According to information received by HANA Human Rights Organization, on the evening of 8 July 2026, Sam Hassani, a 12-year-old child, was killed and his father, Ahsan Hassani, was injured following the reported use of firearms by Iranian armed forces in Darouki village, Marivan County.
Based on preliminary information received from multiple local sources, which HANA continues to independently verify, members of the Hassani family were travelling in a civilian vehicle when armed forces allegedly discharged firearms at the vehicle without issuing a prior warning or an order to stop. Sam Hassani, who was seated in the rear of the vehicle, sustained two fatal gunshot wounds to the head. His father sustained a gunshot wound to the leg and was transferred to a medical facility in Sanandaj for treatment. The child’s body was transferred to the Marivan Forensic Medicine Office.
HANA continues to verify all factual aspects of the incident, including the identity of the officers involved, the legal basis for the operation, and the circumstances surrounding the reported use of lethal force. At the time of publication, the Iranian authorities had not publicly disclosed the reasons for the operation or whether an official investigation had been initiated.
Preliminary Legal Assessment
The use of firearms by members of Iran’s armed forces is governed by the Law on the Use of Firearms by Armed Forces Personnel in Cases of Necessity (1994), which permits lethal force only under strictly defined conditions and in accordance with the principles of legality, necessity and proportionality.
Subject to verification of the reported facts, the reported use of lethal force against a civilian vehicle, allegedly without prior warning, resulting in the death of a 12-year-old child and the injury of his father, raises serious questions as to whether the operation complied with both Iranian law and international human rights standards governing the use of lethal force.
Iran is bound by Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which protects the right to life and requires any potentially unlawful death involving State agents to be investigated effectively. These obligations are further reflected in the UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials and the Minnesota Protocol on the Investigation of Potentially Unlawful Death (2016).
HANA considers that the circumstances reported to date warrant a prompt, independent and impartial criminal investigation capable of establishing the full circumstances of the incident, including the legality of the use of force, the responsibility of the officers involved, and any responsibility arising within the chain of command. The absence of effective investigations into similar incidents may contribute to a broader pattern of impunity incompatible with the State’s obligations under international human rights law.