TEHRAN, Iran (AP) – A huge cemetery on the edge of Iran’s capital for half a century will provide a final resting place for those killed in the country’s war, its celebrities and artists, its thinkers and leaders, and all those in between.
But Bashesht-e-Zahra is now struggling to contain the coronavirus epidemic that is spreading to Iran, doubling the normal number every day and thousands of grave diggers digging new plots.
The manager of the cemetery, Saeed Khal, said, “All the crises we have experienced in this cemetery in the last 10 years of history have lasted for a few days or a week.” He said that not even during the earthquake or the country’s 1980 war with Iraq – even before that the speed of people carrying corpses in Behesht-e-Zahra was so long.
“We have been in crisis for 200 days now, and it is not clear how many more months we will have to deal with this crisis,” he said.
With 1.6 million people buried on its grounds, spread over 5 square kilometers (1,320 acres), Beshest-e-Zahra is the largest cemetery in the world and a primary grave for 8.6 million people in Tehran. The golden minaret of its Imam Khomeini shrine, the burial of the leader of Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, can be seen for kilometers (miles).
But it was not so big for the coronavirus that infiltrated Iran earlier this year, the region’s worst outbreak.
More than 700,000 infections and more than 39,000 deaths have been reported in Iran – and a record 10 deaths a day in the past month.. Nearly half of the country’s reported virus deaths have occurred in Tehran, putting pressure on cemeteries.
The graves of the dead were far from Iraq and the politicians’ war with Iran, the cemetery has expanded into a new area. Tehran’s leaders announced in June that they were preparing 15,000 new tombs there – 5,000 more than the usual year. Satellite images from September show the plot – enough to allow up to three bodies in each .Danda – newly excavated, each separated by a layer of dirt and bricks.
While not all new graves are for coronavirus victims, most are.
For Khal, known as the “mayor” of this vast necropolis, the pace is beyond anything he has seen before.
“We used to accept 1 to 0 dead bodies every day, but these days when we experience post-mortem peaks, we accept an average of 350 bodies,” he told the Associated Press.
“The heavy workload is also putting a strain on the cemetery staff,” Khal said.
It is not clear how other cemeteries in Iran are facing. In March, authorities arrested a man for posting an online video of bodies wrapped in white shields and zipped in black bags at the White Holy City Cemetery cemetery, alleging that they were all “infected with corona.” At the time, cemetery officials said they were investigating the bodies for the virus.
At Behesht-e-Zahra – or “Zahraz Paradise” in Persian, named after the daughter of Prophet Muhammad – the corpses of well-known coronavirus sufferers arrive daily by ambulance. Mortuary attendants prepare each body for the necessary rituals for the Muslim dead. During epidemics, this now includes the use of disinfectants.
In the latter, an imam prays, while the mourners stand on a square at a distance and make sure they maintain a distance from each other.
“These days I do an average of 25 to 30 death prayers myself (for COVID-19 victims),” said Maulvi Maisam Rajavi. “There are about 12 of us who pray for the same number of deaths on a daily basis. This is a large number. ”
The mourners take the body to the cemetery, where another masked employee in gloves and disposable shields brings the body down to its final resting place.
The willows of loved ones resonate in the expanse of freshly dug graves awaiting the next funeral.
___
Associated Press writers John Gambrel in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.
___
Follow Mohammed Nasiri on Twitter www.twitter.com/moenasiri.
.
