Iranian families mark protest killings as schools observe strikes | Protests News

Tehran, Iran – Families across Iran commemorated loved ones killed during nationwide protests last month, while teachers said school strikes were taking place to protest the killings.

Many attended ceremonies at Behesht-e Zahra, Tehran’s major cemetery, on Tuesday and Wednesday, marking 40 days – a traditional period of mourning – since the nights of January 8 and 9, when thousands were killed amid an unprecedented state-imposed shutdown of internet and telephone services.

Numerous videos have appeared online showing similar commemorations in many cities, including Lahijan in the north, Quchan and Mashhad in the northeast, Marvdasht in the south, and Najafabad in central Iran.

Chants of “for every person killed, there are thousands behind them” could be heard in many of the ceremonies. Mourners spread flower petals, lit candles and somberly clapped their hands in solidarity with the families.

At a ceremony Tuesday to honor 19-year-old Sepehr Shokri, his father told gathered crowds, “Don’t talk about death, but about life and happiness,” as he said his son had given his life for his country.

The father won hearts last month after he released a harrowing 12-minute video of himself searching for his son among scores of bodies of slain protesters laid out in the open at the courtyards and warehouses of the Kahrizak medical examiner’s office on the outskirts of Tehran.

Some of the commemorative events took place in smaller cities and towns, such as Abdanan in the western province of Ilam, where thousands took part in protests last month. Several videos circulating online on Tuesday showed mourners running away from the city cemetery in panic as the sound of bullets rang out.

In the village of Chenar in the Asadabad area of ​​western Hamadan province, people could be seen chanting “death to the dictator” as they marched to pay their respects to a father and his 13-year-old son who were shot dead during the protests. Local reports say security forces have deployed armored vehicles to the area, but officials have not commented.

‘Threats to students and teachers’

The Coordinating Council of Iranian Teachers’ Trade Associations, a non-governmental body, said on Wednesday its call for school strikes on Tuesday and Wednesday was supported by large numbers of teachers and students.

Schools in the cities and towns of Shahr-e Rey, Baharestan, Pakdasht, Varamin and Eslamshahr near Tehran were said to be effectively closed due to the absence of students on Wednesday, while high school students in the town of Andisheh did not attend classes as a way of honoring fellow students killed in the protests.

“These strikes took place despite threats to students and teachers against striking by school principals, who were themselves pressured by the Ministry of Education,” the group said, adding that at least 230 children and teenagers were killed last month.

Iran’s Minister of Justice, Amin Hossein Rahimi, confirmed to state media on Wednesday that some of the children and adolescents arrested during the protests remain in prison. He said “many” minors had been released without saying how many had been arrested.

Ehsan Azimirad, the spokesman for the parliament’s education commission, said that 17 percent of the participants in the nationwide protests were teenagers, many of them students.

“I even heard that in some schools an entire class took part in the riots,” he said, adding that in some provinces up to 45 percent of the protesters were under 20 years old. Officials had previously said that most of the protesters across the country were in their 20s.

This comes amid widespread reports, also circulated by some local media, of a heavy presence of security forces near or inside schools in the wake of the protests. Some families were worried about sending their children to school.

Universities and dormitories have also become focal points for security forces, with reports indicating that some people’s phones have been searched while others have been summoned for questioning. University students have also been among the large number of people arrested from their homes since last month. Iranian authorities have not released overall arrest figures.

A number of Tehran University students protested peacefully on campus on Wednesday to mark the 40th day since the height of the protest killings.

Last month, members of the Basij – an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) paramilitary force – hung a banner reading “Death or Khamenei” at one of the entrances to the university, in support of the 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Iranian authorities also displayed a vehicle burned by “rioters” near another entrance.

Conflicting versions of events

The Iranian government claims 3,117 people are dead during the unrest, saying that “terrorists” and “rioters” were behind the violence, and were armed and financed by the United States and Israel, which orchestrated an ultimately failed “coup”.

A list of victims published by the government last month said 690 of those killed were “terrorists”, with others civilians or security forces. But it did not say who was classified under which category, or exactly where, how, when or by whom they were killed.

The United Nations and international human rights organizations blamed state forces for the widespread use of lethal force against protesters, and called for the release of those arrested, including doctors and nurses who tried to help wounded protesters. The UN Human Rights Council passed a censure resolution against Iran’s establishment last month.

The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency It says it has verified 7,015 deaths during the unrest and is investigating more than 11,700 other cases. Mai Sato, the UN’s special rapporteur on Iran, said last month that more than 20,000 civilians may have died as information remains limited amid access restrictions.

The Iranian government held its own version of the 40th day ceremonies on Tuesday and Wednesday at Tehran’s Grand Mosalla, a large mosque in the center of the capital. A number of officials, including government appointee Fatemeh Mohajerani, were present.

On Tuesday, Iran’s supreme leader outlined his classification of the thousands killed during the nationwide protests, dividing them into several groups.

According to Khamenei, the first group is security forces, who are recognized as “the greatest martyrs”.

The second were “passerby” civilians, he said. “Wherever this bullet (that killed them) came from, this incident took place in the enemy’s uprising, and they are martyrs.”

“The third group are those who were misled, who acted naively, who were inexperienced and went along with the rioters,” Khamenei said, adding: “We ask for forgiveness for them; they made mistakes.”

Outside these three groups, however, were “corrupt individuals, rioters and coup plotters,” who Khamenei said were “transferred to hell.”