The body of a protester who disappeared during the demonstrations in Tehran last month has been returned to his family nearly fifty days later, according to information collected by Iran International from relatives and witnesses.
The victim, Vahid Lazer Monouchehri, had gone missing since widespread protests on January 8,9.
His body was handed over to relatives on Thursday with marks of gunfire and blows from a butcher’s cleaver, the family said.
Manouchehri was buried the following day under tight security in the village of Lazerban near Tonekabon, in Iran’s northern Mazandaran province.
Born on April 14, 1985, Monouchehri was a father of one and originally from Lazerban but had been living alone in Tehran. His family says they were unaware that he had taken part in the protests.
“There was no idea exactly when, where, or under what circumstances Vahid was killed,” the family said.
On Thursday, the Kahrizak forensic medical center contacted the family and asked them to travel to Tehran to collect their son’s body.
When they asked about the cause of death and why they were being contacted only after such a long delay, they say they were told: “There are many bodies here and we don’t know; just come and take the corpse.”
After arriving at Kahrizak, the family received the body along with a death certificate stating that the cause of death was “respiratory failure.”
Before handing it over, however, security officials required them to sign a written pledge not to present any account of his death other than the explanation given in the certificate.
The family then transported the body to his hometown. As it was being washed and prepared for burial, they say they discovered clear signs of severe violence: bullet wounds on his back, deep cuts to his side and a head riddled with shotgun pellets.
“It seems he was shot in the back, fell to the ground, and then officers shot him in the head at close range and hacked his body with a butcher’s cleaver,” a source close to the family said.
“The injuries make clear that the cause of death was not respiratory failure, but a state-ordered killing.”
The family also reported that the heart and kidney areas had been surgically opened and crudely stitched with large sutures. It remains unclear by whom or under what circumstances the procedure was carried out.
