A narrative of the shooting of a shotgun pellet and tear gas into the eye and face of Farzad Moradiniya, a labor activist and protester from Sanandaj during the revolutionary uprising of Jin, Jiyan, Azadi

Farzad Moradiniya, a 36-year-old labor activist from Sanandaj, was severely injured during the revolutionary uprising of Ji, Jiyan, Azadi, following the state killing of Jina-Mahsa Amini, due to the shooting of a shotgun pellet and tear gas from a close range into his eyes and face. Farzad suffered from blindness in his left eye, hearing impairment in his left ear, and severe fracture and displacement of his eye socket, nose, jaw, temple, and occipital bone as a result of the shooting by the repressive forces.

Kurdpa, which exclusively reports on the killing and injuring of the revolutionary uprising of Jin, Jiyan, Azadi in Kurdistan, this time addressed the way of injury and shooting of Farzad Moradiniya from the protestet of Sanandaj who has now fled abroad.

On October 7th, 2022, during the widespread popular protests in Sanandaj following the state killing of Jina-Mahsa Amini and the revolutionary uprising of Jin, Jiyan, Azadi, four citizens of Sanandaj lost their lives as a result of shooting by the repressive state forces, Peyman Menbari, Daryoush Alizadeh, Yahya Rahimi, and Mohammad Amini.

Along with the killing of these four people in Sanandaj, a number of citizens were also injured by the shooting of the repressive state forces. Farzad Moradiniya is one of those injured on October 7th in Sanandaj who lost his left eye and has no hope for any light.

How Farzad Moradiniya participated and was present in the popular protests in Sanandaj;

Farzad Moradiniya who now lives abroad told Kurdpa about how he participated in the protests in Sanandaj: Due to my experiences from attending street protests for several years, I went to the street and the center of protests in Sanandaj at night and during the day I and my friends tried to be organized, prepare supplies, water, food, masks, and safety equipment.

How Farzad Moradiniya was shot;

Farzad told Kurdpa about how he was injured during the protests in Sanandaj: On the morning of October 7th, 2022, I went to the street "Sheshom Bahman" and the alley opposite "Bahareh Passage" for some personal affairs when I faced the brutal attack of the agents on children, teenagers and elderly people in the street at 9 am and I could not be indifferent. I went to the agents as a sign of protest, but they started beating me with batons and to protect my sick friend who was with me from being injured, we distanced ourselves from the agents, but we had not gone far, 7-8 meters away, when we were targeted by shotgun pellets and tear gas. I was injured first and fell to the ground, then my friend.

He describes the severity of his injuries as follows: As a result of shooting tear gas and a hunting rifle single-barrel "Taper", I became blind in my left eye and impaired in my left ear. Also, the left half of my face has been welded and reconstructed with 40 cm of platinum tape; because the impact of the bullets was so severe that it broke and shattered my eye socket, nasal sinus, upper jaw, temple, and occipital bone of my skull and my lower jaw was displaced.

Referring to local clinics and finally fleeing to Tehran for treatment/ The high number of injured Kurdish people in Farabi Hospital Tehran;

Farzad and his friend, after being injured, went to one of the clinics on the outskirts of Sanandaj for fear of being arrested by security agencies. Fortunately, the pellets on his friend's face, hand, elbow, and wrist were superficial and subcutaneous due to the large size of the pellets, and they were removed and evacuated.

But Farzad had to go to Kowsar Hospital in Sanandaj due to the severity of his injuries and was transferred to Farabi Hospital in Tehran for fear of being arrested.

He declares: Due to the severe condition of my eye and face, I had to go to Kowsar Hospital. But because of the pressure from security agencies, I fled to Tehran and went to Farabi Hospital. When I was there, I realized that a very large number of young people and protesters from Kurdistan cities such as Marivan, Sanandaj, Kamyaran, and Divandareh had not been able to go to medical centers in their city for fear of being arrested by security forces and had to come to Farabi Hospital in Tehran. I realized that some people had lost both eyes and even due to the security atmosphere and fear of arrest, there was no possibility of understanding the name and details of the injured.

Farzad Moradiniya is an injured protester who witnessed the injury of a large number of protesters and people in Sananda;

Farzad as one of those injured who witnessed the injury of a large number of people and protesters in Sanandaj tells Kurdpa about this; I know a large number of injured people who did not go to hospital at all or many people who went to hospital and lost their eyes but due to pressure and threats from security forces are not willing to publicize the crime that has been committed against them. Injured people from neighborhoods such as "Sirus", "Feizabad", "Kamarbandi" and "Nayser" for their security I can not name them but I try to refer to some of them.

One of them was a young man in the "Nayser" district. He had fled from the street into the alleys and to the vicinity of the mountains and hills of the villages behind Nayser and Salavat Abad to pass the shooting of the repressive forces. But the repressive motorcyclist had followed him and targeted his face with direct shooting near the mountains. He eventually lost one of his eyes.

In another case, a person had been shot with about 20 shotgun pellets in his face. I found out about it after several months and took him to a surgeon for treatment and evacuation of the pellets. However, due to the large number and depth of the pellets and the sensitivity of their locations, as well as the risk of paralysis of facial nerves, eyebrows, mouth, eyes, and eyelids, doctors were unable to perform surgery. As a result, he has to live with pain, itching, and burning of those pellets for the rest of his life.

A reference to Farzad Moradiniya's activities, a labor activist since the 2010s;

Farzad has been a member of the Coordination Committee for Helping to Establish Workers' Organizations since 2011 and during this period has participated in all actions of Labor Day, International Women's Day (March 8) and protests and support of imprisoned workers, political prisoners and workers killed by the Islamic Republic.

He also had activities and contacts with the Teachers' Trade Association and other free workers' unions, Women's Council, Free Women's Association and Equality Seekers, and other institutions opposed to child labor and even the Association of No to Execution and No to Stoning that were active in Sanandaj, as a member of working groups and had a history of compound activities with them.

Holding a working group to condemn violence against women on November 25th in Sanandaj, holding theater classes, sports, mountaineering, cooperating with independent mountaineering groups that were sports-cultural activities, and participating in the action supporting Kobani are other civil activities of Farzad.

A reference to Farzad Moradiniya's prison records and imprisonment sentences, a labor activist;

He was arrested in 2012 at the annual assembly of the Coordination Committee for Helping to Establish Workers' Organizations along with 60 members of the committee and after two days of torture, beating, and interrogation was released.

This labor activist was arrested again in 2014 and was interrogated for 26 days in solitary detention at Sanandaj Intelligence Detention Center. He was finally released temporarily on bail of 70 million rials and after a while was sentenced to 3 years in prison in a 15-minute court.

Then after serving 13 months of his sentence, he was conditionally released (on parol) from prison and the rest of his prison changed to 4 years of suspended imprisonment.

This labor activist despite being conditionally released from prison returned to the meetings of the Coordination Committee for Helping to Establish Workers' Organizations and participated in other workers' actions and support for women and children.

He also participated in the popular protests in December 2017 and November 2019 and was injured several times by baton blows by repressive-state forces in November 2019.

Farzad Moradiniya, son of Saeed and Ayesha, was born on July 1st, 1986 in Sanandaj.

He is a left-wing labor activist.

Farzad before being arrested worked in construction labor jobs and car bumper making. But following repeated arrests and imprisonment he lost his job and customers and after being released from prison he was engaged in clothes peddling.