Zaniar Abubakri

Zaniar Abubakri (February 14, 2001 – November 5, 2022)

February 14, 2001 is the birthday of the young man who was shot with a live bullet in front of his mother’s eyes — while she still does not know what weapon fired the shot, which armed officer pulled the trigger, or under whose command it happened.
Zaniar Abubakri’s mother still remembers every second of that moment. She says: “The bullet entered through my son’s back and came out through his abdomen. I saw with my own eyes how he collapsed onto the ground. He was in so much pain he couldn’t stand up. I was right beside him. I will never accept lies or distortions about what happened.”
Zaniar Abubakri, son of Abdullah and Khadijeh, was born on February 14, 2001 in Mahabad. He was a kind, hardworking, and cheerful young man. He had earned a diploma in mechanics and had learned auto repair while still studying. After completing his mandatory military service, he worked both as a mechanic and as a building façade worker to earn more money and prepare for married life. Friends and neighbors knew him for his smile, his warmth, and the joy he brought into every gathering.
Only three months before his death, in July 2022, he had become engaged to a young woman named Dimen, whom he deeply loved. Their wedding was supposed to happen very soon. After his death, people in Mahabad began calling him “The Groom of Mahabad” — the groom who never reached his wedding day.
In September 2022, the death of Mahsa (Jina) Amini after being detained by Iran’s morality police sparked nationwide protests across Iran. Like many young people in Kurdistan, Zaniar was deeply affected by what had happened.
On November 4, 2022, the day of Mahsa Amini’s 40th-day memorial ceremony in Saqqez, Zaniar desperately wanted to attend, but his family convinced him to stay home. That night, he spent hours watching photos and videos from the ceremony and repeatedly said: “How beautiful it is when people honor someone like this after death… I wish I had been in Mahsa’s place.”
The next morning — Thursday, November 5 — Mahabad was already tense. News had spread that another young protester, Esmail Moloudi, had been killed, and crowds had filled the streets in anger. Zaniar and his 15-year-old brother, Ramyar, first went to work as usual. Their mother, Nishtman Ghaderpour, had made them promise not to join the demonstrations, but the atmosphere in the city was impossible to ignore.
Around midday, the family reunited at home. Their mother again begged them not to go into the streets, but eventually decided to go with them herself so she could protect her sons.
The streets were filled with smoke, chants, and gunfire. Security forces fired tear gas and shotgun pellets into the crowds. Trees along the streets were covered with pellet marks from the intensity of the shooting. Zaniar stood among the front lines of protesters while his mother stayed close behind him.
Amid the chaos, Nishtman suddenly lost sight of Ramyar in the crowd. Panicked, she searched desperately for her younger son while the security forces escalated to live ammunition.
Zaniar threw what would become his last stone toward the officers, grabbed his mother’s hand, and told her:
“Run… we have to get out of here.”
Only moments later, everything changed.
A live bullet struck him from behind.
Zaniar collapsed at his mother’s feet and cried out:
“Ey daye gyan…”
“My dear mother…”
At first, she thought he had simply fallen. She bent down and tried to lift him by his waist, but she could not. Blood was pouring from his abdomen.
Two young protesters with covered faces rushed to help. Together, they carried Zaniar home before his family quickly transferred him to Imam Khomeini Hospital in Mahabad — the same hospital where, within those same hours, Shaho Khazri and Kobra Sheikhy also lost their lives.
Doctors attempted emergency surgery, but the severity of the wound left no hope.
Zaniar Abubakri died at the age of 21.
His death certificate later stated that the cause of death was “rupture of a major vein due to impact from a live bullet,” although authorities continued to deny responsibility and claimed they were still “investigating where the bullets had come from.”
Only hours later, Zaniar was buried in Mahabad’s Ferdows Cemetery beside other victims of the protests, surrounded by grieving crowds. Witnesses said many mourners attending the funeral were themselves shot with pellet rounds by security forces.
Since that day, the grieving families of Mahabad — especially the mothers — have become a family of shared sorrow. Many still visit the cemetery every week, unable to leave behind the grief that entered their lives that autumn.
But even death could not erase Zaniar’s name from the memory of his city.
The people of Mahabad still remember November 5th — the day the streets were filled with resistance, fear, anger, and blood. Every Friday, crowds still gather at the graves of the dead. And among them, the name “The Groom of Mahabad” is still spoken with love and pain.
Even Zaniar’s gravestone did not escape pressure from authorities. The word “martyr” was removed from beside his name, and the poem once engraved on the stone was erased. Part of it had read:
“I am the Kurdish son who became a martyr on the path of struggle, mother, The blood-winged dove of my homeland’s garden, mother…”
Zaniar was only 21 years old.
A young man who loved life.
A young man who wanted to build a home, laugh freely, stay in love, and live a future he had barely begun.
But a single live bullet ended all of it within seconds.
And now, every year on his birthday, Mahabad remembers not only a young man who was killed — but the unfinished dreams of an entire generation that wanted nothing more than life, dignity, and freedom.