Chenaran; Identity of 4 Kurdish Victims Killed by Live Ammunition; Ruhollah Setareh-Moshtari, Mehdi Vali-Doust, Mehdi Qorban-Doust, Morteza Jahanbakhsh

January 11, 2026; “Ruhollah Setareh-Moshtari,” “Mehdi Vali-Doust,” “Mehdi Qorban-Doust,” and “Morteza Jahanbakhsh Varanloo” are the identities of four Kormanji Kurdish victims from the city of “Chenaran” in Razavi Khorasan Province who lost their lives on Wednesday, January 7, 2026, due to live ammunition fire by repressive forces. These citizens were targeted purposefully, from behind and with the intent to kill, particularly by shots to the head and upper body; for this reason, they died either instantly or in the early hours after being transferred to the hospital.

Kurdpa, which had previously obtained preliminary information about these four victims and recently verified and published this report through an interview with a relative of one of these individuals abroad—who had received and provided information regarding two of the victims to Kurdpa before the internet shutdown.

• “Ruhollah Setareh-Moshtari” was a youth from the village of “Ghiasabad,” a suburb of Chenaran, who was severely wounded on Wednesday night, January 7, 2026, during the protests in this city by a live ammunition shot to the head and lost his life shortly after. Initially, his family shared that government forces had forced them to hold a secret burial ceremony at 5:00 AM on January 8, 2026, and wrote: “This is not our right that they kill our brother now and force us to bury at 5 AM.” Subsequently, the family announced that his burial ceremony would be held at 8:00 AM on Friday, January 9, 2026, in the village of “Ghiasabad”; with the internet shutdown, it is unclear whether they were able to perform the burial or not. “Ruhollah” was a youth who had been married for only one year and had become the father of a son named “Dazhyar” just three days before being killed.
• “Morteza Jahanbakhsh” was a youth from the village of “Qezelken,” a suburb of Chenaran, and from the “Varanloo” tribe. A video published on the Instagram page of the brother of one of the victims shows the moments after he was shot, indicating the bullet hit his head. Next to his bloody body, the body of another victim, belonging to “Ruhollah Setareh-Moshtari,” is also seen; he was also targeted from behind and in the head.
• The identities of two other victims confirmed for Kurdpa have been announced as “Mehdi Qorban-Doust,” from “Dargaz,” and “Mehdi Vali-Doust,” from Chenaran. These two individuals lost their lives moments after being transferred to the hospital due to the severity of their injuries.

The Kurdpa source, while providing part of this information in the early hours, emphasized that the number of those killed in Chenaran was four and the number of wounded was reported to be high. According to this source, the shooting was carried out in bursts, with direct fire and the intent to kill; such that in the video, two of the victims are seen next to each other.

Protests in Chenaran began on the evening of January 7, 2026, and videos related to these protests were published in the media from around 10:00 PM onwards. The fatal shooting of protesters began after 12:00 AM, and all these individuals were targeted purposefully, after being pursued from behind and with the intent to kill, by live ammunition and lost their lives.