The family of Abbas Asgari do not have any information on his fate since he was arrested on December 15, 2019 by the IRGC Intelligence.
Abbas Asgari, 34, lived in Zarganshahr of Ahvaz. The authorities’ failure to provide any information to the family has caused more serious concern.
On November 16, 2019, Reza Neissi was shot and killed by members of Zarganshahr’s Bassij. Abbas Asgari carried the body of the 16-year-old victim on his shoulder to the Al-Mahdi Base in Zargan and placed his body in front of the door. For doing so, the Bassij and IRGC Intelligence of Zargan accuse Mr. Asgari of “creating scenes of martyrdom” and placed him under surveillance.
Abbas Asgari went into hiding for some time, but he was arrested in December in their farmland and there is no information available on him ever since.
Eyewitnesses say: Reza Neissi was killed by forces of the Bassij Base during the protests in November against the fuel price hike. He died right next to Abbas.
The spokesman for the National Security Committee of the parliament, Naqavi Hosseini, said more than 7,000 were arrested during the protests in November 2019 in various cities against the increase in the price of gas which started on Friday, November 15. The assessments by Iran Human Rights Monitor, however, indicate that the real number of those arrested and detained is around 12,000.
In light of the Iranian regime’s lack of transparency, wave of indiscriminate arrests during the protests, and the authorities’ continuing efforts to identify and arrest the protesters even after the protests, it is impossible to provide accurate numbers.
In recent months, after the protests in November 2019, the families of some of those arrested have announced that they have absolutely no information on the fate and whereabouts of their arrested relatives.
