Witness name and surname: Withheld
Sex: Male
The place about which he is testifying: Fardis
Witness status: Witness to firing at people and death of protesters
Type of testimony before the Tribunal: Withheld
17 November
Before I came out on the street, people had already started (protests) at the 1st Roundabout and were moving towards the 3rd, 4th and 5th roundabouts. It was about 10:00 a.m. All of us workers who had come from the provincial cities had mingled with the people who had assembled at the 5th roundabout. There were over 1,000 people. The forces that were at the city level were police forces. When the police force reacted against us who were shouting slogans, they began with assault and battery. They fired shots directly at the people. They beat up the people with batons; they fired tear gas at the people. A dozen of them would descend upon one person and would beat him up all over. If one could, one only protected one’s head with one’s hands so as to avoid being hit by batons and the resulting death. If the officers saw an injured person, they would do nothing to him. They cared only for themselves. They would leave the injured person unattended. They only thought of beating up the people so the people would not attack them. Even if hundred persons died, they would not bother to look at them. There was no ambulance. If someone was taken to the hospital, it was the people themselves who would take him to the hospital on their private vehicle.
All (police) officers carried Kalashnikovs in their hands. They had not covered their faces with masks. I can identify those police officers because I saw them every day in the kiosk around the public square. They wear their special green uniforms, with black overcoats.
I saw a girl standing in front of a shop. She was 28-29 years old. She had a plastic bag in her hand. I do not know from which direction the bullet hit her. The bullet hit her throat and she died on the spot. She was simply looking at the assembled people. The policemen fired at her with a Kalashnikov from a distance of 20-25 meters. When the people saw the policemen firing at them, they attacked the police kiosk. While the police officers were retreating, they would turn around and fire shots directly at the people. When the people would attack them again, they would retreat. That’s how they fired at the people and retreated.
Behind the kiosk, several meters further away, there is a traffic center. In front of the traffic center there is pharmacy below which is located a 24-hour clinic which is known as the Shabanehrouzi Clinic. Over the pharmacy there was a Sepah agent in Sepah uniform. A brave man walked ahead of everyone else towards the traffic center. He was a young man of 34-35 years of age. A shot was fired at this young man from the rooftop of the pharmacy. The bullet hit behind the back of his head. The man who fired at him from the rooftop of the pharmacy was in a green panther-design uniform. He carried a telescope-mounted weapon in his hand. I believe it had an irregular shape. The bullet was an assault bullet. Anyone who was shot by a bullet, the people would take him away. People took him away, too. He died later, they said.
The policemen would just take up the arms and fire at people: one would be hit on the leg, the other on the chest, one on the head and yet another on the hand. People would fall down. The bullets were not pellets. They fired their weapons at the people with the intent to kill. One of my friends who was a laborer and was carrying his work tools in his hand and was waiting to go to his work, was hit by a bullet. He was 43-44 years old. He had nothing to do with the protests. He was just standing by the public square and looking at the people. The bullet had hit his leg. He was standing at a distance of at least 20 meters from us. Basically, they would fire even one who was standing on the footpath and watching; they did it purposely so the people would see it and would be frightened. People did not have sticks, let alone weapons. At best they would throw stones. The policemen were standing at a distance from the people. If the officers had not fired at the people and had not beaten them up, the people had nothing to do with the policemen.
I did not go to hospital with the injured persons. However, boys had gone there and told me that anyone who was injured in the protests and was bleeding received no medical aid. My own friend who was shot on the leg was left with that bullet in his leg for several days. He had bleeding but they didn’t care at all. After several days they extracted the bullet from his leg.
The protests continued the day after, too. I did not dare to come out the day after or even hours later. People did not dare to stage protests like before. If someone came out on the street, he would be arrested.
