Ershad Shahbazi

Ershad Shahbazi (Persian: ارشاد شهبازی; also recorded as Shahriari) was a thirty-year-old from Lahijan in Gilan Province. He worked as a real-estate consultant and was also the manager of a café-restaurant. Those who knew him described him as a healthy, athletic and energetic young man.

On the night of Thursday, 18 Dey 1404 (8 January 2026), during the nationwide protests, he was shot near Bagh-e Melli in Lahijan. According to IranWire, a live round struck him in the back and badly damaged his lungs. He was taken to a medical centre but died of his wounds at 7 a.m. on 19 Dey (9 January 2026).

His body was released to his family from Bagh-e Rezvan on 20 Dey and was buried the same day at the Seyed Morteza shrine cemetery in Lahijan. Hengaw Organization for Human Rights reported that the family was forced to bury him at night. In the weeks that followed, officials repeatedly called the family and asked them to present Ershad as a "martyr" of the state. The family refused.

Hengaw verified his identity among ten people killed in Gilan and Mazandaran, together with Pouya Kheirkhah, who was killed in the same area of Lahijan. HRANA and Iran International's Javidnaman memorial also record his killing in Lahijan.