Iranian Security Blocks Families Of Executed Prisoners From Gravesite
Iranian security forces have prevented families of prisoners executed in the 1980s from visiting the Khavaran cemetery, the resting place of their loved ones.
Iranian security forces have prevented families of prisoners executed in the 1980s from visiting the Khavaran cemetery, the resting place of their loved ones.
The families, who are known as the "Mothers of Khavaran," had planned to visit the graves of the victims of Iran's 1988 mass executions on the last Friday of the year before Norouz, but they were met with locked gates. Visiting the graves of loved ones on the last Friday of the year is a popular tradition in Iran.
Images shared on social media showed the families placing flowers on the iron gate of Khavaran cemetery and holding photos of their executed loved ones.
Mansoureh Behkish, a human rights activist and member of the Mothers of Khavaran, wrote on social media that the families were once again faced with closed doors on the eve of the Iranian New Year.
Behkish, who lost four brothers and a sister in the 1980s, added, "The agents assigned to the entrance of Khavaran asked for national ID cards, which was met with resistance from the families."
The Mothers of Khavaran have been holding a weekly gathering at the cemetery since 1988 to mourn their loved ones and demand justice. The cemetery is believed to be the mass grave of thousands of political prisoners who were executed while serving their sentences.
The exact number of prisoners executed during the purge is not known but according to Amnesty International, Iranian authorities "forcibly disappeared" and "extrajudicially executed" around 5,000 between July and September 1988. Most of victims were linked to the MEK but there were also others with links to leftist and secular groups such as Fadaiyan Khalq Organization (FKO) and Tudeh Party as well as some Kurdish groups, such as Komala and the Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran.
Mehdi Bagheri, the workers’ representative in Iran’s Supreme Council of Labor, said the council’s meeting on Wednesday failed to reach a final decision regarding the minimum wage as both the representatives of employers and the government do not “appreciate” workers and their efforts.
“We do not have much time to decide on the most important issue for workers and we are not the plaything of any group,” Bagheri stressed, further accusing the government and employers of manipulating statistics in an attempt to lower the worker’s minimum wage.
“I’ll make it clear that our job in the Supreme Council is to raise the living standards of the workers, not playing mathematical games,” he went on to say.
According to Bagheri, the other sides of negotiations try to avoid discussing the monthly livelihood basket for working families as they are aware that any accurate calculation of this component will result in a significant increase in workers’ wages.
Meanwhile, Nader Moradi, workers and retirees’ union activist, took the government to task for resisting even the minimal demands of the workers for wage determination.
The workers proposed a minimal rate of 195 million rials ($325) but the government keeps rejecting it, Moradi said, further adding, “If we take into account such items as housing and education, the minimum livelihood basket [base salary] for working families stands at 300 million rials (around $500).”
According to the activist, the government’s stance on the issue is shocking and unfathomable as just renting a house in the capital Tehran costs 100 to 120 million rials (165 to 200$).
Moradi also revealed that Iran’s Ministry of Health has backed the government’s position during the wage determination talks by proposing “a food basket” package which has significantly decreased the calorie needs of each person.
“With the government’s proposed calories, workers can’t live and breathe, let alone going to work or doing manual or intellectual labor for at least eight hours a day,” he pointed out.
On Tuesday, Ali Babaei, the spokesperson for the Labor Faction in the Iranian parliament, emphasized the need for fair wages for workers amidst dire economic challenges. He noted that workers are oppressed, their rights are often denied, and their job security remains uncertain.
In recent years, Iranian society has been grappling with severe economic problems. The continuous devaluation of the rial, particularly since the US withdrawal from the JCPOA nuclear deal in 2018, has fueled inflation and plunged millions into poverty. Over the past six years, the rial has fallen 15-fold.
Official annual inflation hovers near 50 percent, much higher than the government’s average salary increase of 20 percent. Earlier in the month, Eqtesad 24 daily warned that nearly one-third of Iranians struggle below the poverty line. The report projected a concerning escalation in poverty rates, foreseeing that by the end of the year 1402 [March 20], the proportion of individuals below the poverty line could soar to as much as 40 percent.
An analysis of posts on Persian social media indicate that Iranians voice deep concern on a daily basis on social media about inflation and rising rents, mainly struggling to pay rent, especially in the capital, Tehran.