[ad_1]
The phenomenon of “body kidnapping” and the destruction of graves increased after the clergy came to power in Iran in 1979, and this was not spared by the opposition, members of religious minorities, and even poets and intellectuals.
A lengthy report published by the Prague-based Iranian opposition radio Farda revealed the extent of the harassment and “psychological warfare” practiced by the Iranian authorities against their critics and their families, but despite this, the vandalism and Tomb demolitions increased, voices of opposition to the regime and its actions increased within Iran.
Culture of tombstone vandalism
The report says that the destruction of tombs began in Iran immediately after the fall of the monarchy in 1979 and the establishment of the clergy-dominated Islamic Republic.
The report adds that thousands of parents, whose children were victims of the regime’s harsh response to protests in Iran, are denied mourning for their loved ones.
The beginning was in the early days of the victory of the Khomeini revolution, when cleric Sadiq Khalkhali, head of the revolution’s first court famous for handing down hundreds of death sentences, cast the scene through his leadership of campaigns to destroy graves.
With the support of the founder of the Islamic Republic, Khomeini, Khalkhali decided to demolish the mausoleum of Cyrus the Great, one of the greatest Persian kings, at Pasargadae in southern Iran, but withdrew in response to popular protests.
However, Khalkhali, armed with dynamite and bulldozers, managed to demolish the mausoleum of the founder of the Pahlavi dynasty, Reza Shah.
After this incident, the phenomenon of the destruction of graves and headstones in shrines of minorities and opponents, including Bahá’ís and Kaka’is, became part of the daily lives of supporters of the regime.
Cemeteries were frequently attacked, while thousands of opponents were buried in unknown locations or undeclared mass graves.
Since the summer of 1988, the Khavaran Cemetery has been referred to as a notorious graveyard housing the bodies of thousands of prisoners who were executed during the clergy rule.
The graves in the cemetery are not identified, while the Iranian authorities prevent the families of the victims from visiting them, and their relatives still do not know the identity of those buried in Khavaran.
It should be noted that Khafaran was initially a traditional cemetery for “unofficial” religious minorities because the authorities consider them “apostates” and they are not allowed to be buried in Muslim cemeteries.
Scared even of the dead
Mansoura Behkish, a member of the group “Mothers of Khafaran”, concerned about the victims of the regime buried in the famous cemetery, says that “the destruction of the graves of the opponents is proof of the fear of the authorities.”
“The regime wrongly believes that destroying the graves will scare the families of the victims and silence their voices,” Farda Behkisch, who lost six family members in mass executions of prisoners in the 1980s, told Radio.
He continues: “All the pressure exerted by the regime on the families of the victims had no effect. Rather, it increased the dissatisfaction of the people with the rulers of Iran, as they destroy graves, while the voices of the people continue to rise. “.
Grave vandalism is not limited to opponents and critics of the government and protesters, whose tombstones are frequently attacked.
The intelligence services and the authorities deliberately attacked the graves of the victims of the Ukrainian passenger plane that was shot down by two missiles launched by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard last January on the outskirts of Tehran, and the same motive is “fear to grow feelings of anger against the regime, “according to the report.
A member of the Qom Hawza Scholars and Teachers Association, Muhammad Taqi Fadhil Mibudi, said in an interview with Radio “Farda” that “Islamic law prohibits grave vandalism.”
He added: “I do not know where this trend originated. The grave of the dead must be respected even if it is not there. All believers are obliged to pray for the deceased and bury their bodies with respect according to Islamic rituals.”
He continues: “Any kind of insult to a person, whether living or dead, is considered an obscene act and is prohibited in Islam.”
