Deprivation of the right to mourn; imposing double suffering on the families of the victims and denial of the truth by the rulers
One of the most blatant human rights violations in Iran is the “deprivation of the right to mourn” from the families of victims of government repression and political and ideological executions. What does the government’s insistence on preventing mourning ceremonies for victims of government repression in previous years and the authorities’ silence about these illegal actions indicate?
What are the government’s methods of denying the “right to mourn”? Why does the government continue to insist on this blatant discrimination? What are the consequences of denying the right to mourn for the survivors of the victims, and how is the effort of the grieving families to obtain the right to mourn linked to the legal movement in Iran? Discrimination against the families of the killed and executed by the government has been repeated in different decades of the Islamic Republic’s rule, and on the second anniversary of the November 2019 protests, there have been reports of pressure being exerted on families to hold anniversaries for their loved ones. This includes the arrest of Sattar Beheshti’s mother and sister by security forces who wanted to participate in the anniversary ceremony of Sattar Beheshti’s death and the commemoration of those killed in the November 2019 protests.
Nameless graves and forced mourning in secret
The right to mourn is undoubtedly one of the most obvious human rights, and the issue of denying the right to mourn to the families and survivors of victims of government repression and executions and enforced disappearances by totalitarian governments that violate human rights has a long history in contemporary history, and the forty-plus years of the Islamic Republic of Iran are no exception to this rule. In fact, it can be said that the treatment of survivors of victims of government repression and injustice by prohibiting mourning ceremonies for families in Iran is more reminiscent of the "Khavaran" cemetery than anything else; the site of the mass graves of many of those executed in the 1960s, as well as the graves of a number of Baha'is.
The Khavaran Cemetery has been destroyed many times over the years on the orders of government officials. The families of those executed in the 1960s, who did not stop trying and resisting to hold mourning ceremonies in this cemetery, were repeatedly arrested and tortured, and have always faced countless security threats.
Apart from preventing mourning ceremonies, arrests, and threats, the process of confronting and applying security and judicial pressure on the families of those killed and executed continued in various ways throughout the past years.
Not handing over the bodies of victims of government repression and political and ideological executions to their families and failing to find the burial place of some of them are among the conventional methods of the government in a clear violation of the meaning of the "right to mourn." An issue whose roots in the judicial and governing system of the Islamic Republic of Iran go back to the 1960s and have been repeated in all subsequent years. In recent years, various names of executed political prisoners have been published, none of whose bodies have been handed over to their families, and there is no indication of their burial place. Farzad Kamangar, Shirin Alamholi, Habib Golparipour, Zanyar, and Loghman Moradi are some of these names who were executed in recent years and the judicial system has not announced any indication of their burial place to their families. This behavior is a clear example of torture and the double and heavy suffering endured by the families of victims of repression and executions.
The issue of handing over bodies or announcing their burial locations to families in the Islamic Republic of Iran’s judicial system is also tied to the issue of paying money to receive the bodies, or so-called “shooter money.” This is an issue that government officials always deny, but available evidence and documentation show that this practice was followed by the government, especially in the 1960s. Many reports were published about receiving money in exchange for handing over the bodies of those killed in the 2009 protests and later in 2019, which were of course denied by government officials.
Burying the bodies of victims of government repression and some executed individuals at night, away from the eyes of their families, is another method used by the government to deal with the issue of the “right to mourn.” In recent years, the government has used this discriminatory method in two ways: first, burying victims at night without informing their families, and second, forcing families to bury their loved ones at night and quietly. In fact, in both methods, the government imposes double torture on the family and survivors, which is not only a clear example of violating the “right to mourn,” but also a clear example of how it interferes with the most private parts of individuals’ lives.
Following the November 2019 protests, there were many reports of the bodies of some victims being handed over in exchange for a commitment from the families to bury their loved ones quietly and at night. The families of Arsham Ebrahimi and Pouya Bakhtiari, who were killed in November 2019, were among the survivors who recounted the story of how their loved ones’ bodies were handed over and the numerous stone-throwing incidents by security forces. Arsham Ebrahimi’s father had previously told the Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that “they buried their son at night in the presence of security forces.”
Navid Afkari, a 27-year-old wrestler and one of the detainees of the August 2018 protests, was buried at night under strict security measures after an unfair trial and execution. His family has faced many difficulties and hardships in recent years in holding mourning ceremonies.
Destruction of cemeteries and tombstones: The government's attempt to deny the truth
Over the past years, the government has not only deprived a large number of citizens of their "right to mourn" through security pressures and illegal and inhumane actions, and has imposed prolonged torture on them. It has also tried to destroy every sign of its endless cruelty against the people by destroying the cemeteries and tombstones of those who were killed by the authorities and who are symbols of the rulers' oppression.
This inhuman and cruel method was used many times in the Khavaran cemetery. Khavaran has two sections, in one section, a limited number of bodies of those executed in the 1960s are buried individually. Although the tombstones or any names or marks of these dead have been destroyed over the years. But the other part of Khavaran is actually the site of mass graves of political prisoners who were executed in August and September 1988. This part of Khavaran was actually discovered after continuous follow-up by the families of thousands of those executed in the summer of 1988 and the presentation and examination of many evidences and documents. It was after that that Khavaran became a symbol of mourning for the families of the victims of government repression; a place with nameless graves and a place for families to resist the continuous repression of the government and oblivion. But recently, the Baha'i International Community issued a statement announcing that security officials in the Islamic Republic of Iran had told them that the mass graves had been emptied and had asked them to bury their deceased there. In the Khavaran cemetery, next to the plot where executed political prisoners are buried, a large section belongs to the Baha'i deceased.
Apart from the government's systematic measures to eliminate any sign of the 1988 massacre by destroying cemeteries and tombstones, this method has also been repeated with the tombstones of many of those killed and executed in Iran in recent years; the tombstones of Neda Agha Soltan, Kianoush Asa, and Mostafa Karim Beigi, who were killed in the 2009 protests, as well as the tombstones of Navid Afkari, one of the detainees of the August 2018 protests in Shiraz who was executed, and Pouya Bakhtiari, one of the victims of the November 2019 protests, are examples of these measures.
The extent of the destruction of tombstones and the government's attempt to "forget the oppression" can be clearly seen in a different example; not long ago, news broke that the tombstones of two victims of the Ukrainian plane crash were destroyed by the IRGC forces. This issue shows how much the government insists on applying pressure and violence against the families of the victims, regardless of any form of oppression committed against the people. However, the responsible authorities never explicitly took responsibility for the repeated destruction of tombstones and the Khavaran cemetery.
The connection between the "right to mourn" and "seeking justice"
Despite all the severe security and illegal obstacles facing those seeking justice in Iran, including the families of victims of government repression and executions, holding memorial and mourning ceremonies in recent years has always been one of the most important moments for making the voices of many families and survivors of victims of government violence heard.
The two-day detention of Gohar Eshghi, Sattar Beheshti’s mother, while she was on her way to attend the anniversary of her son’s death and the commemoration of those killed in the November 2019 protests, carries a clear message and evidence of the solidarity and consensus of the victims’ families in the concept of “seeking justice.” Gohar Eshghi, who lost her son nine years ago due to torture by detention center officers, is now joining the ranks of those seeking justice for the victims of the November 2019 protests to “mourn” her son. The Sattar Beheshti Foundation, announcing the arrest of Gohar Eshghi, her daughter, and her son-in-law, said that their arrest took place while the foundation was planning to hold a ceremony to commemorate the anniversary of Sattar Beheshti’s death and commemorate those killed in the November 2019 protests on Thursday, November 3, at the invitation of Gohar Eshghi and other political activists.
The continued activity of the plaintiffs of the executions of the 1960s in keeping alive the memory of that unprecedented crime in the history of the Islamic Republic of Iran, a part of the outcome of which has recently been revealed in the Hamid Nouri trial in Sweden, shows that the authorities are always overwhelmed by the plaintiffs' continued litigation and efforts to fight against the forgetting of oppression.
The continuity of advocacy among the families of victims of government repression in recent years, especially after the violent and widespread popular repression in November 2019, has become more evident than ever.
Families' support for each other and their support for each other at the anniversary of the death of their loved ones is another aspect of the continuity of the concept of mourning and seeking justice; in other words, an attempt to find an escape from "shared grief and anger."
The attempt to gain the right to mourn and endure the torture-like suffering of the survivors of the victims is, in fact, an important part of the rights movement in Iran in recent years. This effort is, in fact, a historical record that the government is trying to destroy with violent means.
Source: Iran Human Rights Campaign
