Aryan Nabati

Aryan Nabati (also rendered Arian Nabati; Persian: آرین نباتی) was an 18-year-old resident of Mashhad in Razavi Khorasan Province. Hengaw Organization for Human Rights verified that on Tuesday, 17 February 2026 (28 Bahman 1404), he was killed by direct gunfire from Iranian authorities during a memorial ceremony marking the fortieth day of slain protesters in the city.

According to Hengaw, security forces stormed the gathering as the ceremony was underway. Nabati was attempting to leave the area on a motorcycle with several friends when he was directly targeted and fatally shot. After two days without information, his family was told to identify his body at a Mashhad hospital; officials first claimed he had died in a traffic accident and tried to prevent them from viewing the body. When the family insisted, they saw clear signs of three gunshot wounds to the heart, head, and side.

Hengaw reported that authorities pressured and threatened the family to agree not to speak publicly and to state that the death was an “accident” as a condition for releasing the body. He was buried under tight security, without a public funeral, and the family was not permitted to hold a public mourning ceremony.