Amirmohammad Hatami, 18, of Shahin Shahr, killed by a coup-de-grâce shot to the eye

Amirmohammad Hatami, an 18-year-old from Shahin Shahr in Isfahan, was wounded and arrested on the evening of 9 January 2026 during the December–January uprising, and after his arrest was killed by a coup-de-grâce shot to his right eye. A source close to Hatami's family recounted these details in an interview with Iran International, an account that, nine months after the December–January massacre, gives a fresh picture of how the repressive forces treated wounded and detained protesters.

According to this source, in the first days Amirmohammad's family had no news of where he was being held, and for a full 20 days they searched the prisons, morgues, police stations, intelligence office, IRGC-affiliated facilities and forensic medicine offices of Shahin Shahr and the surrounding cities. During that time every day they opened dozens of black bags containing bodies, until finally someone phoned and asked a member of the family to come and identify a body.

Identifying the body by an old scar

The family recognised Amirmohammad's body only by an old scar on his right shoulder. According to those close to him, the body bore signs of torture: chain marks, damaged ears, hollowed-out eyes and bruises that had made his face unrecognisable. The body was shown to the family in a black bag.

Amirmohammad Hatami was of Bakhtiari descent and worked as a mechanic; in Shahin Shahr he was called "Usta". Acquaintances have described him as a hard-working, kind and responsible young man who contributed to his family's expenses and cared about child labourers.

A pattern of killing wounded protesters

The Hatami family's account is not the only one. The night of 9 January was one of the bloodiest nights of the December–January uprising, and DIAR has previously reported the death of Peyman Ghadiri, an engineer from Qarchak who was shot in his home that same night. Arresting wounded protesters, hiding where they are held and handing over their bodies weeks later with security conditions has become a familiar practice in the Islamic Republic's repression, just as the bodies of two young Baluch men in Zahedan were handed over after 13 days with security conditions.

The Islamic Republic's authorities have so far given no explanation of how Amirmohammad Hatami was killed, and no body has been held to account for the killing.

Amirmohammad Hatami, 18, was killed by a shot to the eye after his arrest, and his family searched morgues for his body for 20 days.