Two young brothers were shot dead by Iranian regime forces after honking their car horn in celebration of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's death, according to a report Wednesday by Iran International. Ahmad-Reza Fayyazi, 15, and his brother Amir-Hossein Fayyazi, 19, were killed in a shooting that saw police fire 36 bullets at their vehicle over the course of a seven-minute chase.
The incident occurred as the brothers travelled with their father, several of his co-workers and one co-worker's wife from the Mehrshahr area toward the nearby town of Pardis. During the journey, the vehicle joined spontaneous street celebrations by citizens marking Khamenei's elimination in Operation Lion's Roar, and passengers began honking the car horn in joy. Police forces deployed in the Pardis area noticed the honking, stopped the vehicle at the first roundabout, and after a brief verbal confrontation that escalated, called for reinforcements over the police radio to arrest the passengers at the next roundabout.
When the car reached the second roundabout, events moved rapidly. One officer approached the vehicle, and upon noticing the two teenagers sitting in the back seat, smashed the rear windows with the butt of his shotgun. The father, sensing immediate danger to his sons' lives, decided to drive away from the scene to bring them to safety. That decision triggered a pursuit by emergency police units that lasted six to seven minutes along the roadway.
During the chase, officers opened massive fire on the fleeing car and sprayed it with live rounds. A source close to the family reported that no fewer than 36 bullets were fired at the vehicle during the pursuit. Mid-flight, the older brother Amir-Hossein discovered that his 15-year-old brother had been hit in the chest and was unresponsive. As the father continued driving at high speed in an attempt to reach a hospital, the gunfire continued. The shooting reached its peak on a stretch of road with light traffic, and officers fired two additional bullets even after the vehicle had come to a complete stop near a local fire station.
When the car stopped, the scale of the tragedy became clear: the younger boy, Ahmad-Reza, had been shot in the heart and killed on the spot, while his older brother Amir-Hossein suffered a severe gunshot wound to his side. The officers, who arrived at the scene immediately after the stop, forcibly and violently removed all the vehicle's occupants while beating them severely. When the father noticed that both sons were not exiting the car, the horrifying picture became clear to him. Despite the father's pleas to evacuate his wounded sons immediately to the large Shahadaya Salamat Hospital, the officers refused and insisted on transferring them to a small local clinic called Resalat, claiming it fell under their jurisdiction. The critical and prolonged delay in providing the necessary medical care, and the lack of appropriate equipment at the small clinic, led shortly thereafter to the death of the older brother Amir-Hossein as well.
The regime's abuse did not end with the fatal shooting. As angry and grieving family members gathered at the scene and protested the double murder, plainclothes security personnel arrived and beat them brutally as well. The bodies of the two brothers were then placed in black body bags and taken to an unknown location. Iranian security authorities held the bodies for four consecutive days, applying heavy pressure, threats and extortion on the family in order to bring about their rapid burial in the distant Behesht-e Ali cemetery. After four days of anguish, the family was forced to submit to the regime's demands in order to receive the bodies of their loved ones and bring them to burial.
This incident joins a long series of reports of a heavy hand, brutal violence and cruel suppression by Iran's security apparatus against citizens expressing protest or jubilation following political and security developments in the country. Regime forces in Iran refuse to respond officially to the fatal shooting incident and continue to hide the details of the case from the wider public.
