Aref Ashouri

Aref Ashouri (June 2, 1995 – October 9, 2022)

Aref Ashouri was a 27-year-old man from Rasht, known among those around him for his kindness and humanity. Friends and relatives described him as someone who would share even his last piece of bread with others. He had completed his education up to high school and spent years working hard to build a life for himself. For a time, he worked in the MDF industry in Kish while also working as a building security guard. Later, he returned to Rasht, where he worked as a guard at a Maskan-e Mehr shopping complex.
Life, however, did not unfold as he had hoped. Due to financial hardship and his inability to pay dowry-related debts, Aref was imprisoned. His family struggled for months to gather the money needed for his release. After four difficult months of borrowing, installment payments, and constant effort, they finally managed to arrange the required amount, and Aref was scheduled to be released on October 11, 2022.
On the morning of October 9, 2022, Aref’s mother came to visit him at Lakan Prison in Rasht. During the visit, he happily told her that he would be released in just two days. She left full of hope and excitement. Aref was her only child, and she believed she would soon bring him home.
But only hours later, everything changed.
That same day, unrest spread inside Lakan Prison amid reports of protests and tensions related to the treatment of detained young protesters. According to accounts from prisoners and families, several inmates, including Aref, objected to the abuse and mistreatment of teenagers who had been arrested during the protests in Rasht. Security forces reportedly responded by firing tear gas into the prison wards, filling the corridors with smoke and suffocation. Prisoners attempted to counter the gas by lighting fires, but the smoke became overwhelming, forcing many into the hallways. When some prisoners tried to move toward the prison yard, armed forces opened fire.
At around 4 p.m. on October 9, 2022, just two days before his scheduled release, Aref Ashouri was fatally shot.
In the days that followed, his family endured unbearable uncertainty. His mother spent three days searching hospitals and detention centers for any sign of her son. She was repeatedly told that Aref was still alive. Finally, on October 12, 2022, she was summoned to the forensic office, where she received the body of her only child.
Aref Ashouri was laid to rest in Behesht-e Jalalieh Cemetery in Astaneh-ye Ashrafiyeh, near the martyrs’ section.
Born on June 2, 1995, Aref was not known as a political prisoner. Yet he lost his life during the violent events at Lakan Prison after reportedly standing up against the mistreatment of detained youths. His name remains among those connected to the tragic events that took place in Lakan Prison during the protests of 2022.