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A 27-year-old Iranian man was shot dead by security forces after its national team lost a match against the US and exited the FIFA World Cup, according to the Oslo-based group Iran Human Rights (IHR).
Mehran Samak who was honking his car celebrating Iran’s 1-0 loss to the US in the World Cup on Tuesday was shot dead, reported The Guardian citing the rights group.
Samak was honking his car horn in Bandar Anzali, a city on the Caspian Sea coast, north-west of Tehran, the report quoted human rights activists as saying. Samak “was targeted directly and shot in the head by security forces … following the defeat of the national team against America”, it said.
Meanwhile, Iranian international midfielder Saeid Ezatolahi, who was part of the Iran team and hails from Bandar Anzali, revealed that he knew Samak and posted a picture of them together in a youth football team. “After last night’s bitter loss, the news of your passing set fire to my heart,” Ezatolahi took to Instagram describing Samak as a ‘childhood teammate’.
While he didn’t comment on the circumstances of the killing but wrote, “Some day the masks will fall, the truth will be laid bare.”
“This is not what our youth deserve. This is not what our nation deserves,” he added. Ezatolahi, distraught at the incident, was seen after the final whistle being comforted by both his teammates and the US players.
Many Iranians had rejected supporting the national team, and after Tuesday’s match, footage on social media showed crowds cheering and setting off fireworks.
The New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) also claimed that Samak had been killed by the security forces while celebrating. The rights group posted a video from Samak’s funeral in Tehran on Wednesday that shows mourners shouting “death to the dictator.” The chant that has become the main slogan of the protests across the nation is aimed at Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
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