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Iranian Guards Kill an Officer after Refusing to Fight in Syria | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Members of Iran’s revolutionary guards/Reuters


London-An officer from the Iranian Revolutionary Guards was killed under torture after defecting from a unit that was travelling to Syria last Thursday to fight alongside regime forces, informed sources revealed.

A source in the Iranian city of Ahvaz, who wished to remain anonymous, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Intelligence have killed Mohammed Rida Hamidawi, a volunteer with the IRGC in Ahvaz, only hours after being moved to an unknown location.

According to the same source, Hamidawi had informed his family last week that his unit had received an unusual training ahead of redeployment to fight in Syria.

However, Hamidawi refused to travel to Syria last Thursday.The next day, the IRGC intelligence summoned him to an unidentified location, his family said.

When Hamidawi’s family inquired about his fate, the intelligence informed his brother he could meet him at one of their prisons in Ahvaz. However, the brother found the man murdered with marks of a rope around his neck.

The Iranian intelligence told his brother that Mohammed had committed suicide.

The authorities had refused to hand over his body until Sunday, when they called his family to a cemetery located near his house for burial.

Asharq Al-Awsat was informed that Tehran has increased the frequency of deploying Iranian forces in Syria despite the rejection of several officers to fight there.

The sources said that a number of Iranian families have been inquiring about the fate of their sons, enrolled with the Revolutionary Guards.

However, the official Iranian authorities refuse to offer any information on whether those officers have been killed during fighting in Syria or detained in the Revolutionary Guard Intelligence prisons.