Preventing People from Paying Respects to Reza Shah; Who Are the Detainees?
A few days after the discovery of a mummified body attributed to Reza Shah Pahlavi, while official authorities still refrain from confirming the matter or the fate of the discovered body, Thursday night security forces prevented a group of people from gathering in the area surrounding Shah Abdolazim Shrine in Shahr-e Ray to pay respects to the remains of Reza Shah Pahlavi.
Photos sent show that police vehicles are present in the areas surrounding the shrine, and security personnel and police officers are preventing people from gathering.
Previously, some social media activists had sent out calls asking supporters of Reza Shah Pahlavi to visit Shah Abdolazim Shrine to pay their respects to his body.
Some eyewitnesses told Voice of America that some people have been arrested by police. Iranian officials have not yet released any information about the arrests.
The Detainees
Masih Alinejad, an independent reporter and host of a Voice of America program, posted an audio file on her Instagram from a woman named Dorsa Shariatmadari, in which she states that her sister Maryam Shariatmadari is among those arrested Thursday night in Shahr-e Ray.
Maryam Shariatmadari is one of the women who became known as the “Girls of Revolution Street.” Shortly after the December protests, they stood on telecommunications poles and waved their headscarves on sticks to protest mandatory hijab.
Some of these women were arrested, but Maryam Shariatmadari’s case received media attention after a police officer attacked her and injured her. Although Ms. Shariatmadari was subsequently sentenced to prison, the attacking officer was not prosecuted.
Dorsa Shariatmadari described her sister’s detention on Thursday night as follows:
#Maryam_Shariatmadari, one of the #Girls_of_Revolution_Street, has been arrested again. Listen to the account from her sister Dorsa who is concerned. #Maryam_Shariatmadari #Girls_of_Revolution_Street activist Maryam Shariatmadari was arrested yesterday more details to come
Among other reported detainees is Dr. Kamran Yazdani, a civil activist who had previously been imprisoned for several years.
The Controversial Mummy
Earlier this week, while digging near Shah Abdolazim Shrine in Rey south of Tehran, workers found a mummified body after breaking through a concrete section. The rumor quickly spread that this body belonged to Reza Shah Pahlavi, and several officials implicitly confirmed the matter. Hassan Khalilabadi, a Tehran City Council member and head of the council’s cultural heritage committee, said there is a possibility that this body belonged to Reza Shah. He also stated that whoever the remains belong to, they have heritage value and should be preserved.
Following these statements, some government media outlets attempted to deny the matter.
Reza Shah Pahlavi died in 1945 in exile in Johannesburg, South Africa, but was later transferred to Tehran and buried in Rey.
Prince Reza Pahlavi issued a statement regarding the discovery of the possible mummified remains of Reza Shah Pahlavi and called for respect for the former Iranian monarch as a “soldier and servant of the nation and homeland.”
In his statement, Prince Reza Pahlavi wrote that after “examining all evidence and aspects,” he and the royal family have concluded that the discovered remains “very likely” belong to Reza Shah.
After the 1979 revolution, Sadegh Khalkhali, one of the hardline officials of the early revolutionary regime, attempted to destroy Reza Shah’s mausoleum but only succeeded in destroying the tomb structure. At that time, it was rumored that the royal family had removed Reza Shah’s mummified body from Iran.
Over the past four decades, the Islamic Republic of Iran has attempted to deny the Pahlavi rule, but during the December protests, demonstrators recalled Reza Shah Pahlavi fondly in their slogans.
After replacing the Qajar dynasty, Reza Shah Pahlavi founded the Pahlavi dynasty in 1925, during which he ruled until 1941 and his son Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi ruled until 1979.
Source: Voice of America
