Hundreds of mourners flocked to the southwestern Iranian city of Izeh for Kian Pirfalak’s funeral, according to videos posted online. His mother said at the funeral service that Kian was shot on Wednesday by security forces, although Iranian officials insisted he was killed in a “terrorist” attack carried out by an extremist group. “Hear it from me about how the shooting happened, so they can’t say it was by terrorists because they are lying,” his mother told mourners, according to a video posted by the activist Twitter account 1500tasvir. “Maybe they thought we wanted to shoot or something and they put bullets in the car… Plainclothes forces shot my child. This is.” Mocking the official version of events, the protesters chanted: “Basij, Sepah – you are our Isis!”. according to a video posted by Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR). Basij is a pro-government paramilitary force and Sepah is another name for Iran’s dreaded Revolutionary Guard. Isis is an alternative name for the Islamic State extremist group. “Death to Khamenei,” they chanted in another video posted by 1500tasvir, referring to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Activists put Kian’s age when he died at nine or 10. Opposition media based outside Iran reported that another child, 14-year-old Sepehr Maghsoudi, was shot under similar circumstances in Izeh on Wednesday. Funerals have repeatedly become flashpoints for protests in the movement that began after the September 16 death of Mahsa Amini, who had been arrested by Tehran’s morality police. Iran’s state television reported that seven people had been buried, including a nine-year-old boy, saying they were killed by “terrorists” with motorbikes. Iranian mourners at a funeral in Izeh city, Khuzestan province, on Friday. State television said seven people were killed by “terrorists” riding motorcycles. Photo: Alireza Mohammadi/isna/AFP/Getty Images Fars news agency, which is affiliated with the Guard, quoted the governor of Khuzestan province, Sadegh Khalilian, as saying that “foreign elements” were responsible. “Kian Pirfalak, nine, and Sepehr Maghsoudi, 14, are among at least 56 children killed by Iranian forces working to crush the 2022 revolution in Iran,” said Hadi Ghaemi, director of the Center for Human Rights in Iran based in New York. IHR also reported that anti-regime slogans were chanted at the funeral in the northern city of Tabriz for Aylar Haghi, a young medical student who activists say was killed in a fall from a building blamed on security forces. In a separate development, videos showing the ancestral home of late Islamic Republic founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini burning have been widely shared on social media, with activists saying it was set on fire by protesters. Reuters verified the location of two video clips using the distinctive arches and buildings matching file images. The semi-official Tasnim news agency, however, denied that Khomeini’s house was set on fire, saying a small number of people had gathered outside the house. Social media videos show dozens of people cheering as a flash of fire ignites a building. Reuters was unable to independently verify the dates the videos were shot. 1500Tasvir said the incident happened on Thursday night in Khomeini’s hometown of Khomein, south of the capital, Tehran. The house had been turned into a museum. “The report is a lie,” the Tasnim news agency said, adding: “The doors of the house of the late founder of the great revolution are open to the public.”
