Young Iranian boxer shot by security forces in Tehran, source says
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An Iranian amateur boxer was shot dead by Iranian security forces during ongoing anti-regime protests near Tehran, and his father searched for a week before identifying his body in a black body bag.
Harrowing footage circulating online shows his distraught father searching desperately through piles of bodies covered in black body bags and crying for his missing son.
According to Iranian opposition sources, 19-year-old Sepehr Ebrahimi was killed on January 11 in the Andisheh district, about 30 kilometers west of Tehran city center.
“Sepehr was shot and killed in Tehran,” Ali Safavi, a senior official with the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), told Fox News Digital.
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Sepehr Ebrahimi was a 19-year-old amateur boxer. His father searched for his body for a week after he was killed. (Simay Azadi/National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI))
In the video shared on social media and viewed by Fox News Digital, Ebrahimi’s father is seen shouting his son’s name as he searches a warehouse filled with unidentified bodies following a violent crackdown on demonstrators.
“Dear Sepehr, where are you?” The father can be heard crying. At one point he shouts: “Damn Khamenei. They killed so many people’s children. You killed so many young people!”
According to Safavid, Ibrahimi was shot with live bullets by Iranian security forces during protests against the religious regime.
His family spent a painful week searching through morgues, hospitals and detention centers and eventually located his body among the piles of corpses, as seen in viral images.
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Iranians participate in an anti-government protest in Tehran, Iran, on January 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)
The murder took place amid ongoing demonstrations across Iran, where anger continues to boil over political repression, economic hardship and human rights violations.
Ibrahimi’s death also drew attention to the case of another Iranian boxer, Mohammed Javad Vafaei Sani, who was sentenced to death.
Vafaei Sani, now 30 years old, is a champion boxer who was arrested in 2020 for participating in pro-democracy protests across the country.
Iranian authorities accused him of supporting the opposition group the People’s Mujahedin Organization of Iran (MEK).
According to human rights organisations, he was reportedly imprisoned for five years, during which he was subjected to torture and held in prolonged solitary confinement.
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In 2023, more than 100 human rights experts and international organizations sent a letter to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk, calling for urgent intervention to stop the execution of Vafaei Sani.
The death penalty is reminiscent of the case of Iranian wrestling champion Navid Afkari, who was executed in September 2020.
Meanwhile, the deaths of Ibrahimi and others come as Iran’s protest-related death toll continues to rise.
according to Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) announced that at least 6 thousand 126 people have lost their lives since the beginning of the last wave of protests.
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HRANA also reported that 214 government forces and 49 civilians were killed, while more than 17,000 deaths were under investigation.
