Monireh Baradaran Khorshahi is a writer and researcher who herself has experienced years of imprisonment and torture during both pre- and post-revolution periods of Azar 57. She is the sister of Mehdi Baradaran Khorshahi, a leftist activist who spent more than seven years in prison before the Azar 57 revolution and was executed in 60 after days of torture in Evin prison.

With him, on the pretext of finding the body belonging to the Pahlavi dynasty and also recent reports from international organizations for amnesty and justice for Iran regarding the government’s efforts to eliminate mass graves of the victims of those years, we are discussing an issue that he, both as a researcher and as a former political prisoner and the family of one of the victims of those years, has faced. The issue of not returning the bodies of the deceased prisoners of the first decade after the revolution to their families by the government, as well as the bodies of all those whose lives have been taken by the government since the beginning of the Islamic Republic. A behavior that Monireh’s brothers consider systematic and cite “erasing the evidence of crime and punishment of families” as its reasons.

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The discovery of Reza Shah Pahlavi’s body in the shrine of Shah Abdolazim in the city of Rey once again brought one of the most controversial discussions in the history of the Islamic Republic to the public’s attention. Regardless of the Islamic Republic’s approach to destroying and erasing all established identities before itself – with Reza Shah being considered the first founder of modern government in Iran and a symbol of modernization in the country – this issue has driven the public’s attention towards the Islamic Republic’s confrontation with its opponents, not only the dissenters but also specifically Mr. Khomeini’s behavior towards Reza Shah’s grave and its destruction as a symbol of disapproval. In your opinion, to what extent does this approach have authenticity in the Islamic Republic?

I believe that this approach is inherent in the ideology of the Islamic Republic and was even seen among Islamic fundamentalists before the establishment of the Islamic Republic. For example, the fundamentalists and the Hojjatieh Society have been destroying and desecrating the Baha’i graves since the time of the Shah until now. These organizations became official after the 1979 Revolution and the destruction of Baha’i graves has continued since then, becoming more systematic in recent years. I have read that there are even specific groups formed for this purpose. Also, these actions are not only limited to political opponents. We have witnessed on a large scale the destruction of graves belonging to intellectuals and free thinkers, such as our great national poet Shamlou, Houshang Golshiri, Mosaddegh, and others, by these individuals in recent years.

Such actions are considered a serious crime in other countries. For example, in Europe, anti-Semitic groups are recognized as criminals and are punished for attacking and harassing Jews.

Destroying graves is a great crime and injustice, as it means that the punishment and harassment of those individuals continues even after death.

According to recent reports from Amnesty International and the Justice Organization for Iran, the Islamic Republic is slowly and steadily working to eliminate places that are known among the people as mass graves. Do you think that by doing this, the Islamic Republic is trying to erase these events from its record? Does it now consider them as impulsive and radical actions in the early days of the revolution, and is trying to forget them without paying any extra cost?

It seems that this is a systematic action and cannot be attributed solely to rogue groups. As I mentioned, this policy has been in place since the beginning of the Islamic Republic. Not only is it not stopped, but it is also encouraged and we see it happening in various cities and towns. Like the Khavaran Cemetery, which was destroyed in February 2009.

There are several reasons for doing this task. The first reason is to erase the traces of crime and violence. The leaders of power always either denied or ignored the executions of the 1960s, even though we are certain of these executions. Prisoners testified about the activities of the Death Committee in the summer of 1967, or judges who were involved in the executions during the peak years of 1960s, specifically in 1962 and 1963. Mr. Montazeri also spoke about this and his recorded tape is available.

This issue is clear, but it has always been denied by officials or no one takes responsibility for it. Some say it was an order, and some shamelessly defend it, but in any case, none of them officially accepted it and did not want to leave any document behind.

If the families of those who have been executed go to obtain a death certificate for the purpose of carrying out certain legal matters such as dividing inheritance or remarrying a spouse, they will see that the death certificate states reasons such as heart attack or suffocation as the cause of death, and never mentions execution as the cause of death.

These graves are a sign of a crime that has taken place and the powerful owner intends to erase these crimes by destroying them.

The second reason is family punishment. Giving information about an individual to their family or handing over the deceased’s body is the right of that person’s family. Denying this right is a punishment for the family and the government uses this punishment to intimidate the society. In fact, with these executions, besides removing one person from society, there is also the intention to frighten thousands of people in the society as a lesson for others to remain silent and not take action. Families are the intermediaries between the government and society. Taking away their rights is a message for both the family and society.

Another reason for the complete removal of these individuals is that while execution itself is the elimination of a person from society, the government intends to not only destroy their physical existence, but also erase any memories left of them and essentially eliminate their existence. For this reason, families have been fighting to preserve the Khavaran cemetery since the 1990s, knowing the importance of its preservation.

You mentioned the discussion about the punishment of families. We know that the Islamic Republic did not hand over the bodies of many of the victims of the 1960s to their families. You yourself are also a member of one of these families. As both a researcher and someone who has personally dealt with this issue, what do you think this failure to deliver the bodies has cost you and how not knowing what has happened to your family member (your brother) has affected your family, both at the time and after the incident?

My brother, Mehdi Khusroshahi, was executed on 15 Azar 1360, forty days after his arrest. No one knows what happened to him during those forty days of detention, interrogation, torture, and trial. We only know that he was able to say goodbye to his wife in a phone call on the night of his execution, half an hour before his execution. Half an hour later, we heard the sound of the rain of bullets from Ward 4 of Evin Prison and we knew that my brother was among those few.

After the execution, they informed us that my brother has been buried in a section of Zahra’s Paradise. However, we have no information about the process of his case and we cannot even be sure if he has been buried in the place they have mentioned, as his name is not on the list of Zahra’s Paradise. Not only my brother, but all the executed ones. There was a stone there that has been broken and there has been and still is harassment and torture. Except for the graves, which have their own place.

There is confusion for my family as we have never seen his body. In every society and in every religion, there are rituals and customs for burying the dead. These ceremonies are an opportunity for families to say goodbye, express emotions, and show sympathy for others, which holds meaning for the family. However, our families have also been deprived of this because when someone is executed, it is announced that the family has no right to hold any ceremonies, causing disbelief because they have not witnessed it themselves. Because the family was not present at the event and burial.

In the same way, a kind of disrespect is being shown to the deceased; because the deceased is dear to their family and we honor them by holding ceremonies. Now let’s put this alongside all the accusations that have been made against these people; people who only fought for their freedom and beliefs.

Not delivering the body is a policy that takes place during the continuation of the arrest or disappearance of a prisoner. When a prisoner is arrested, disappeared, and no news is given to the family. Whether he had a past, had a court, had a lawyer or not, and the trial was fair (which we witnessed was not), is in line with the same process of not delivering the body.

For this reason, families of those executed in 1967 wrote letters to authorities asking where and when the executed individuals were buried. Why were they executed? If there was a legal process, were the bodies also handed over?

Talking about extrajudicial executions, mass executions, and a massacre is a 67 is a massacre. For this reason, this tragedy continues to be painful for the remaining families and their demands and requests are for a legal process.

Given the research you have conducted on the memories of imprisoned women and your experience in this regard, what impact does this deprivation of mourning have on families from a psychological perspective?

The impact that this tragedy has on families in that moment and even deprives them of holding ceremonies, continues; because they have not done what they were supposed to do at that time. These families are even attacked if they hold anniversary ceremonies at their own homes.

Families are often subjected to harassment, abuse, and physical violence during each visit to the execution site of Paradise of Zahra (Section 92 of Paradise of Zahra) and the Khavaran Cemetery. This deprivation continues to persist.

This issue has a major political aspect in addition to its social and cultural aspect. In 1967, individuals were executed solely based on their beliefs and even for not praying multiple times. The reason behind this issue and all the ambiguities for the families of the executed individuals continues to this day, since they first heard the news of the executions. After forty years since the tragedy of the 60s and the removal of those individuals, this punishment still continues through punishing their families. Mrs. Mansoureh Bahkesh, whose six family members were executed in the 60s, was sentenced to years in prison for advocating for her family’s rights (as a family of the deceased individuals).

“We are also witnessing the implementation of this type of policy by the Islamic Republic. For example, more than 8 years after the execution of Farzad Kamangar, Farhad Vakili, Shirin Alam Holi, Ali Heydarian, and Mehdi Eslamian, who were executed in Evin Prison in 2009, their graves are still unknown and their families have not been able to hold a public mourning ceremony for them. Why does the Islamic Republic still have such practices in its fourth decade?”

You mentioned a good point. Regarding the execution of those individuals in 89, which has been a long time ago, there is still fear of the disclosure of this crime. The presence of families at the graves and their mourning is a witness to the incident and the crime that has occurred. The mother says that I have given birth to my child and I know that he existed.

I am completely against execution, but political execution has no justification. This is done to intimidate families and society. The government intends to not only physically eliminate the individual, but also erase their memory and existence. Therefore, the struggle of families and pressure to preserve the rights that have been taken away from them from the past until now is very valuable.

Dear brothers, if there is any point you would like to mention at the end, please do so.

Some people think that the issue I referred to is related to our religious culture, while in fact it is part of international law. There are international expert groups that identify and respectfully bury bodies from mass graves. One of these groups is an Argentine team that was very effective in identifying and burying some of the disappeared mothers at the May Square incident.

In fact, one of the fears of the Islamic Republic is that it knows this issue is not only a major international crime in Iran due to its religious culture, but also in the whole world.

Thank you for the time you have given us.