Bulldozers moved piles of bodies of those killed in the Gohardasht district of Karaj during the January crackdown on nationwide protests, in what witnesses describe as a deliberate attempt to instill fear after corpses were stacked in public squares.
A resident of Gohardasht told Iran International that on the nights of January 8 and 9, large numbers of armed forces were lying in ambush in alleyways as heavy gunfire echoed through the area.
According to the witness, teenagers struck in the head and face by pellet rounds sought refuge inside residential buildings. The resident said at least 16 people were killed in the alley where he lives, adding that security forces also fired at the doors of apartment buildings.
Another eyewitness said that around a nearby hospital, injured women with severe facial wounds were seen seeking help. On Dariush Street, he said, a DShK heavy machine gun was deployed and crowds were sprayed with gunfire.
He said that at the First Square of Gohardasht, bodies were piled on top of each other to create an atmosphere of terror before being moved away with bulldozers.
The witness said the bodies were collected around midnight on January 8, but freezing temperatures left congealed blood visible on the ground. The following night, January 9, the killings intensified, he added.
The sources said Alijanvand was shot by security forces with two live rounds, one striking his lower back and another his abdomen. His family spent five days searching hospitals, police stations and prisons across Isfahan province before identifying his body in the cold storage at Bagh-e Rezvan cemetery on January 13, the sources said.
According to the sources, Alijanvand's body was transferred later that night, on January 13, to Shahin Shahr's morgue.
Authorities initially refused to hand over the body and sought to have Alijanvand declared a “martyr,” a condition the family rejected, which would have required them to accept the state’s official account of the death rather than acknowledge that he was killed by state security forces.
Alijanvand was eventually buried under heavy security at around 4 a.m. on January 15, in a tightly controlled ceremony at Behesht-e Zahra Chaharbisheh cemetery in his hometown of Masjed Soleyman in southwestern Iran, with only five family members present and several plainclothes agents in attendance, the sources said.
Alijanvand was married and worked as a forklift driver at a brick factory, according to the people familiar with the matter.
“Reza worked from morning until night. He was deeply patriotic and hopeful for Iran’s freedom,” the source said, adding that Alijanvand believed Iran’s exiled prince Reza Pahlavi would return to the country.
Last month, Iran International reported that more than 36,500 Iranians were killed by security forces during the January 8-9 crackdown on nationwide protests, making it the deadliest two-day protest massacre in history.
