Murderer Was Not Found, Accept Blood Money

A year after the June 12 election coup, and with only few days remaining for the anniversary of the first death related to election protesters in Iran, rather than conducting investigations to identify those who ordered and carried out the murder of protesters, the Iranian government has been pressuring the families of murdered protesters to forego holding memorials for their loved ones. One family member was told that “because the murderer was not identified, the case has been sent to the implementation division for payment of blood money from the public budget.”

According to Rooz, throughout the past few days security agents have summoned the families of several murdered protesters in recent days to inform them that they should not hold memorials for their killed children on June 15th and 20th. No accurate data for the actual number of killed protestors have been given by authorities. Some families have refused to disclose even the names of their martyred children because of national security pressures, and some others have confined themselves only to releasing the name of their martyred children.

Nevertheless, many families have filed complaints seeking the identification and punishment of those who murdered their children or relatives. None of the complaints have been officially looked into yet, and some families have been told formally that their complaint would be ignored. The families have been asked to receive blood money [dia] and remain silent; a request that has been refused by the families. The families of several martyrs, including Shabnam Sohrabi, the young woman who was crushed by a police car on Ashoura Day, and Ahmad Nejati-Kargar, one of the victims of the Kahrizak detention facility, were not even allowed to file complaints.

Shabnam Sohrabi’s mother told Rooz that she is not even allowed to enter the criminal courthouse to file her complaint. Ahmad Nejati-Kargar’s mother told Rooz that the coroner’s office has declared that her son died from poison and she is not allowed to reopen the case.

Ahmad Nejati-Kargar passed away shortly after being released from the Kahrizak detention facility from lung and kidney infections caused by torture at the detention facility.

The families who have been able to file their complaints have not fared better. They all note that their complaints have been ignored. During the past two weeks, the families of Behzad Mohajer, Ahmad Naeimabadi, and Shahram Farajzadeh, three green movement martyrs, received the court’s response to their complaints.

Ahmad Naeimabadi’s mother, whose son was killed on Khordad 25 by four bullets, said to Rooz that she has been told by a military tribunal that her son was killed by a hunting rifle, and therefore the military and the government are absolved!

Shahram Farajzadeh’s family has been told that he died in an accident with a private vehicle. The video clip of Shahram Farajzadeh’s crushing by a police car is widely available on the Internet.

Behzad Mohajer’s family, who lost their loved one to a bullet on July 21, has been told by the court that their case is closed because the murderer has not been identified.