Iranian authorities are accused of intimidating bereaved families, demanding large payments and false statements to retrieve the bodies of protesters killed in the recent crackdown.
PARIS: When Hossein Mahmoudi was killed during anti-government protests in Iran, his family’s trauma had only just begun.
Mahmoudi was shot dead by security forces on January 8 in Falavarjan, according to Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights (IHR).
His family only recovered his body over a week later on January 16.
Authorities initially withheld the body, only releasing it after warning the family not to speak publicly and forcing them to pay a fee equivalent to 2,400 euros, IHR said.
Rights groups say this experience is typical for many families seeking to recover loved ones’ bodies from overwhelmed morgues.
After a crackdown earlier this month left thousands dead, activists say authorities are now using intimidation and extortion tactics against grieving families.
Relatives are pressed for large sums of money and forced to falsely claim dead protesters were members of security forces like the Basij militia.
“Authorities have relentlessly and cruelly harassed and intimidated bereaved families of killed protesters,” Amnesty International said.
It denounced a “systematic campaign of intimidation and coercion”.
The group said relatives were told bodies would be withheld unless they paid extortionate sums or made false public statements declaring their deceased relatives were Basij members.
Amnesty said it was aware of at least one case where a family has not recovered a relative’s body more than two weeks after his death because they cannot afford the demanded sum.
The UN special rapporteur on human rights in Iran, Mai Sato, said she had received reports of authorities coercing families.
These are “cruel practices that compound grief with extortion”, she added.
Iranian authorities acknowledge thousands were killed during the protests, giving a toll of over 3,000.
They say the majority were security forces or bystanders killed by “rioters”.
Rights groups dispute this, saying the toll is far higher and potentially in the tens of thousands.
They say protesters were killed by security forces directly firing on them.
The Hengaw rights group highlighted the case of Ali Taherkhani, who it said was shot and clubbed by security forces in Takestan.
Authorities released Taherkhani’s body only after his family paid the equivalent of 18,000 euros and removed condolence banners.
His burial was conducted under heavy security with only four family members permitted to attend.
“Many families were only able to identify the bodies of their loved ones after days of searching among large numbers of corpses in morgue cold-storage facilities,” Hengaw added.
Most families were forced to pay sums or sign coerced confessions stating their child was a Basij member to retrieve bodies, the group said.
Authorities have been eager to ensure funerals do not themselves turn into protests.
Footage from January 11 showed angry mourners at Tehran’s main cemetery chanting slogans against supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
“Authorities have pressured relatives into holding burials in the middle of the night in the presence of security forces,” Amnesty said.
It also received reports of mass burials to prevent individual funerals.
