Iran protests: Authorities demanding large sums for return of protesters' bodies, BBC told
Quick Summary
Following a violent crackdown on protests in Iran, authorities are systematically extorting the families of killed demonstrators by refusing to release their bodies from morgues and hospitals until exorbitant ransoms are paid. Grieving relatives are being faced with impossible demands, such as bills of $5,000 to $7,000, which are astronomical sums for ordinary citizens. In the midst of this cruelty, some hospital employees have taken immense risks to help families retrieve their loved ones before security forces can intervene, leading to harrowing journeys like one woman's seven-hour drive with her husband's body in the back of a pickup truck. The state's pressure extends beyond financial extortion, with officials offering to waive fees if families falsely claim their deceased were pro-government militia members killed by protesters. Faced with these unbearable choices, some families have resorted to desperate measures, including breaking into morgues to reclaim bodies. The full scale of the crisis, which began with protests over currency devaluation and evolved into a challenge to the clerical leadership, is difficult to ascertain due to a government-enforced media and internet blackout, but human rights groups report that over 2,435 protesters have been killed and more than 18,470 arrested.
After a brutal crackdown on protests across Iran, the families of demonstrators who were killed are facing a cruel new reality. Sources have confirmed to BBC Persian that authorities are refusing to...
After a brutal crackdown on protests across Iran, the families of demonstrators who were killed are facing a cruel new reality. Sources have confirmed to BBC Persian that authorities are refusing to release the bodies of their loved ones from hospitals and morgues, essentially holding them for ransom. Security forces are demanding huge sums of money from grieving relatives before they can bring the deceased home for burial.
One family's experience in the northern city of Rasht paints a grim picture. Security forces at Poursina Hospital demanded 700 million tomans, about $5,000, to release their relative's body from the mortuary. He was reportedly just one of at least 70 dead protesters being held there. A similar story unfolded in Tehran, where the family of a Kurdish construction worker was handed an impossible bill of one billion tomans—roughly $7,000. In a country where that same worker might earn less than $100 a month, his family had to make the devastating choice to leave without him.
In the midst of this state-sponsored extortion, some hospital employees are taking incredible risks to help. One woman, who must remain anonymous for her own safety, didn't even know her husband was dead until a call came from his own phone on January 9th. A hospital worker was on the other end, urging her to come and collect his body immediately, before security forces could intervene and demand payment.
A relative in London later shared the woman's harrowing account. She took her two children with her to the hospital, found her husband, and placed his body in the back of a pickup truck. Then came an agonizing seven-hour drive to their hometown in western Iran. "I rode in the back of the pickup truck, crying over his body for seven hours while my children sat in the front seat," she told her relative.
The pressure on these families isn't just financial. At the Behesht-e Zahra mortuary in Tehran, officials are reportedly offering parents a sickening choice: the fees will be waived if they agree to say their child was a member of the Basij paramilitary force who was killed by protesters. "We were asked to participate in a pro-government rally and portray the body as that of a martyr," one family member told the BBC. "We did not agree to this."
Faced with such unbearable options, some have been pushed to take desperate measures. At one hospital in Tehran, several families, terrified the authorities would either keep the bodies or bury them in secret, broke down a morgue door and took their loved ones from ambulances. A source reported that the families then stood guard over the bodies in the hospital courtyard for hours, refusing to let them be taken until they could arrange for their own transport.
Grasping the full scale of what's happening is incredibly difficult. The government has blocked international human-rights groups and news organizations from reporting inside the country and has enforced a widespread internet and communications blackout.
The unrest first ignited in Tehran on December 29, sparked by a sharp drop in the value of Iran's currency. The protests quickly spread to dozens of cities, evolving into a direct challenge to the nation's clerical leadership. In response, the authorities launched a violent crackdown that took a much deadlier turn last Thursday as security forces began using lethal force.
The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) has been tracking the death toll. The group reports that at least 2,435 protesters have been killed since the turmoil began, a figure that includes 13 children. HRANA also estimates that 18,470 people have been arrested, as security forces and Revolutionary Guard intelligence units continue to detain activists, lawyers, and ordinary citizens across the country.