Erfan Sarikhani

Erfan Sarikhani (November 8, 2000 – October 18, 2022)

Erfan Sarikhani, known as “Erfan Dashti,” was born on November 8, 2000, into an Iranian family. He was a 22-year-old accounting student and a professional photographer, known among his family and friends for his sense of humor, energy, and sociable nature.
Erfan lived with his mother and sister in Tehranpars, Tehran. He came from a small and close-knit family, and their home was more than simply a place to live; it was where many of his childhood and youth memories were formed.
Although he studied accounting, Erfan’s greatest passion was photography. He was particularly interested in studio photography and pursued it seriously. His talent and dedication enabled him to become a professional photographer at a young age. For him, a camera was more than a tool; it was a way of seeing the world, capturing moments, and preserving memories that might otherwise quickly fade into the past.
But the autumn of 2022 marked a very different chapter in Erfan’s life.
Following the beginning of the nationwide protests, Erfan, like many young people at the time, took part in demonstrations and protests. His social spirit and activism meant that his participation was not merely a passing presence in the streets. He was also active in the Tehranpars neighborhood and was eventually identified by government security forces.
Before his final arrest, security forces had attempted to detain him twice. On both occasions, they tried to force him into a van, but with his own resistance and the help of people nearby, he managed to escape.
Those escapes may have temporarily saved him from arrest, but they also indicated that he was no longer unknown to the security forces.
Then came October 18, 2022.
That day, Erfan left home to meet his friends for dinner. He had not gone far from his home when government forces confronted him and took him away.
From that moment, all contact between Erfan and his family and friends was cut off. His mobile phone was taken and disconnected shortly after his arrest, leaving his family in a state of uncertainty and anguish.
Days passed, but there was no news of him.
What his family later learned about Erfan’s fate was a deeply disturbing account. According to his family’s account and reports published about his case, Erfan was subjected to torture after his arrest. It was reported that his nose had been broken and that his face had suffered severe injuries.
Erfan’s lifeless body was eventually abandoned in the desert areas around Jajrud.
Three days after his disappearance, his family was informed that his body had been found and was asked to go to the Jajrud police station for identification.
There, the family was told that Erfan had died by suicide after ingesting rice pills, a highly toxic pesticide. When his family questioned the broken nose and injuries to his face, they were reportedly told that Erfan had fallen to the ground shortly before his death.
The explanation did not convince his family.
The forensic authorities initially listed the cause of death as undetermined. Following the family’s complaints and persistent inquiries, a subsequent report reportedly classified the cause of death as “suicide.” Erfan’s family rejected this account and continued to believe that he had died after being detained and tortured.
For a mother who knew her son and a sister who had spent years beside him, accepting such an account was not easy. Many questions remained unanswered—questions about the days following Erfan’s disappearance, the injuries visible on his body, and what had happened to him between his arrest and the discovery of his body.
Finally, on November 1, 2022, Erfan Sarikhani was buried at Behesht-e Zahra Cemetery in Tehran: Section 327, Row 80, Grave 85.
His family and friends were not given the opportunity to see his body and say goodbye to him in the way they had hoped. For a family that had spent days waiting anxiously for their son to return, this ending brought not peace, but a profound wound and countless unanswered questions.
Erfan was only twenty-two years old.
His life was still at its beginning. There could have been many more years of study, photography, life beside his mother and sister, gatherings with friends, laughter, and dreams for the future. But the autumn of 2022 took all those possibilities away from him.
Yet a person’s life cannot be measured solely by the number of years they were given.
In the memories of his family, friends, and those who knew him, Erfan Sarikhani—“Erfan Dashti”—remains the same young man known for his humor, energy, and passion for photography, whose life was cut short at the age of twenty-two.
There are two conflicting accounts of his death. The official account classified his death as suicide, while his family and those close to him rejected that explanation and attributed his death to detention and torture. This discrepancy has left the story of Erfan’s life and death surrounded by profound questions.
What remains certain is that Erfan’s life did not simply disappear with his death. His name remained in the memories of those who knew him and loved him.
He was not merely a name among the young people who lost their lives during the autumn of 2022. He was a young man with a small family, friends who cared for him, a camera through which he captured the world around him, and a future that never had the chance to unfold.
Erfan Sarikhani, known as “Erfan Dashti,” was born on November 8, 2000. Twenty-two years later, in the tragic autumn of 2022, his life was cut short.
Yet the memory of those whose lives and dreams are cut short while striving for freedom and a better future does not easily disappear.

**“Those whose hearts are awakened by love shall never die; Our enduring memory is written upon the pages of history.”**