Mohammad Khatami’s car was attacked by a group of Basij members today when Khatami tried to join the protesters. He has not been injured.

Dr. Zahra Rahnavard, the wife of Mirhossein Mousavi was beaten up and badly injured by a group of Basiji members and other armed forces today when she tried to join the protesters. Reports say that she was taken to safty by the public  after she was attacked.

The statement emphasizes that the people intend to express their view of the Islamic Republic in the most peaceful manner and invites those who are responsible for the deviation of the Revolution and Islamic Republic to stop “all cruelty and injustice that the people have been subjected to.”

In line with the demands of all opposition leaders and reformist groups, Advar-e Tahkim also maintains that “freedom of all political prisoners, omission of all obstacles restricting the activities of political groups and compensation for all those who have suffered injuries through violations of human rights and the constitution as well as an end to the crackdown on protesters” are prerequisites to find a way out of the “current political crisis.”

The student group also writes: “How can we say the Revolution was victorious when the youth who are the result of the years following the uprising are now losing their lives on the streets charged with demanding their rights and freedom?”

Opposition leaders MirHosein Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi and Mohammad Khatami as well as various reformist groups such as Islamic Iran Participation Front, Mojahedin of Islamic Revolution and Coordination Council of the Reformist Front have also called on people to join the February 11 march to reaffirm their protest to the alleged fraud in Iran’s June presidential election and the following crackdown on protesters.

Mehdi Karroubi’s eldest son described the attack on his father saying: “Mr. Karroubi arrived at Ashrafi Avenue by car at 10 a.m. as previously announced and got off to walk toward Sadeghieh. A large crowd of emotional supporters joined him. However, a crowd made up of security, Basij and forces in plain clothes violently swarmed Mr. Karroubi and the people.”

He added that “the attacking forces threw a large amount of tear gas and some sprayed Mr. Karroubi’s face with individual tear gas sprays in such a way that even now after many hours his face and chest are still burning.”

Hossein Karroubi continued saying: “Forces in plain clothes were beating people with cables, batons and machetes. They had all drawn their machetes to scare people off. However, people continued their march with courage. At this point, they arrested my brother, Ali Karroubi which they had apparently marked earlier.”

The opposition leader’s son went on to say that “we succeeded in bringing my father back in the car of a passer-by. However, the attackers later attacked Mehdi Karroubi’s personal car and broke its windows.”

Despite recent announcements by Iranian authorities that the events marking the anniversary of the 1979 Revolution would be held without any “special security measure,” so far today’s events have unfolded with serious clashes between government forces and protesters of the June presidential elections who claim Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was fraudulently re-elected.

There are reports that leading reformist politicians Mehdi Karroubi and former President Mohammad Khatami were attacked when they attended the rally.

The opposition also says authorities briefly detained Mr. Khatami’s sister-in-law, Zahra Eshraghi, and her husband Mohammad Reza Khatami.  The reason was not reported. Eshraghi is the grand-daughter of the leader of the Islamic Revolution, the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.  

At Tehran’s Azadi (Freedom) Square President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad addressed hundreds of thousands of people amassed to celebrate the national holiday.

In his address, Mr. Ahmadinejad praised the achievements of the Iranian people, railed against the West, and announced that Iranian scientists had produced the first batch of higher-grade nuclear fuel.

Opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi had urged their supporters to turn out on the streets for a peaceful demonstration.

The anniversary Thursday marks the 1979 ouster of Iran’s monarchist government.  Every year, hundreds of thousands of Iranians take part in rallies to celebrate the anniversary.

Mass anti-government protests broke out after Iran’s disputed presidential election in June.  Opposition leaders have accused President Ahmadinejad of stealing the vote.

The Middle East director at U.S.-based Human Rights Watch, Joe Stork, says the Iranian government is trying to use anniversary celebration to “deflect attention” from its human rights violations.

Iran this week celebrates the 31st anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, which culminates on Thursday, or 22 Bahman in the Persian calendar. It is a day when the country marks the end of its Western-backed monarchy and the start of an Islamic republic.

But since a disputed presidential election in June, protesters have turned public gatherings into rallies against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was declared the overwhelming winner of the race.

Such overt anti-government displays on key occasions have embarrassed and inflamed Iranian authorities, who have responded with mass arrests of protesters they denounced as anti-Islamic and against the revolution.

Undeterred, a coalition of Iranian reformist groups — the so-called Green Movement — urged opponents of the regime to come out once again in masses and stage non-violent protests on Thursday.

Police, wary of the potential that 22 Bahman gatherings could present, were out in full force.

Hoping to take some wind out of the protesters’ efforts, crowds of flag-waving pro-government supporters turned up at Azadi, or Freedom, Square in central Tehran for a planned speech by Ahmadinejad — heightening the potential for deadly clashes between the two sides.

The government said that, if protesters disrupt state-sanctioned marches, they will be jailed until at least April 9, the end of the Persian holiday of Norooz. The holiday marks the start of spring.

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Residents in the Iranian capital said Wednesday that text messages on many messaging services have been blocked and Internet speeds have slowed to a crawl.

The Internet “comes on only a few minutes each day, but you never know when,” one Iranian wrote in an e-mail to CNN, which he said took seven hours to send. “This has been going on for more than four days now. I contacted my Internet provider and they said it is out of their control.”

“We have heard from users in Iran that they are having trouble accessing Gmail,” Google said. “We can confirm a sharp drop in traffic and we have looked at our own networks and found that they are working properly.”

Accustomed to such blocks, Iranians have become savvy about alternative links allowing them to get around government filters so they can communicate via e-mail.

“Our phones are strictly followed and controlled,” a young Iranian who participated in past protests said by phone from Tehran.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the Iranian said that for the first time the satellite television signals in his neighborhood had been jammed.

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Human rights groups and opposition Web sites also have reported widespread arrests targeting journalists.

According to the Paris-based journalism watchdog Reporters Without Borders, at least eight journalists were arrested Sunday and Monday, bringing the total number of reporters now in prison to at least 65.

There were other reports that journalists trying to enter Iran this week have been denied visas by the government. CNN had requested a visa for a correspondent to cover the anniversary events and that application was denied.

Anti-government demonstrations began after the June 12 presidential vote, which re-elected hard-liner Ahmadinejad won over main opposition candidate Mir Hossein Moussavi. But late December marked the deadliest clashes since the initial protests broke out last summer. At least seven people were killed and hundreds arrested as they took to the streets on Ashura, which occurred on December 27, witnesses said.

The Iranian government has denied that its security forces killed anyone and has blamed reformists for the violence.

Police arrested 4,000 people in the post-election crackdown.

Two men have been executed for participating in the demonstrations, and 10 have been sentenced to death and await appeal.

To the world, he is the man that was brutally run over a police car during Ashura’s protests, but to his family, he is Shahram.

Abbas (Shahram) Farajzadeh Tarani was thirty-years old when a police car  backed into him and then ran over him again, killing him on Dec. 27. His death was captured by fellow protesters by this thirty second youtube video. He worked in a paint factory and leaves behind his wife and five year-old daughter.  Like many of those martyred during the post-election unrest, the Iranian government has done its best to stop the impact of his death.

As was told to us by a third-party source, after he was hit, fellow protesters and one relative took his body to the hospital. But, when his family arrived at the hospital, his body was missing.  Shortly thereafter, government officials called his brother to tell him that Shahram’s body was being buried in Behesht Zahra, the main cemetery in Tehran.

When the brother arrived, he was faced with four intelligence officers and they warned him not to cause a scene. His family was told they were not allowed to hang up the traditional black cloths on his home or his office to notify friends of his death. The government had taken the liberty of washing his body and wrapping it in a white cloth, both of which are important rite in Iranian mourning process normally overseen by close friends and relatives, and then, in proper tradition, wrapped him in a white cloth. They were allowed to see the body for a moment and noticed that he was covered in stitches.

After burying the body, families normally hold a ceremony at a mosque on the third day of the person’s death. But for the Farajzadeh Taranis, each mosque they approached refused them.  Apparently the government had threatened the mosques and forbade them from hosting the ceremony.

Like many families who have lost their relatives to the post-election upheaval, Shahram’s family was forced to quietly mourn for him in their home, in fact, his brother had to sign an agreement saying he would not have a public ceremony.

As if the Iranian intelligence community does monitor its citizens’ behavior enough, four intelligent officers oversaw the Shahram’s ceremony at his family’s home. Men filled one room and women the other, all the while, Shahram’s father kept crying out, “Shahram, your blood was unjustly shed!”

Two days ago, on Monday, a week after his death, the Farajzadeh Tarani’s were allowed to mourn the seventh day since Shahram’s death at a mosque. Normally families print out flyers and paste them outside the mosque or near their work places, but once again, they were denied this basic custom. Instead they printed flyers themselves and handed them out to friends who seemed to be unaware of their son’s death. Traditionally, on the top of these flyers is a line of poetry, and his reads, “From every death, rises some sadness, but there are differences between death and death.”

“I feel he died in vain,” expressed one of Shahram’s relatives to our third-party source.  So the responsibility once again falls to outside media and Iranian citizen journalism to ensure the world remembers Shahram’s fight for freedom.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, January 7th, 2010 at 3:15 am and is filed under Events in Iran, Human Rights in Iran. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

13 Responses to ““Shahram, your blood was unjustly shed!””

1. Pirouz Says:
   January 7, 2010 at 4:01 am A surrounded, stormed and torched police station (across the street), beaten and berserk protesters, beaten and berserk police officers, fires, smoke and a multiple run-over victim.All around, a tragic breakdown of law and order.
2. Rob 1 Says:
   January 7, 2010 at 12:38 pm This all has been following very basic logic. People peacefully protest. Police and basij beat them. People defend themselves. Police and basij begin to kill them. Then people fight back.
3. Survivor’s Guilt Says:
   January 7, 2010 at 1:32 pm Pirouz…law and order has never really been in Iran. Every morning you can wake up to a different “law” or “rule”. This article highlights a tragic loss of a peaceful soul. It points out that even in death proper mourning is not being allowed. Not being able to properly mourn a loved one is not in line with Islamic tradition. How do you justify this? Stop feeling sympathy for the government agents that allow this to occur.
4. Publicola Says:
   January 7, 2010 at 4:37 pm JUST TO GET THE PERSPECTIVE RIGHT – SOME FIGURESDuring the post-election-rallies in Iran according to opposition-sources 72 people were killed, according to government-sources a reduced figure of 36 is admitted as having been killed.

   These figures are quite unusual from a post-war European point of view. If restricting oneself to the period of the last 40 year, major figures of deaths during rallies to be mentioned can only be observed in the Eastern bloc:

   During the uprising in East Germany in 1953 sources mention a death ratio of 55 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uprising_of_1953_in_East_Germany .

   During Prague Spring, i.e. the invasion of the Warsaw troops into then Czechoslovakia in 1968 to subdue and finish off the governmental period of political liberalization, 72 humans had been killed.
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prague_Spring#Soviet_reaction

   Figures of deaths due to anti-rally police operations for the same period are minuscule and absolutely not worth mentioning. My subjective guess is below the figure of 10 in the whole West-European area.

   Being a European citizen, it’s not really my task,indeed, to find out how many people lost their lives during rallies in the USA in the last forty years. Some googling and looking up respective entries in wikipedia would do the trick.

   [So get going, my friends !]

5. Publicola Says:
   January 7, 2010 at 4:40 pm CORRECTION:
   “Figures of deaths due to anti-rally police operations in the whole of Western Europe for the same period are minuscule ….”
6. anon Says:
   January 7, 2010 at 4:45 pm a “tragic breakdown of law and order”??????????i guess you don’t understand but THAT is not the problem here. well i guess we know what side you are on….why do you post here?? just to insult his memory??? have some decency and leave us alone to morn our dead. shame on you.
7. Anthony Says:
   January 7, 2010 at 5:03 pm Pirouz is a propagandist for the regime. Leave him be.
8. Publicola Says:
   January 7, 2010 at 5:34 pm I somehow think it doesn’t do to be angry with a commentator. Who knows which reasons cause someone to think in a way I disagree with.If I my hobby and expert knowledge e.g. refers to railway systems, I will find it difficult to express myself critical as to travelling by railway. If my hobby is Roman history, the main emphasis on my part when talking about the ancient Romans will inevitably on the achievements of this high culture. If my hobby and expert knowledge are things military, I will find it difficult to express myself critical as to any army etc., because the focus of my interest is of a more technical nature, pushig problematic aspects to the back of my mind – without (me then) being necessarily any agent of whatever state or government.
   [ - Thus an argumentative approach is hardly to be avoided, though - being non-Iranian - I understand your deep anguish, grief and pain, your hopes and your ire about what's happening in Iran.
   Iran that grand country, that former hothouse/greenhouse of culture, science, philosophy and tolerance [e.g. Achaemenid period] – thus THE developing force and power for Europe.]

   Apologies !

   All the best from everything good

   wishes you and Iran

   Publicola

9. Majid Says:
   January 7, 2010 at 6:02 pm Rest in Peace, Shahram.
   This criminal regime is one of the most brutal regimes in recent memory. They are masters of lying, deceit, torture, and killing. Their religious leaders condone this kind of behavior.
   For Iranians to propser and be democratic this brutal theocratic regime has to be destroyed. Murder of people like Sharhram, Neda, Sohrab, and many other Iranian martyrs for democracy will shake this regime to its foundation and hopefully destroy it. We need to ensure that happens.
   Free Iran,
   Majid
10. Iranian-American Says:
    January 7, 2010 at 7:03 pm While these types of comments are not new for Pirouz, I would describe this particular comment as a new low.It is impossible to believe that this particular comment had any other intention than to provoke and arouse anger and emotion in those that may truly feel sympathy for the loss of innocent life. Even more despicable, is the comments obvious and deliberate deceptiveness– so obvious that it was clearly an intentional attempt to further instigate. While it was successful in its goal, it is, as anon described, an insult to Shahram’s memory, and a despicable act.

    It is one thing to be an apologist for the most repressive and brutal elements of the Iranian government. It is another to use a tragedy like this to “throw it in the face” of those people that recognize the inherent injustice in it. And it is yet another thing to do so while pretending to feel sympathy for the victim. It is morally reprehensible to use the tragedy in such a manner.

11. Kalpal Says:
    January 7, 2010 at 8:47 pm As we all know Islam is the religion of peace. In Iran it is the peace of the grave that is the mark of interaction with a Muslim government run by clerics who contend they truly represent Islam all the while ordering their minions to go forth and murder anyone who might disagree with them. Such peace the world can do without and so can the citizens of Iran.
12. Mavro Canoble Says:
    January 7, 2010 at 8:50 pm Pirouz’s comment was taken completely out of context. He was simply noting the breakdown of law and order, unarguably, two key features of any proper functioning society. Any hyperbolic claim that it somehow cheapened the sacrifice of Iranians only indicates an unreadiness to accept minority viewpoints without it being a stab to the collective consciousness. In order to have a healthy functioning democracy, members must have respect for the views of others, regardless of how unpopular these views might be, or else there is a devolution into mob rule and tyranny, the very thing we all oppose. So while it is important to have rational, not emotional, discourse we must be careful in pinning treason on those whose opinions might differ from our own.
13. Mehdi Says:
    January 7, 2010 at 9:01 pm The one who killed in Valiasr sq. on 27 Dec. By a police car is “Shahrokh Rahmani”, Another name is also reported as they were two whose name is “Amir Arshad Tajmir”.The Sources are

    VOA Persian : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4ZrWgnn3TU
    JARAS News: http://rahesabz.net

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