Iranian authorities’ violent crackdown on protesters has resulted in a large number of casualties, as reported by Iranian citizens to CNN. The authorities are demanding payment from the families of protesters who have died before allowing them to retrieve the bodies of their loved ones.
One such case involved 23-year-old fashion design student Robina Aminian, who was shot and killed during a protest. Her family traveled to Tehran to locate her body. Her uncle, Nezar Minouei, told CNN, “Her mother cried and pleaded, and finally managed to enter the area where the bodies were kept to search for her daughter.”
“She found her daughter’s body and basically had to ‘steal’ it,” Minouei said.
When the family returned to their hometown of Kermanshah, they heard that authorities were searching their home and demanding payment.
Fearing that the authorities would take away the body, they were unable to hold any ceremonies and had to bury Aminian in an unmarked grave without any proper funeral rites.
Another Iranian who visited a cemetery in Tehran also told CNN that authorities are “forcing people to pay to retrieve the bodies of their loved ones from hospitals and morgues,” and in some cases, not allowing people to retrieve the bodies at all.
“The hospitals are overcrowded, the government is reviewing records and monitoring videos to find those who died or were injured during the protests,” the Iranian who visited the cemetery said, “It’s crowded with people, and they can’t even bury their loved ones properly.”
Demanding payment to retrieve bodies is not a new tactic by the Iranian regime. Similar reports emerged after the nationwide protests in 2019, with Reuters, the U.S. State Department, and the reform-supporting news outlet IranWire all mentioning the issue. The U.S. State Department stated that the fees depended on the number of bullets in the body.
Since the end of last month, the widespread protests in Iran have led to thousands of deaths. Amnesty International stated on Wednesday that verified videos show Iranian security forces using rifles and shotgun directly targeting unarmed protesters and bystanders. In two video clips, authorities can be seen chasing and shooting at fleeing civilians who pose no apparent threat. The organization described the events in Iran as a “massive illegal killing spree.”