Governor of Hormozgan Apologizes After Woman’s House Demolished in Bandar Abbas

Following the demolition of a single mother’s house by 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 those responsible for this action would face “serious” consequences.

On Thursday, November 19, following news of the demolition of a single mother’s home in Bandar Abbas by municipal officials and “land protection units for housing,” Fereydoun Hemmati, the Governor of Hormozgan, apologized to the people of the province and the family in question for this action.

Iranian media outlets reported that he learned of the house demolition while inspecting road conditions in eastern Hormozgan and visiting oil projects in Jask and Sirik. The Governor of Hormozgan contacted the Mayor of Bandar Abbas and, while criticizing the action, demanded the prosecution of those responsible for demolishing the woman’s house.

He stated that although “illegal occupation of national land should not occur,” several municipal officials had through “poor judgment” “tarnished the reputation of municipal employees, so instead of those responsible for this incident, I apologize to this family and the dear people.”

Hemmati described this action as damaging public opinion and ordered the municipality to “make amends” to the woman and her children “appropriately for this wrongful act, and the Relief Committee should also follow up on and resolve the housing problem of this woman and her children.”

The Video That Sparked Controversy

On Thursday, a video was circulated on social media showing municipal officials in Bandar Abbas demolishing a makeshift dwelling. According to reports, the dwelling belonged to a single mother who lived there with her children. In the video, two women can be seen pleading with a municipal official not to destroy the shack. In the background of the video, a child’s voice can be heard crying, asking the officials who are removing the plastic from the roof: “Please, don’t.”

Hours after the video was widely shared on social networks, the Mayor of Bandar Abbas told the news website “RIKNA” that the reason for demolishing the woman’s dwelling was “illegal occupation of land.” Referring to previous “warnings” given to this woman, he stated: “This land belongs to housing and urban development, and this demolition was carried out to prevent unauthorized construction. This family did not have a building permit and had illegally built in that location.”

Meanwhile, RIKNA reported, citing Mohaddesseh Nezhad, Deputy Director of Municipal Services at Bandar Abbas Municipality, that the woman “suddenly attempted self-immolation” at the moment of demolition. This official added that the woman was transferred to the hospital and “suffered 18 percent burns, mostly on her left hand.”

Last June, Asieh Panahi, a woman from Kermanshah, died shortly after resisting municipal officials who were attempting to demolish her house with a bulldozer.

The housing issue is one of the largest problems facing low-income groups in Iran. In July, the newspaper “Aftab Yazd” in an article titled “The Prevalence of Strange Phenomena in the Housing Market” outlined some of these emerging phenomena, noting that in previous years we faced issues such as “rising rents and phenomena like increased slum dwelling, container rents, and sleeping in cars,” but this year we are facing new phenomena such as bedroom rentals, storage rentals in residential towers, shop rentals for workers to sleep in, roof sleeping, and renting one house to multiple families.

Source: DW