Mahsa Dezfoulian Kermanshahi was shot and killed on January 9, 2026, during nationwide protests in Fardis, Karaj, as security forces opened fire on demonstrators.
During the protest, friends and companions urged her to return home. She asked them to remain in the street for just a few more minutes. Moments later, in front of those closest to her, she collapsed. At first, they believed she had fainted; it was only when they saw the blood that they realized she had been shot. She was rushed to a hospital in Karaj, where she was pronounced dead.
Fearing that her body might be confiscated by security forces, her companions—acting on the advice of medical staff—left the hospital through a rear exit and transported her blood-soaked body to her aunt’s home. Approximately 15 hours later, she was transferred to her family’s residence in Tehran.
Mahsa was 39 years old, married, and a Doctor of Dental Surgery who owned and operated a dental clinic in Tehran. To prevent authorities from seizing her body, her family kept her remains at home overnight, preserving them with blocks of ice.
Under immense psychological strain, Mahsa’s mother suffered a cardiac episode and was hospitalized. The following morning, with police officers present at their home, the family was compelled to agree to the transfer of Mahsa’s body to the Kahrizak Forensic Medicine Center in order to obtain a death certificate and burial permit. There, after reviewing approximately 1,700 images of victims displayed on a monitor, the family identified and reclaimed her body. They witnessed numerous other families waiting anxiously to see whether the names of their loved ones would appear on the screen.
Relatives initially insisted on burying Mahsa in a cemetery in Farahzad, Tehran. However, according to the family, cemetery officials refused to accept her body once they learned she had been killed by gunfire from security forces. Ultimately, Mahsa Dezfoulian Kermanshahi was laid to rest in Behesht-e Zahra under heavy security, in the presence of plainclothes agents.
According to one relative, the regime-affiliated so-called Martyrs Foundation contacted the family to request that Mahsa’s name be registered among those killed as members of regime forces. The Dezfoulian family firmly rejected this request.
