Saman Ghaderpour Darvish

Saman Ghaderpour Darvish (July 1, 1985 – November 2, 2022)

Saman Ghaderpour Darvish, known as Saman Kordeh, was born on July 1, 1985 in Oshnavieh, Iran. A 37-year-old construction worker, he had moved to Tehran to earn a living. Both of his parents had passed away, and the only close family member he had left was his married sister, who was reportedly suffering from illness.
During the nationwide protests of 2022, Saman was arrested on Tehran’s Ostad Moein Street. According to reports from human rights sources and accounts provided by relatives, he was transferred to a detention facility in Tehran, where he was subjected to severe abuse and torture. On November 7, 2022, he lost his life while in custody.
Several days later, security authorities contacted his family and instructed them to travel to Tehran to identify his body. Since his parents were no longer alive and his immediate family was unable to make the journey, Saman’s elderly uncle traveled to Tehran. Upon arriving at the Behesht-e Zahra morgue, he identified his nephew’s body.
Authorities claimed that Saman had died of a heart attack. However, his uncle strongly disputed this account. After viewing the body, he reported visible signs of violence, including injuries and bruising on Saman’s face, lower back, and the soles of his feet. According to his uncle, the condition of the body was inconsistent with a natural death and indicated that Saman had died as a result of torture.
The circumstances surrounding his death remained unclear. On his burial permit, the cause of death was recorded as “to be announced later,” a clarification that was never provided.
Reports indicate that Saman’s body remained in the morgue for more than two weeks because there was no immediate family member available to claim it. Eventually, his uncle was able to take custody of the body. Security authorities reportedly instructed the family that any funeral arrangements had to be coordinated with local security officials and imposed restrictions on viewing the body.
Saman Ghaderpour was laid to rest in his hometown of Oshnavieh on November 2, 2022.
His name has appeared in reports documenting detainees who allegedly died under torture during the 2022 protests in Iran. Yet, because there was no sustained legal or public campaign seeking accountability on his behalf, relatively little information about his life and death has been preserved. As a result, Saman Ghaderpour remains one of the lesser-known victims of the events of 2022—a young man who left his hometown to work and build a future, but whose life ended in detention under circumstances that continue to raise serious questions and concerns.