduced Ali Verdi as “a 21-year-old Basiji seminarian of Ayatollah Mojtahedi’s seminary, a trainer at the Howzah training center, a member of Imam Reza’s Corps of Mohammad Rasulullah of Greater Tehran Basij forces.”
In the early hours after the news of Arman Ali Verdi’s death, the pages belonging to the IRGC’s cyber arm published an 11-second video of a half-naked, injured person sitting on the ground with the explanation that the half-naked person was the Basiji mullah who was killed.
Although no one else can be identified in this short clip, it is claimed that Ali Verdi was injured by “protesters”. It was not long before the IRGC created the first scenario.
The same narrative was also published the next morning, October 29, in issue 8038 of “Iran Newspaper” with omission of “special and paramilitary tasers”.
Ali Verdi, in this version of IRGC’s story, was “kidnapped” and “tortured” on Wednesday, October 26, and then went into a coma. His friends searched for him for several hours. An “intelligence patrol” finds Ali Verdi under a blanket on the street hours later. A day later, on October 27, Tasnim News Agency published a clip titled “The Moment of Arresting the Murderers of Martyr Arman Ali Verdi”. Only the last few seconds of this 9-minute film are devoted to the “arrest” scene of several people at night, in a very distorted way.
The rest of this production is a combination of mourning and the statements of Ali Verdi’s IRGC colleagues. Tasnim also used several other clips in this video: footage from CCTV cameras and a clip with lament added, claiming the film is from the night of the incident, Wednesday, October 26, in which Ali Verdi is beaten. Fragments from the clip where “Ali Verdi was wounded and half-naked”, which was released earlier, is added with blur and music. At the end of the film, IRGC Intelligence media mentions the “impossibility of broadcasting” several clips due to “upcoming follow-ups”.
We will examine the authenticity and origin of these films later. But what is important now is to collect all the videos, reports and documents that were published in the first days by the regime and its media regarding this case. Because in those days, competition among various intelligence/regime organizations started; A race for “arresting citizens” and producing narrations to distort reality.
On Thursday, November 3, Hossein Rahimi, commander-in-chief of Tehran’s Police, lined up 5 people with blindfolds and handcuffs and prison uniforms in front of the cameras in the corridors of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of police. Rahimi is looking for a “confession in front of camera”. Reporters help the commander. The regime introduces these 5 people as the “killers” of Ali Verdi. In addition to the short “Confession” film in the corridors of the CID, two other CCTV videos related to the October 26 incident in Ekbatan are released.
In those days, the IRGC narration production line was running on two tracks at the same time:
1- Showing the protesters guilty,
2- Making Ali Verdi look like a civilian, unarmed and an “ordinary citizen”.
The IRGC propaganda’s movement on these two tracks was clearly seen in the program which was broadcast on November 5, 2022 on Ofogh network of IRIB.
A person named “Hadi Hosseinizadeh”, as one of Ali Verdi’s friends, announced that Ali Verdi on that Wednesday, October 26, was “without any weapon or equipment” with “the same Howzah backpack that had a robe inside and several books goes to deal with these [protesters].” Ali Verdi appears on IRIB as an “ordinary passerby” who goes to Ekbatan with a team of IRGC and Basij forces to “confront” the protesters “without any equipment”. He “passes by people” who killed him because of his “beard” and his “Hezbollah” appearance. At the end, Hosseinizadeh talks about the existence of a film. He says: “The first time they beat him, well, this movie hasn’t really aired. I don’t know when we can broadcast this movie. There are really difficult tragedies in this movie. That is, they hit dear Arman with a brick on the head. They hit him in the face with a knife.”
But this film was circulating on IRGC telegram channels a day before these claims were made on the Islamic Republic Radio and Television (IRIB).
Two weeks after Ali Verdi’s death, a video about the events related to his killing is released in the 20:30 news section of IRIB on November 11, 2022. The presenter introduces it as produced by “Tehran’s IRGC Intelligence Organization”. The person who guides the camera and reporter is introduced as a friend, colleague and witness to part of the incident. In order not to be recognized, he hides his head and face with a mask, hat and hoodie. He says that he and Ali Verdi were “identifying” the protesters that night. But Ali Verdi is recognized by people. A few people with striped prison uniforms and blurred faces that seem to have been detained in the past days confirm the narrative of the IRGC intelligence by adding a few names and landmarks. An image from a CCTV camera is shown. Then CCTV footage from the parking lot: chase scenes. In the CCTV footage, the person who is running away is marked as “Arman Ali Verdi”, but none of the people are identifiable to the viewer.
Ali Verdi’s colleague takes the camera to a location where he himself was not there that night. He shows red spots on a tree with his hand and says that this is Ali Verdi’s blood. He says the fences are also bloody. He picks up a large rock with red lines and spots on it.
He says: “This is the bloody rock that is thrown in the face of Arman in that clip” and then a piece of the same movie that the IRGC channels aired last week is shown. As the video moves forward, Ali Verdi’s colleague shows some stairs on which traces similar to blood can be seen and claims that people dragged Ali Verdi from these stairs and took him to a place far away from that location; the place where that video was recorded showing “Ali Verdi half naked and injured”. In this film, IRGC Intelligence accuses “nearly 70 people” of being involved in the murder of Ali Verdi.
Now, using these videos, we can draw the “timeline of the regime’s narrative” about the events of Wednesday evening, October 26, in Ekbatan Complex.
It all starts with a “chase” in the parking lot and CCTV cameras recording it. The exact time of this event is marked in the upper left corner of the footage. Time: 21:49, date: Wednesday, October 26, 2022. Location: “A4 parking lots”, phase one of Ekbatan Complex, Tehran.
These films are the most important documents of the “Children of Ekbatan” case. According to Reza Shafakhah, one of the lawyers on this case, the agents have identified and arrested individuals “based on the videos published by people”. This means, it is possible to track and search for these movies on social media; what we will do next. On the other hand, these films are the basis of the heavy accusations made in the indictment issued by the prosecution. Charges such as “Muharebeh (waging war against God)” and “conspiracy to commit murder”, which according to another lawyer on the case, 4 people are currently facing: Milad Armoun, Navid Najaran, MohammadMehdi Hosseini, Mehdi Imani. Therefore, in addition to sensibility, these films have a “life and death” role in the literal sense of the phrase.
According to Reza Shafakhah, the 12-second video in which “Arman Ali Verdi” is “injured and half-naked” sitting on the ground was recorded at the beginning of Verzesh Street. On the “timeline of the prosecutor’s narrative”, this film is at the last point, the fatal blows were also delivered at this stage. When we go to find the origin of this video on social media, we find that the first versions of this clip were published on X (formerly known as Twitter) at 21:44 in the evening of October 26 and they are still available!
What time did the CCTV cameras show in the A4 parking lot?
– 21:49!
That is, 5 minutes before Ali Verdi being stripped and injured and according to the “official narrative”, “knifed” and “stoned” and dragged from the parking lot to Varzesh Street and…! That is, 5 minutes after he fell into a coma due to a beating on Varzesh Street, Ali Verdi was running like the wind from “30 people” who were chasing him in the A4 parking lot with “GCS Score 3”!
– Pure nonsense!
It should be noted that the time “21:44” does not show the time of the event, but the time the clip was posted. The “event” must have occurred at least a quarter or half an hour before its release; It means between 21:00 and 21:30.
We conclude that the CCTV footage is fake.
The construct of the “official narrative timeline” fell apart.
Since the producers of these videos are the IRGC Intelligence Organization and other “security institutions”, which are involved in the case of “Ekbatan-Children” as “judicial officers”; Therefore, it can now be said that in fact the “officers of the law” are fraud.
We go to the blurred 16-second video among the boxwoods that was published by Tasnim News Agency on October 30. We find that the first version of this clip was released at 11:58 PM, without mentioning its “exact location”.
There is no indication in the film that this incident happened in Ekbatan Complex. But according to “Arezou Foroughi” and “Ezzatullah Ali Verdi”, two of the plaintiffs of the case of “Ekbatan-Children” and the parents of the victim Arman Ali Verdi, 12:00 at night, Ali Verdi was in Sarem Hospital.
We search for the “30-second close-up video” that the IRGC channels released, titled “They Found You Alone” on November 4. We notice that there is no version of this clip posted by people online.
“Hadi Hosseinizadeh” had mentioned a “piece of brick” on IRIB, and after him “Ali Verdi’s colleague” in a movie made by the IRGC Intelligence, pointed to a “rock” that was used to hit Ali Verdi’s cheek and “it was seen on that movie”. Ali Verdi’s colleague even showed the “bloody rock” to the viewers in front of the camera.
This rock:
We look for this rock in the 30-second “they found you alone” clip. But what we find does not resemble a “rock” or “brick” at all. And in no way is it the “bloody rock” that the IRGC Intelligence showed to people.
The white object seen in the video, its handle is made to fit well in a fist, and the other end is flat and looks soft, something like a fistful of compressed cotton or polystyrene foam pieces!
Several hands and arms and a face are seen in the movie. We follow the movement of the hands frame by frame. We notice, none of the hands in the film hit the “head and face”. At the end of the video, one of the hands from the upper left of the footage makes a “slapping” gesture, but before a collision occurs, the left hand of another person from the lower left of the image repels it.
The hand that acts as the slapper in the upper corner of the picture is just shaking the leaves and by doing this, it gives the scene extra excitement and dynamism.
A knife can be seen in the right hand of the same person who pushes back the “slapping” hand. But this knife is only held in front of the camera so that the viewer can see it well. Nowhere in the film is it seen that this knife is plunged into the face or body of anyone. Its blade also shines with cleanliness and no traces of blood can be seen on it.
The stains on the tree, which were claimed to be Ali Verdi’s blood in the IRGC Intelligence film, can also be seen on the tree in the “30-second film”. But not only the size and shape of the spots are different, but the structure of the bark of the two trees in the two films is also different. The veins of the two trees are completely different.
These two trees are not the same:
The tree on the left has a large bump just above the spots. This bump is not present on the tree on the right.
Result: The 30-second video of the beating was made in another location.
“Arman Ali Verdi” was a 21-year-old. The bottom right photo in the picture below was taken 5 months before the incident at the “Hi Commander” propaganda ceremony at the football stadium. The person on the left, seen in the film produced by IRGC, is neither Ali Verdi nor 21 years old. Ali Verdi’s beard was not full. The man’s beard in the IRGC movie is full and his cheeks are shaved; What Ali Verdi did not do, because he had no beard on his cheeks. In all the photos of Ali Verdi, in the corner of the right eye, an old scar can be seen. The man in IRGC movie does not have this scar. This movie is completely fake. The people seen in it are IRGC Intelligence actors.
IRGC, IRIB (Radio and Television), police force and regime media, they all publicly accused 70 people of participating in the murder of Ali Verdi based on these fake documents. The number of detainees in the first weeks was definitely much higher than this figure. Whoever was arrested, they were introduced as the “main culprit” and “murderer”. The headlines and pictures left from those days testify that there was no “accused” or “suspect” in this case for the Islamic Republic from the beginning; All people were “murderers”, all were “main perpetrator” for the regime.
Iran Newspaper, on November 11, 2022, by publishing this picture, even introduced “Mohammed Javad Tarbiat”, who was detained in Valiasr, Tehran since Septemper 21, more than 1 month before the death of Ali Verdi, as a “murderer”. Only 2 people in this picture were arrested in connection with the case of “Ekbatan-Children”: “Milad Armoun” and “Mehdi Abbasnejad Ghazi Jahani”, the rest had nothing to do with this case.
Hossein Rahimi, on November 3, when he lined up 5 citizens in front of the media camera, he introduced them as “the main offenders of Ali Verdi’s murder” and said they even have “confessed before the judges”.
But by researching the leaked documents from the judiciary, we find out that 2 of these “5 murderers and main offenders”, were released without bail due to “insufficiency of evidence” 3 days after the heavy accusations by Rahimi: “Mohammedreza Pasandian” and “Behrad Hesari”.
According to our research, Nastouh Nikkhah Bahrami and Mehdi Abbasnejad Ghazi Jahani, were also released 1 month after Hossein Rahimi’s public flagellation. Citing a judicial document, they did not have any participation in the murder of Ali Verdi, “Jahani” was released on the same day and “Nikkhah” a month later.
But not only Rahimi and the media did not apologize to anyone for slandering the citizens, but they continued to arrest people in large numbers and insult and attack citizens, especially in Ekbatan Complex. The “mass arrests” were by no means arbitrary. Judiciary was issuing “mass arrest warrants” to the same extent as widespread arrests by law enforcement.
Among the leaked documents from the case of “Ekbatan-Children”, we find a document from a mass arrest warrant: “Mr. Hossein”, whom they do not even know his last name, “Hossein’s friend, Mr. Hossein’s girlfriend” and “family member of Mr. Hossein’s”. The order to raid people’s houses is also issued on the spot over the phone.
By sending a letter to the Greater Tehran Prison on December 14, the Judiciary demanded that 5 of the “Children of Ekbatan” must be sent for interrogation on December 18 at 10 AM, shackled and in prison uniform: Nastuoh Nikkhah Bahrami, Peyman Sadeghi Bakhi, Kian Mehr Izadi, Mahyar Salahi and Abbas Mahmoudinejad.
These 5 are the same ones whose “non-participation in the murder” was confirmed in writing by the judiciary on November 22.
What was happening on December 18?
On December 18, the Judiciary reenacted the “crime scene” using the people whom it had declared their “non-participation in the crime” 1 month prior. The “scene” of this publicity stunt, as the photos show, was based on footage we now know to be fake.
A few days after this stunt, all the aforementioned people were released.
Although in all reports, November 3, 2022 and the presentation of the 5 detainees in front of cameras by Rahimi, is mentioned the starting point for the wave of massive and widespread arrests in connection with the case of “Ekbatan-Children”, our research shows that mass arrests started on the same day when the news of Ali Verdi’s death was announced.
Three handwritten sheets of confessions, with blood-colored fingerprints attached to each question and answer, testify that “AmirMohammad Khosh Iqbal”, contrary to the reports published so far, was arrested not on December 7, 2022, but on October 29, 2022 or maybe earlier by “Air Force (NAHAJA) Counter Intelligence Organization” and subjected to torture and interrogation.
In the barracks, they take AmirMohammad’s phone. In those days, as we mentioned before, there was a competition between intelligence/security institutions; competition for complacency, acts of violence and mercenary. Among the private contents of the phone, they find photos of doors and walls decorated with Ekbatan slogans and graffiti, which was seen not only on all phones, but all over the city in those days. But this was enough for the agents of Air Force (NAHAJA) Counterintelligence Organization to get baseless and contradictory confessions from AmirMohammad by torture and threats.
The baselessness of these confessions is fully revealed in the “Top Secret” letter of this organization to the CID of Police.
Air Force (NAHAJA) Counterintelligence Organization writes the date of the incident, i.e. October 26, wrong twice in this document. All the events on the evening of October 26 that led to the death of Ali Verdi took place at “Phase 1” of Ekbatan Complex, between A4 parking lot and the beginning of Varzesh Street, and not in “Phase 2” as seen in this letter. Even the confession they got from AmirMohammad acquits him of all charges.
In a part of this “written interrogation” the torturer asks AmirMohammad his “reason and purpose” for participating in the protests.
AmirMohammad: “Sympathy with the families of people killed in protests.”
Even under torture, AmirMohammad openly declares that his protest was “peaceful” and that he did not “destroy public property” in any way.
Destruction of public property and atrocities were the main act of regime thugs in those days. The officers whom the regime called “pretend-officers” and promised that they would be identified and punished. But the regime never saws the branch it is sitting on.
AmirMohammad is interrogated and tortured by the Counterintelligence Org for more than a month without access to a lawyer, and then he is sent to the detention center at CID of Police. At the end of the “Top Secret” letter from Counterintelligence Org to CID, it is emphasized that the “army status” of enlisted sergeant “AmirMohammad Khosh Iqbal” should not be disclosed. But the Counterintelligence Organization was unable even to “protect” this part of “intelligence” about the nature of AmirMohammad’s job.
AmirMohammad decides to commit suicide in the detention center of CID to escape from the brutal tortures that this institution is known for.
“Suicide in CID” has been documented at least in the case of another one of “Children of Ekbatan”. In a letter dated November 22, it was mentioned that Alireza Kefaei committed suicide “when at custody of CID.”
Almost all the lawyers of the “Children of Ekbatan”, in their written defenses and motions presented to the court, have mentioned the use of “torture” and “solitary confinement” by the LEOs in the trial stage to force “confession” from their clients.
In a document dated March 5, 2023, the lawyers of “Alireza Barmarzpournak” wrote to the “Thirteenth Branch of Tehran Criminal Court No. 1” that Alireza was “without a lawyer” for the 2 months he was under interrogation: Alireza “during the reenactment of the crime scene” – the same Judiciary publicity stunt on December 18, 2022, which was mentioned earlier – “and also during the interrogation, was forced to sign or write some contents with the insistence of others”. According to this legal document, Alireza Barmerzpournak was tortured and for this reason he requested to be examined by Medical Examiner Office. A request that is ignored: “The client requested to be referred to Medical Examiner Officer for his beating, which was not taken into account.”
Hossein Nemati’s lawyer, another one of “Children of Ekbatan”, also in his findings for the case’s shortcomings and flaws writes that “in the final court session, most of the present defendants, including my client (Hossein Nemati), have clearly stated that due to the circumstances created, they were forced to confess some things against themselves which are not true.”
However, the use of “torture” to “force a confession” from a prisoner is found much clearer in the letter sent by the court appointed lawyer of “Mehdi Imani” to the “Investigator of the Sixth Branch of the Revolutionary Court of the 27th District of Tehran” on March 4, 2023.
Mehdi Imani, together with Milad Armoun, Navid Najarian and MohammedMehdi Hosseini have been under interrogation for about 3 months in the IRGC Intelligence Detention Center. The lawyer openly declares that Mehdi Imani was forced to confess to things that are not true “under torture and increasing mental pressure” in the first session of the investigation.
People are arrested and tortured because of the color of their jackets.
More than half of this letter by the court appointed lawyer is about the use of “torture” in the “investigation” phase of Mehdi Imani and the conditions for accepting “confession” as “evidence to prove the crime”; Mehdi Imani’s confession under torture does not have any of the “confession conditions”.
Payam Darfshan, lawyer of Hossein Nemati, one of the “Children of Ekbatan”, in an interview that was conducted on February 17, 2023, explains: “They arrested a person who was announced, this is the same person wearing the navy jacket who was present at the scene and went towards the deceased. The officers introduced the arrestee to the investigator and he agreed that he is the same person in the navy jacket. After some time, a person was arrested in Ahvaz who had a navy jacket in his closet.” According to the narration of Payam Darfashan, “the investigator got angry about this and asked the first person who was arrested: “Why did you admit that that person was you? The person declared: “Did I have a choice not to accept?” But now with the disclosure of the letter by Mehdi Imani’s court appointed lawyer, we know that the “inquisition and anger of the investigator” was just a pretense for not knowing the truth.
Mehdi Imani’s court appointed lawyer had officially informed the investigator in March 2023 about “torture of his client” and “threat of his family members” by the officers. Now we know who Darfashan meant by the defendant who confessed under torture that he was “the man with the navy jacket” at the scene. They arrested Mehdi Imani. For weeks, they tortured him until he said “I’m the man with navy jacket”.
The other person in Payam Darfashan’s narration who was later arrested in Ahvaz is “Navid Najaran”.
Foad Chubin, uncle of Late Artin Rahmani, who was detained in Sheyban Ahvaz Prison for months last year, tweeted: “Last year, when I was in quarantine in Sheyban Ahvaz Prison Block 2, I met Navid. According to Navid, he was subjected to physical and mental torture for about 40 days in custody of IRGC Intelligence, forced to confess and severely beaten. When he was transferred to Sheyban prison in Ahvaz, he was unable to speak for several days. Navid has been deprived of the right to access a lawyer for several months in Sheyban prison.”
“Navid Najaran” was arrested with reference to a letter dated March 11, 2023 from “Evin Prosecutor’s Office”, along with other individuals, in another city, in the course of events not related to “Ekbatan Complex” and his case was open in “Branch 13 of the Revolutionary Court”. Among the seven accusations against Navid Najaran, “concealment of evidence of crime” stands out.
This is the same “hanging navy jacket in a closet”, which Payam Darfshan mentioned in an interview with the media. Navid has now been charged with “concealing the evidence of a crime” and “Muharebeh (waging war against God)” because he left his navy-colored jacket in the wardrobe.
On April 30, 2023, “Javan Online”, from the IRGC’s media arm, reported on the “arrest” of a person who was already detained in Ahvaz Prison: Arrest in custody. In its distorted report, “Javan Online” had intentionally announced the 30-year-old’s name who was detained in Ahvaz prison as “Farzin”. This is one of the tactics of the IRGC media. In order to avoid the name of detainees go viral, the names are either incorrectly reported or written in abbreviation or not announced at all. The IRGC media article confirms that Navid Najaran was arrested in Ahvaz shortly after the news of Ali Verdi’s death was announced for participating in the protests. Then, after several months of detention, the agents in Ahvaz are “suddenly” inspired that Navid was involved in the case of “Ekbatan-Children” and therefore they call the agents in Tehran and they come and take Navid to Tehran. But Navid admits that he had “no involvement” in the death of Ali Verdi.
Until today, in this case, at least 2 people (Navid Najaran and Mehdi Imani) have been accused of “Muharebeh” because of a “navy jacket”. And 1 person for a “green jacket” (Milad Armoun).
During the investigation, we come across a legal document among the leaked documents from the judiciary, dated December 11, 2022, which shows the court was also looking for a “brown jacket” in the case of “Ekbatan-Children”.
The reason for court’s desperate search is that none of the “Children of Ekbatan” can be identified in the videos that people have published on social media, and basically for this reason they are not able to be cited in court. According to Reza Shafakhah, one of the lawyers of the case, the individuals who are accused in this case were all arrested because of the videos that were taken by people themselves from the A4 parking lot in Ekbatan Complex. While the image of the second stage, which was published from Varzesh Street, and shows heavy blows, none of the accused are related to this stage. In addition, none of the accused of that stage have been arrested either.” According to the lawyer, after the fight in A4 parking lot, Ali Verdi “got up and walked about one and a half kilometers until he reached the beginning of Varzesh Street.” […] The heavy and fundamental blows that led to the death of the victim, according to the medical examiner’s testimony, took place at the beginning of Varzesh Street (the second stage of the clash) and no accused was arrested.”
As we documented at the beginning of this article, some of the videos released from the A4 parking lot are fake. No one has been identified or arrested from the video published by people on social media, of the “Varzesh Street stage”.
The two leaked documents prove that the CID of Police and the Judiciary were not able to identify people through “checking the sounds of videos and files”.
The initial diagnosis of the medical examiner regarding the cause of death of “Ali Verdi” was bleeding inside the skull and “contusion of the brain tissue following a hard object hitting the head”. There is no mention of “knife and sharp object impact” here. On the other hand, the medical examiner is not able to determine which of the many blows caused death. The answer to this question is a mandatory condition for assigning the charge of murder to a person; Especially when the IRGC accused at least 70 people of participating in the murder.
But the hands of the Islamic Republic are empty. It has nothing. Not even a photo. Whatever it is, it is the color of the jacket and the “testimony” of the accused in chains who were forced to make confession against themselves and others under torture and threats. Which they retracted their testimony in the first meeting with their lawyers.
What we see in this case:
A Basiji mullah was injured on October 26 in Ekbatan Complex and died in the hospital on October 28.
One day after the death of Basiji mullah, Tehran Attorney General Ali Salehi issues a “special order” to identify the people involved.
“Special order” is the whistle that starts the race between the parallel apparatuses of repression and intelligence.
IRGC Intelligence, army counterintelligence, etc., each arrest a number of citizens and extract “confessions” from them under torture.
Since these confessions were obtained in parallel by different institutions, they had gross contradictions with each other and with reality and documents. Two people admit, “I’m the one wearing the navy jacket.”
In his interview, Payam Darfashan pointed out: “Officers should not be promoted or given extra pay because of the orders that are issued. In these fields, the agent must do his work based on technical and scientific standards, and if the reports lead to the issuance of heavy sentences and he is rewarded, then pretense arises that the reports must be prepared for a severe sentence.” And this is exactly what we see in the case of “Children of Ekbatan”.
On December 21, 2022, the judicial system gave “commendations” to two torturers of Shapur’s CID for their “round-the-clock efforts”: Lieutenant Colonel Farahani and Major Batmani. We see the names and signatures of these two people on many sheets of leaked documents of the judiciary regarding the case of “Children of Ekbatan”.
“Commendation” due to torture to the extent that detainees committed “suicide” several times in less than 2 months.
Milad Armoun, Alireza Kafaei, AmirMohammad Khosh Iqbal, Hossein Nemati, Alireza Barmarzpournak, MohammadMehdi Hosseini and Mehdi Imani were transferred from Tehran CID Detention Center to Gohardasht Karaj prison following this “letter of commendation”. On August 1, 2023, these seven people from “Children of Ekbatan” along with “Navid Najaran” were transferred from Rajaeishahr prison to Ghezelhesar.
On January 16, 2024, the Judiciary spokesman announced the trial stage of the “Children of Ekbatan” case has ended.
But a little later, despite the announcement of the end of the “trial hearings”, “Milad Armoun, Navid Najaran, MohammadMehdi Hosseini and Mehdi Imani”, probably in early March 2024, were again sent to the detention center of IRGC Intelligence.
Now, after more than a year and a half since the events of October 26, 2022 in Ekbatan Complex, nothing more can be said than the short sentence at the beginning of this article that announced the death of Ali Verdi: “Basiji, Arman Ali Verdi, was injured on Wednesday night’s riots in Tehran and then” died in the hospital.
However, from that day until now, a large number of citizens have been arrested in connection with this case, and during this investigation, we were able to collect 55 names – or any signs and brief mentions of them – from among the letters, reports, etc.
1. Milad Armoun. Son of Mehdi. Born on March 5, 1999, in Tehran. Occupation: He rented Ekbatan swimming pool cafe and before that he worked for his father at his bakery. Date of arrest: November 2, 2022. Charge: Muharebeh (waging war against God).
2. Mehdi Imani. Son of Hamid. Date of birth: January 13, 1995. Married. Job: Physical security employee of Sepah Bank. Education: Bachelor’s degree. The first interrogation session at CID: December 15, 2022. Charge: Muharebeh.
3. Navid Najaran. Son of Mahmoud. Date of birth: March 21, 1992. Date of arrest: (according to Foad Chubin) December 5, 2022. Place of arrest: Ahvaz. Charge: Muharebeh.
4. MohammadMehdi Hosseini. Son of Hassan. Date of birth: December 6, 1998, in Tehran. Occupation: cabinet maker. Date of arrest: December 6, 2022. Charge: Muharebeh.
5. AmirMohammad Khosh Iqbal. Son of Alireza. Born: June 3, 1990, in Ahvaz. Occupation: Soldier. Date of arrest: October 29, 2022.
6. Alireza Kefaei. Son of Cyrus. Born: June 3, 1990, in Tehran. Date of arrest: November 4, 2022.
7. Hossein Nemati. Son of Jahangir. Born: May 5, 1998, in Tehran. Occupation: Photographer. Arrested: December 14, 2022.
8. Alireza Barmarzpournak. Son of Saeed. Born: December 24, 1997, in Tehran. Occupation: Snapp (Uber-like) driver. Arrested: November 4, 2022.
9. Arash Rezaipour
10. Nastouh Nikkhah Bahrami
11. Kianmehr Izadi
12. Arash Shahbazi
13. Houman Piri
14. Abbas Mahmoudinejad
15. Yasmin Dashtani
16. Pouria Khaljnejad Eshtehardi
17. Mohammad Reza Pasandian
18. Mahdi Abbas Nejadaghazi Jahani
19. Amirhossein Zarif Shahsavannejad
20. Mehdi Ajorloo
21. Amir Mahdi Rezaei
22. Afshin Garossi
23. Arian Mazinani
24. Mohammad Reza Eftekhar
25. Seyyed Mohammad Mehdi Hosseini
26. Arya Pakzad
27. Mahyar Salahi
28. Behzad Hessari
29. Ataollah Aghabalai Rafi
30. Gholamreza Nabigol
31. Peyman Sadeghi Bakhi
32. Seyyed Behzad Usya
33. Sara Azhdari
34. Erfan Rezaei
(November 13, 2022; arrest warrant and investigation order for)
35. Aysan Amiri
36. Arian Ladani
37. Ariana
38. Sajjad Yousefi
39. Erfan Toufani
40. Arian Sedghi
41. Hamed Azish
42. Mustafa Almasi
43. Amir Parto
44. Abtin Soroudi
45. Amir Jiraei
46. Mamed Justin
47. Mamed Jakarta
48. Mohammad Nouri
49. Saeed Turke (arrest order)
(order to arrest and identify)
50. Hossein
51. Hossein’s girlfriend
52. Sara Armand
53. Aria Shabanzadeh
54. Arash, Hossein’s friend
55. Mehdi, Family member of Hossein
