This page keeps the memory of 21 people whose names are linked with Gonabad, in the province of Razavi Khorasan. 16 people were executed and 5 were killed in protests. The first date on this page is 6 Dey 1403 and the last 29 Bahman 1404. The list for Gonabad belongs to only two years: 2 names in 1403 and 19 names in the year 1404.
The year 1404
In the year 1404, Gonabad saw both the gallows and killing in the street. The executions began at the start of the year: one name on 20 Farvardin 1404, one name on 4 Ordibehesht 1404 and one name on 23 Ordibehesht 1404. Then on 18 Dey 1404, 3 people of this city were killed in protests; the day with the most names on this page. Earlier, on 6 Dey 1403, the first date of this list, two people had been executed together.
The ages range from 17 to 60 years, and the median is 27 years. One person was under 18, and the sources have written of 4 people that they were women.
18 Dey 1404: Hossein Ajam and Sajjad Samadi
Hossein Ajam, 22 years old, according to the source was “a physical education student at the University of Neyshabur.” He was killed on 18 Dey 1404 by a bullet to the head. The source writes that afterwards his body “had lain for more than two hours in front of the door of the governor's office, and no one dared to approach.” One of his parents has said: “My son went to speak of freedom and truth. They answered him with a bullet.”
Sajjad Samadi, who is recorded in our list as 17 years old and whom one of the reports calls 22, was “a construction formwork worker.” According to the source, he “was hit by a bullet in Gonabad on 18 Dey and lost his life from severe bleeding.” His body was buried in the Behesht-e Ghasemabad cemetery in Noughab, Gonabad. The source writes that his family and those close to him “went to his grave on his birthday and performed the dance of mourning for him.”
Those executed
Hossein Salarzehi, 45 years old, and Abdollah Narouei, 35 years old, were both executed on 6 Dey 1403 in Gonabad. About both, the sources have written that they were married and had children; one source speaks of two children and another of three. Parviz Yousefzehi, 27 years old, unmarried, was executed on 25 Shahrivar 1404.
These three men appear in our sources only with their age and family situation. Two of them were hanged on the same day, and their children lost their fathers on the same day; the third had not yet built a family. We do not know what work they did and how they came to Gonabad. The charge attributed to them is the account of the authorities, and this page does not regard it as a verdict of their guilt.
What we do not know
For most of those executed in Gonabad, including the four women whom the sources have mentioned and the oldest person on this list, who was 60 years old, our sources have recorded nothing but a name and a date. Details are available for only 5 of the 21 people, and every memory that reaches us about the others makes this page more complete.
Sources and the incompleteness of the list
These 21 names are not all of those from Gonabad who lost their lives. The real number is higher and the names of many have not yet been published; Gonabad appears in our list only with names that a source has recorded. The sources of this page are the Iran Human Rights Society with 11 cases, HRANA with 7 and 5 cases, Haalvsh with 6, iranhrs.org with 4, Iran International and Persian Wikipedia with 3 each, and iranintl.com, iranintl and the human rights organisation Hana with one case each. If you knew Hossein Ajam from university or Sajjad Samadi from the construction site, or have news of other names from Gonabad, we ask you to send us your memory or correction.