Farzaneh Kazemi

Farzaneh Kazemi (October 12, 1996 – October 12, 2022)

Farzaneh Kazemi, 26 years old and a graduate in Electrical Engineering, grew up in a family already marked by the impact of war. Her father had been killed during the Iran–Iraq War, and her mother was a retired school teacher.
Her name had appeared in connection with protests even before the nationwide demonstrations of 2022. She had previously been arrested during the protests of December 2017 and November 2019. Following the November 2019 protests, the Revolutionary Court in Qazvin sentenced her to fifty lashes on charges of damaging a traffic light. According to published accounts, she later suffered kidney damage and kidney failure as a result of the flogging.
With the beginning of the nationwide protests in 2022, following the death of Jina (Mahsa) Amini, Farzaneh became actively involved in the protests in Qazvin. According to accounts published by witnesses and people close to her, she played a role in informing protesters about the time and location of gatherings and was present in the streets almost every night.
On the night of October 12, according to witnesses, while special police forces were transporting two male and one female protester in a police van to a detention center, Farzaneh allegedly threw stones at the van's windows and attacked the vehicle in an attempt to prevent the detainees from being taken away. According to these accounts, the detained protesters managed to escape.
Following the incident, two police motorcycles reportedly pursued her. According to witness accounts, the chase continued into a dead-end alley near Sepah Street, where she was allegedly shot at from very close range. Published reports emphasize that it had been possible to arrest her, but force was used instead.
At Farzaneh Kazemi’s funeral ceremony, her mother spoke about seeing her daughter’s body for the last time:
“After a week, when they finally showed me Farzaneh’s body, I could not recognize her. Her entire body was covered with pellets; they had riddled my daughter with gunfire.”
Farzaneh Kazemi was among those killed during the 2022 protests. In published accounts, she has been described as one of the active and prominent figures in the street protests in Qazvin.