Anti-Iranian tendencies are gaining momentum in the Azerbaijani media and Internet space. After the news item about the posters in support of Ilham Aliyev that allegedly appeared in the Iranian provinces, the Azerbaijani media started to replicate the story of an "innocent murdered" Azerbaijani.

The story is retold by a resource close to the Aliyev administration, titled the fantastic narrative "Iranian security forces shot 18-year-old Azerbaijani Esmail Heydari."

"According to information published on the IranWire website, Azerbaijani Esmail Heydari, a resident of the settlement of Tonekabon on the Caspian coast, was born in Meshkinshahr, Ardabil province. On the day of the murder he was on his way to the bakery where he worked and was fatally shot when police opened fire on the demonstrators.  According to the brother of the deceased, the bullet hit the young man in the heart.

According to an Azerbaijani human rights activist, the family of the deceased did not immediately demand Esmail's body because they were threatened by security officials.

"The family was threatened that if they reported the incident to the media, they wouldn't get Esmail's body at all. The family of the deceased young man simply did not know where to turn," the human rights activist said.

According to the human rights activist, Sardar Heydari, Esmail's father wanted to complain to the Tonekabon prosecutor's office about his son's murder, but could not do so because he did not speak Farsi. The assistant prosecutor himself drew up the document, and Heydari senior signed it, although he did not know what it said.

Esmail Heidari is one of dozens of young men shot dead by Iranian security forces during mass demonstrations. Reportedly, security forces often threaten the families of the victims, forcing them to present what happened as an "accident."

For example, the authorities put pressure on the family of 22-year-old Nasim Sedghi, who died during an anti-government protest in West Azerbaijan, forcing its members to lie that the girl died in a car accident.

Last week, the Association for the Defense of Azerbaijani Political Prisoners in Iran (ADAPP) reported that Sedghi's father had been pressured by the Intelligence Bureau of the city of Shahin Dezh, where the family resides.

In particular, Sedghi's father Nasim Sedghi was demanded to state in a TV interview that his daughter was allegedly killed by a guy she was dating and who fled to Turkey after the 'murder,'" the newspaper writes.