NCRI – Grieving families and friends of those killed by the Iranian regime – including one man whose grave was vandalised by the security forces – have paid tribute to the dead at burial places across the country.
The memorials took place on Thursday – the last Thursday of the Iranian year – when visits are traditionally made to the sites where their loved ones have been laid to rest.
Ali Saremi – Iran’s most prominent political prisoner and a member of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) – was remembered by his family and friends last Thursday in the city of Borujerd and other cities.
Mr Saremi, 63, who had spent a total of 24 years in prison under the Shah and later under the mullahs’ rule, was arrested for the last time in September 2007 during a ceremony marking the anniversary of the 1988 massacre of political prisoners in Iran, which he played an active role in organizing. He was executed in Tehran’s Evin Prison on December 28, 2010.
The family of murdered political activist Kianoosh Asa put flowers on his grave in the town of Kermanshah.
Asa was a student at the Science and Technology University in Tehran, who was abducted on June 15, 2009, during the uprising that swept the country. His family found his body in a morgue ten days later, bearing signs that he had been tortured to death.
Friends and relatives of Neda Aqa Soltan – also killed during the 2009 protests – held a memorial ceremony at his graveside in Behesht Zahra, Tehran, on Thursday.
On the same day, another ceremony was held for Tehran University drama student Keramatollah Za’reian in city of Jahrom, central Iran.
Za’reian was also abducted by intelligence agents, then tortured before being dumped a month later in the bathtub of his apartment where he died alone.
His body was not found until four days later when neighbours below reported water leaking through the ceiling. The medical examiner’s report described the cause of death as severe torture and spinal cord injury.
The Intelligence Ministry told his family he had insulted the Supreme Leader and they had only returned his body ‘as a favour’. They later offered a large sum of money to the family to not file a lawsuit and forbade them from making any statements or contacting foreign media.
Loved ones of murdered Yaqoub Baraweeyeh also gathered in the cemetery in Baraweeyeh town, Khuzestan Province to pay their respects.