Hormozgan Governor Apologizes After Demolishing Woman's House in Bandar Abbas

Following the demolition of the home of a female head of household by the Bandar Abbas municipality and the woman's self-immolation, the governor of Hormozgan apologized to the homeless family and the people of the province. He said that those responsible for this act will be dealt with "seriously."

On Thursday, November 19, following the publication of news of the demolition of the house of a female head of household in Bandar Abbas by municipal officials and the "Residential Land Protection Unit", Hormozgan Governor Fereydoun Hemmati apologized to the people of this province and the aforementioned family for this action.

Iranian media reported that he learned of the destruction of the woman's house while he was inspecting the condition of the roads in eastern Hormozgan and visiting the oil projects in Jask and Sirik. The governor of Hormozgan contacted the mayor of Bandar Abbas and criticized the action and demanded that those responsible for the destruction of the woman's house be prosecuted.

He said that although "illegal actions to seize national lands should not be taken," several municipal officials have "indiscreetly" "tarnished the image of municipal employees, for which I apologize to this family and dear people on behalf of the perpetrators of this incident."

Hemmati considered this action to have hurt public opinion and ordered the municipality to "comfort" the woman and her children and "appropriately compensate for this wrongful act, and the relief committee to follow up and resolve the housing problem of this woman and her children."

A film that became controversial

A video posted on social media on Thursday shows municipal workers in Bandar Abbas demolishing a shed. The shed reportedly belonged to a woman who had been living there with her children. The video shows two women begging municipal workers not to demolish the shed. In the background, a child can be heard sobbing as workers tear down the plastic on the roof, saying, “God forbid.”

Hours after the video was widely shared on social media, the mayor of Bandar Abbas told the news site “Rukna” that the reason for the demolition of the woman’s shed was “occupied land.” Referring to previous “warnings” to the woman, he said: “This land belongs to the Housing and Urban Development Department, and this demolition was carried out to prevent unauthorized construction. This family did not have a permit to build a house and had built on that site illegally.”

Meanwhile, Rokna quoted Movahedinejad, deputy director of urban services for the Bandar Abbas municipality, as saying that the woman “suddenly set herself on fire” during the demolition of her shed. The official added that the woman was taken to the hospital and “suffered 18 percent burns, mostly on her left hand.”

In June of this year, Asiyeh Panahi, a woman from Kermanshah, died shortly after resisting municipal officers who were trying to demolish her house with a bulldozer.

The housing issue is one of the biggest problems facing low-income groups in Iran. In July of this year, the newspaper "Aftab Yazd" listed some of these emerging phenomena in an article titled "The Trend of Strange Phenomena in the Housing Market," and wrote that in previous years we were faced with increasing rents and phenomena such as "increasing marginalization, renting condos and sleeping cars," but this year we are faced with new phenomena such as renting bedrooms, renting warehouses in residential towers, renting shops for workers to sleep overnight, sleeping rooftops, and renting houses to multiple families.

Source: DW