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As the U.S. builds up its military presence for a possible attack on Iran, families across Iran have been marking the traditional 40th day of mourning for loved ones killed by security forces during protests in January. The U.S.-based Human Rights Activist News Agency says more than 7,000 people were killed, but many experts say that number could be higher. Durrie Bouscaren brings this report.
DURRIE BOUSCAREN: Ali Taherkhani (ph) grew up in Pakistan, a small northern city named after the vineyards that stretch across the plains.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
ALI TAHERKHANI: (Non-English language spoken).
BOUSCAREN: In this video from social media, his wife surprises him with a cake while they go for a drive. It was Iran's National Engineers Day, February 24. Taherkhani was a 31-year-old civil engineer. He liked to read history books, threw legendary barbecue parties.
AMIRA ZOLGHADRI: (Through interpreter) Ali was only three years older than me. The garden had walnut and almond trees, and we used to climb up them. Our parents called us the mountain goats.
BOUSCAREN: That's Taherkhani's cousin, Amira Zolghadri (ph), speaking through an interpreter. She's a university student in Canada, but she grew up in Iran, and Taherkhani was the older cousin who she always looked up to.
ZOLGHADRI: (Through interpreter) He was really brave. That's the one characteristic I can emphasize.
BOUSCAREN: Zolghadri was forced to cut off contact with her family in Iran some years ago because, after moving to Canada, she became a prominent activist. So a lot of what she knows about what happened to Taherkhani is from witnesses, people from his hometown who reached out to her on social media.
ZOLGHADRI: (Non-English language spoken).
BOUSCAREN: She says some 80% of the town went out to the streets on January 8, including Taherkhani. People occupied government offices, set fires. She says it felt as if Pakistan had one night free of the Islamic Republic.
ZOLGHADRI: (Non-English language spoken).
BOUSCAREN: The next morning, the government moved in the Basij, paramilitary forces from outside the town, she says. And that night, as protests gathered again between the town bazaar and a religious school, the soldiers began to shoot pellet guns into the crowd.
ZOLGHADRI: (Through interpreter) It was entirely arbitrary, without aiming or knowing where they were shooting.
BOUSCAREN: Witnesses told Zolghadri that Taherkhani was driving near the protest on his motorbike when he was shot in the head and arms. He fell to the ground, unable to escape as the Basij attacked him.
ZOLGHADRI: (Through interpreter) They didn't just kill people. They tortured them. He hit him so many times with the butt of his rifle, his brain was bleeding.
BOUSCAREN: Taherkhani was unconscious but still showing signs of life when witnesses got him to the hospital, Zolghadri says. But security forces stopped hospital staff from transferring him to the ICU, and it haunts Zolghadri that maybe he could've survived.
ZOLGHADRI: (Non-English language spoken).
BOUSCAREN: Taherkhani died at 11 p.m. the night of January 10, Zolghadri says. Witnesses told her that security forces demanded that their family pay 3 billion tomans to release his body, the equivalent of about $20,000.
ZOLGHADRI: (Through interpreter) The Islamic Republic is selling the dead bodies of people they've killed. It's something they do to degrade and insult the families even further.
BOUSCAREN: Taherkhani's family refused to pay, Zolghadri learned. Instead, they agreed to sign a statement saying that Taherkhani was a member of the Basij forces and bury him quietly at night.
ZOLGHADRI: (Through interpreter) Even this conflicts with their own Islamic laws. To bury someone after dark is another level of insult. Only four people could be there, and there were security forces there with their guns.
BOUSCAREN: But even then, Zolghadri says, Taherkhani's friends and neighbors learned about the burial and came to stand with his family in solidarity. While it's not safe for them to speak publicly about Taherkhani's death, Zolghadri says she's determined to keep his memory alive.
ZOLGHADRI: This happened for many families in Iran. Just thinking about the liberation, I - just thinking that the liberation give meaning to these blood.
BOUSCAREN: Many people don't have a voice, Zolghadri says, but I do.
For NPR News, I'm Durrie Bouscaren, Istanbul. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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