Mohammad Mokhtari (protester)

Mohammad Mokhtari (Persian: محمد مختاری‎) (September 10, 1989 – February 15, 2011) was an Iranian university student fatally wounded by a gunshot during the February 14 2011 protests in Tehran in support of Mirhossein Musavi. He died the next day, while hospitalized. Like Sane Jaleh, the other protester at the demonstration who was killed, both pro- and anti-Iranian government sides claim him as a supporter.[1]

This article is about the Iranian student protester killed in 2011. For the Iranian writer killed in 1998, see Mohammad Mokhtari (writer).
Mohammad Mokhtari

Early life

Mohammad reportedly "came from a large middle class family, and loved sports". He was attending Azad University in Shahrood.[1]

Killing and controversy

The Tehran Times wrote that

according to witnesses, Jalleh, Mokhtari, and two other people were shot by rioters during the unrest on Monday. Jalleh succumbed to his injuries on the same day, and Mokhtari died on Tuesday day.[2] but in fact they were killed by basij

In contrast, the American newspaper the Wall Street Journal reported that Mokhtari was one of the "rioters." Reporter Farnaz Fassihi—who spoke with "Mokhtari's family and friends"—wrote that Mokhtari enjoyed watching Voice of America's anti-government satire television program Parazit, and posted messages on Facebook encouraging his friends to join the anti-government protests. She stated both he and Jaleh

were shot by men on motorcycles that their friends say bore the hallmarks of the Iranian paramilitary Basij.

After Mr. Mokhtari was shot, he briefly fell to the ground but got up and continued marching for a while as blood soaked his shirt, witnesses said. He said he was fine, according to [a] friend, but died in the hospital the next day.

...three days before his death, Mr. Mokhtari wrote on his Facebook wall, "God, give me death by standing for it's better than a life of sitting under oppression."[3]

Aftermath

On February 20 "thousands took to the streets of Iran's largest cities ... to commemorate the deaths" of the two protesters. According to Human Rights Watch, during a protest in the city of Shiraz yet another student demonstrator was killed, Hamed Nour-Mohammadi.[4] According to anti-government activists, Nour-Mohammadi was "killed by security forces" while "trying to escape their attacks". Iranian state media quoted "Shiraz University Chancellor Mohammad Moazeni as saying that Nour-Mohammadi was killed in a car accident".[5]

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See also

References
  1. 'God, Let Me Die Standing': Remembering Mohammad Mokhtari by DAN GEIST, Tehran Bureau, 17 Feb 2011
  2. "Funeral processions held for two martyrs of illegal demos", Tehran Times, February 17, 2011
  3. "In Tehran, Funerals Bring New Clashes", Wall Street Journal, By Farnaz Fassihi, FEBRUARY 17, 2011.
  4. Iran: End Violence Against Protesters, Human Rights Watch, 3 March 2011
  5. Iranian Students Say The Number Of Arrests Show Regime Is Nervous, RFERL, February 22, 2011
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