Iran International
Many families of protesters fallen during the recent anti-government protests marked the New Year (Nowruz) at the side of the graves of their loved ones this year.
“My son was a hero. He was martyred for his country … Unity is the key to our victory,” said Zhila Khakpour in an Instagram post taken at the side of her son’s grave at Tehran’s Behesht-e Zahra cemetery on Thursday.
Zhila’s 25-year-old son, Ali Seyedi, was shot dead by security forces at a protest rally in Parand, a town 30km to the south of the capital Tehran, on November 4. In the video she posted, she felicitated Iranians for the coming of the new Iranian year and thanked them for supporting the family during their ordeal.
Jila Khakpour at her son’s grave vowing to avenge his killing.
“Everyone says they will avenge you. God willing, we will avenge the bloods of all of you. My darling, I will never let your blood to be trampled on,” she says sitting next to the grave and caressing the image of her son engraved on the stone.
Iranians usually visit the graves of their loved ones on the last Thursday of the year. They wash the graves, adorn it with flowers and candles, and distribute sweets and fruits to those visiting the cemetery but this year the visits have continued into the holiday season with people chanting anti-government slogans and vowing to take revenge in several cases.
Local people and family marking the New Year at Mahsa Amini’s grave.
Hours before the turn of the year, a large crowd gathered at the grave of Mahsa (Jina) Amini in Saqqez in northwestern Iran. The twenty-two-year-old’s death in the custody of the morality police on September 16 sparked a wave of protests across the country that lasted for months.
Videos posted on social media show participants in the ceremony bearing torches and flowers to her grave, singing Kurdish mourning songs and stamping their feet.
People chanting “Down with the Dictator” at the grave of young chef, Mehrshad Shahidi in Arak
In photos widely shared on social media, a little girl Bavan is seen standing at her mother’s grave in Mahabad at Nowruz. The young woman, Fereshteh Ahmadi, was shot in Mahabad on the roof of her house while watching the protests with her little girl. Her grave, like many others in Kurdish areas of Iran, is draped in red tulle and is adorned with red flowers to show that she was martyred.
Some other photos posted on social media show the friends and classmates of the ten-year-old Kian Pourfalak at the side of his grave thousands of kilometers away, in Izeh in southwest Iran, shortly before the turn of the year Monday.
Kian was shot by plainclothesmen in the family car in November during a night of protests in Izeh. His father, Meysam Pirfalk has been confined to a wheelchair after months of hospitalization and several surgeries but his mother, Zeynab Molaei-Rad and his three-year-old brother Radin were unharmed in the attack.
People in Izeh chanting against Khamenei and IRGC at the grave of Kian Pourfalak before the turn of the year.
The government has arrested several citizens it accuses of “terrorism” for the shooting, but Zeynab insists it was the security forces that killed her son. In a fiery speech at her son’s burial, she said she had no doubt about who had shot her family and implicitly accused Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei of responsibility for her young son’s killing.
There were dozens of children and teenagers among the over 500 killed during the protests across Iran, either as protesters or bystanders. The deaths of the children caused protesters to dub the regime as “child-killer”.
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Saying this, Executives of Construction Party leader Hossein Marashi told the party's newspaper Sazandegi that "If dissidents decide to take to the streets, no one can stop them."
Marashi's remarks corroborates the statements of several other Iranian politicians as well as the results of many studies since September when the nationwide protests started and continued relentlessly for over four months, with occasional flare-ups in recent weeks.
Opinion surveys and commentators say that Iranians are unhappy because of the deep economic crisis, lack of social freedoms and no opportunity to shape elections.
Marashi warned that his party will not take part in any elections as long as the government does not acknowledge the need for true reforms. He added that the Islamic republic should not merely rely on its staunch supporters. It should instead garner support from the majority of Iranians.
He said elections under current circumstances cannot bring about reforms. The government should attach more priority to reforming the election process.
The politician was referring to the last two elections in 2020 and 2021 when most candidates were barred from running and only selected loyalists were allowed to register.
Meanwhile, Marashi admitted that reformists and moderates did harm to the country by insisting on former President Hassan Rouhani's re-election in the 2017 without demanding his full commitment to reforms.
Several studies in the past months, including one that was conducted by the National Security Monitor Magazine said that most Iranians wanted a change in governance. The magazine's research also concluded that the government's interference in social and cultural matters such as women's dress code and lifestyle will increase people’s distrust in the government.
Another study conducted in December 2022 revealed very similar attitudes between those in the country and abroad. “In response to the question “Islamic Republic: Yes or No?” 81% of respondents inside the country responded “No” to the Islamic Republic, 15% responded “Yes,” and 4% were not sure. Of the Iranian respondents abroad, 99% responded “No,” opting against the Islamic Republic,” the Netherlands-based GAMAAN Polling Agency reported.
While the political impasse inside Iran and the international diplomatic deadlock over Tehran's nuclear program continue, inflation and prices have been rising causing further dissatisfaction. According to Etemad Online, the price of ghee has a had a 288 percent increase and beef rose by 133 percent between March 2022 and March 2023.
The report by Etemad Onlie also showed a 125% rise in the price of lamb meat, while the price of onions had a 250% hike during the same period. Other prices rose as 82% for eggs, 89% for fish, 78% for rice and cheese.
This comes while the authorities and representatives of government-controlled labor unions reached an agreement on minimum wages for the new that started March 21, giving just a 28-percent raise while inflation is well above 50 percent.