Security forces broke into the home of Mohammad Baqer Bakhtiar, a former commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, arrested him and confiscated some of his personal belongings. There is no information yet on his whereabouts, according to the Persian-language website Saham News. .
Bakhtiar had previously released an audio recording in which he said Iranian authorities were trying to cover up the murder of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman who died last September while being detained by the vice police in Tehran.
The former IRGC commander described the Islamic Republic as “an ambitious, power-seeking regime… that has no identity and is irresponsible,” and said that the Iranian authorities should have immediately acknowledged their responsibility for the death of Mahsa Amini and apologized.
In late September last year, Bakhtiyar detonated a large-caliber surprise about Amini’s murder at the vice squad on September 16, sparking ongoing protests in the country.
Bakhtiyar said that, according to information obtained from the results of forensic examinations, Amini fell into a coma and died from blows to the skull. He added that the girl’s damaged spleen was removed from her body after she was transferred to the Kisra hospital due to internal bleeding to improve her condition, but she fell into a coma due to skull injuries.
In addition, he confirmed that this information “was leaked from within the system by people with a clear conscience,” he said.
Muhammad Baqer Bakhtiar was a senior commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps during the Iran-Iraq War and is considered one of the founders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy, married to journalist and women’s rights activist Fariba Daudi Mohajer.
When revealing the circumstances of the assassination of Mahsa, Amini Bakhtiar apologized to the people as a former commander of the Revolutionary Guards and said: “I am ashamed, because during the periods when we were looking for ideals for the survival of this regime, we did not know that people would come who would take advantage of all the achievements of the people for myself”.
He criticized the policies of the Iranian regime, stating, “People go directly to the Supreme Leader. People don’t want you. Understand it.”
