Sina Malaeiri

Sina Malaeiri (December 8, 1984 – October 22, 2022)

Sina Malaeiri was a young man from Arak, born on December 8, 1984. He was a medical student at Islamic Azad University in Arak and also worked as a carpenter. Friends and acquaintances described him as calm, hardworking, and full of energy — someone who, like many young people of his generation, was deeply affected by the atmosphere during the nationwide protests of 2022.
On October 22, 2022, while protests continued across many Iranian cities, Sina was present on Malek Street in Arak. According to local reports and published accounts, the incident began after he honked his car horn, which led to an encounter with government security forces. Witnesses and local sources said officers first smashed the windows of his car and then attacked him with repeated baton blows.
According to these reports, Sina Malaeiri died as a result of severe baton strikes, particularly blows to the head. Some accounts also stated that after beating him, security forces abandoned his body inside an unfinished building.
News of his death quickly spread throughout Arak and across social media, provoking widespread reactions. Family members, friends, and many local residents believed that he had been killed during the violent suppression of the protests.
A few days later, however, the prosecutor of Arak presented a different narrative. Rabieollah Ghorbani, the prosecutor of Markazi Province, denied that Sina had died from baton ضربات and claimed instead that the cause of death was related to “drug use.” He stated that there were no signs of fractures or brain hemorrhage and claimed that certain toxicology tests had returned positive results.
These claims were met with widespread skepticism and criticism, since local sources and eyewitnesses had already reported that Sina had been severely beaten by security forces. Videos from his funeral and memorial ceremonies also reflected strong public anger, with mourners openly chanting anti-government slogans and referring to Sina as one of the victims of the crackdown on protesters.
On Friday, December 2, 2022, a large crowd gathered in Arak for Sina Malaeiri’s fortieth-day memorial ceremony. During the gathering, people chanted slogans such as “Death to the dictator,” “We are all Sina,” and “This fallen flower became a gift to the homeland.” The atmosphere of the ceremony showed that, for many attendees, Sina’s name had become a symbol of the violence used against protesters.
Sina Malaeiri’s death became one of several controversial cases during the 2022 protests in which families, witnesses, and local sources described protesters being killed during street crackdowns, while official authorities attributed the deaths to causes such as illness, accidents, poisoning, or substance use.
For his family and loved ones, Sina was not just another name among the victims of the protests. He was a young man with dreams, studies, work, and a future ahead of him — a life that came to a violent end during the turbulent events of 2022.