Morteza Shirmohammadi
Morteza Shirmohammadi (November 2, 1992 – November 2, 2022)
During Iran’s nationwide protests in 2022, Morteza Shirmohammadi, a student at Tabriz University of Medical Sciences and a native of the village of Khalvat in Sayin Qaleh (Shahin Dezh), lost his life.
According to the GADTAB News Center and statements from people close to his family, security forces handed over his body to his family on Wednesday, November 2, 2022 (11 Aban 1401). They reportedly told the family that he had "lost his life during the protests in Tabriz the previous week." This account has been attributed to the Familys relatives.
According to local sources, Morteza's father, Ali Asghar Shirmohammadi, is the head of the Ideological and Political Office of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in Urmia. These sources further claim that, because of his official position and ties to the government, he refrained from publicly acknowledging that his son had been killed during the anti-government protests.
Following the return of his body, Morteza Shirmohammadi was laid to rest in his hometown, the village of Khalvat in Shahin Dezh County.
Morteza had been pursuing a future in medicine—a path that could have enabled him to dedicate his life to healing others. Instead, his own life came to an end amid one of the most turbulent periods in Iran's recent history. Those who remember him describe him as a young man who chose not to remain silent, standing alongside his people despite the risks to his own future.
For many, Morteza Shirmohammadi is remembered not only as a promising medical student, but also as a symbol of a generation that took to the streets in pursuit of freedom, justice, and a better future. In their eyes, his name remains part of the collective memory of the Iranian people, and his unfinished life has become one of the enduring stories of the 2022 protests.