Here is the transcript of our interview with Solmaz, sister-in-law of Mohsen Rashidi, a 42-year-old Christian convert, husband and father of three girls who was recently confirmed among the many 1000s of protesters killed in recent days. You can also watch the video in full below.

Hello everyone. On the second day of the call for demonstrations, on Friday, the 9th of January, in Baharestan, Isfahan province, Mohsen went out with his friends to demonstrate. During that demonstration, in front of Mohsen’s eyes, his friend Mr Shahram Maghsoudloo was shot in the chest, and Mohsen tried to save him.

And when he wanted to save his friend, he became involved in a scrap with the officers. But Mohsen was able to save himself at that moment, according to what I have heard, and, at that moment found a place where he could take refuge, and wait for the officers to leave so that he could return and pick up his friend from the ground.

When he saw the officers leaving, Mohsen went forward to lift his friend up, and unfortunately he was shot from behind with a live round, which hit his thigh, and he fell to the ground and remained there.

And when the officers dispersed, his other friends came and put Mohsen in his friend’s car. Mr Shahram Maghsoudloo was already dead, but his friends could see that Mohsen was bleeding and still alive; they lifted him up and took him to the hospital.

But unfortunately, it seems like the officers were following their cars. And they stopped them at the entrance to the hospital, and they had closed the entrance to the hospital and didn’t allow anyone to enter the hospital. They stopped Mohsen and his friends right there, and so they weren’t able to take their friend into the hospital and, Mohsen, who was still in the car, died unfortunately. And there, Mohsen’s body was even taken away from his friends and not returned, and clashes broke out again, and then the family searched for him for about four or five days.

And one of those days, I think it was the last day, they asked [the family] to pay money to check the lists of the dead to see if Mohsen’s name was among the victims.

After they took the money, they told them that, “No, his name is not on the list”, and his family was happy, his mother was joyful, and my sister was happy. To the degree that they even bought and distributed sweets among the people, according to tradition, and they returned home joyfully. The rest of his brothers searched in hospitals and detention centres, and searched for a whole day but didn’t find him. And so they went back to the same office, and that day they were informed that yes, Mohsen’s name was unfortunately on the list. There were so many people in front of the morgue, and there they three times brought Mohsen’s body and took it back.

Why? Because they had given them a list and a form to sign that Mohsen was a Basiji, meaning they wanted to pretend that ordinary people killed Mohsen. That is, that Mohsen was part of the regime, but since [the family] didn’t accept this, they asked for a sum of money for Mohsen’s body.

Mohsen had been a Christian for two years and had a relationship with the living God. And we are very happy about that – that at least, he achieved victory in the ways of God, and we know that Mohsen is now with God, in the arms of the living God.

They hurt the family a lot. Why? Because they didn’t accept their terms. They even said that: “You should pray Islamic prayers for him”. But they didn’t accept. Because Mohsen was not a Muslim and had lived in God; they said that “You should read the Quran at his funeral”.

They didn’t accept it, and even replied: “What Quran? Which Quran? According to which Holy Book do you say we should bury our child?” They didn’t accept it. The [officials] also harassed them a lot during the funeral and didn’t allow them a ceremony, and threatened them that they weren’t allowed to hold a ceremony, book a hall or restaurant anywhere; and that there must only be a very simple funeral. They didn’t allow them to do these things.

Mohsen had a four-year-old daughter. I think it has been three or four days that she has a very high fever and is not feeling well at all. This child was very dependent on her father, constantly asking for him and being restless for him.

No uncle, no mother, no grandmother, no-one, no-one can comfort this child and fill her father’s place for her, and she’s in a very bad mental state. My sister has two older daughters, 20 and 18 years old, who Mohsen became like a father to. Mohsen raised them. They are also not in a good mental state at all and they are also restless. And they keep saying that “We are now orphans and now we feel like we don’t have a father”. They are not in a good situation. My sister just whines. She just cries. She just says that “They took my Mohsen away from me. I have nobody.”

Mohsen’s mother is also very sad. Very sad. I was only able to talk to her for about two minutes last night, after all this, and she just told me: “Be my Mohsen’s voice. Not only my Mohsen’s voice, be the voice of all the youth, the voice of all our compatriots. Be the voice of all the families who have lost their loved ones.”

And we are their voice! Wherever it is necessary, we will be their voice. Because we are far away and we cannot be there with them; with their loved ones and their families. We will certainly be their voice wherever we are and we will not allow their blood to be trampled.