Manouchehr Faramarzi, a citizen and poet living in Mahshahr, was arrested by security forces on suspicion of communicating with Iran International TV and taken to an unknown location. Since then, there is no information on his whereabouts.
The security forces arrested Mr. Faramarzi at his home and taken him to an unknown location on Wednesday, December 25th, 2019 at 2:30 AM. Despite two weeks of his detention and his family pursuing various authorities, the family of this residence of Mahshahr has failed to obtain information about his whereabouts. The only thing that family was told was that he had been charged with “acting against National Security”, “Interview and Communication with Iranian International TV”, and “Leader of the Protesters”.
Security agents searched Mr. Faramarzi’s home during the arrest and seized some of his personal belongings, including his cellphone.
An informed source told the Campaign to Defend Political and Civil Prisoners: “The security guards after searching the house, handed over papers to him and his wife and asked them to sign them, but I don’t know exactly what those papers were. They apparently did not allow them to read the papers.”
The source added: “Mr. Faramarzi was arrested at his residence at midnight and transferred to Mahshahr court the following day and the judge issued a one-month temporary detention order and later he was handed to the Ministry of Intelligence.”
Since then, this resident of Mahshahr has not had any contacts or visits with her family and there is no information about his whereabouts.
Manouchehr Faramarzi, born on 1975 in Behbahan. He is a resident of Mahshahr, married with two children of age 15 and 5. His family is deeply concerned about his situation and, according to the campaign source, they have no idea what the allegations against him are and what are the bases of allegations as he was not involved in November Protests.
Based on the events in Mahshahr and the extent of the massacres of protesters in that area, his family feared that he would be pressured to confess and speak out against himself.
Protests against the 300% increase in gas prices began on Friday, November 15th, 2019, and intensified in the following days. Iranian government responded violently to protests and many reports published in social media indicated the large number of Iranian civilians being killed and injured during the protests. Iranian government blocked citizens’ access to the Internet in the days of the protests, so that news and images of the protests would not be published. However, after reconnecting to the Internet, numerous videos on the subject and attacks by Special Forces, counterinsurgency, plainclothes and mobilization of unarmed people were released on the Internet, indicating unprecedented crackdown on protesters.
Government Officials have not yet officially released the death toll, but various sources, including Amnesty International and Reuters, have released the death toll, and Mahshahr is one of the areas where there have been many reports of violent crackdowns on protesters.