Karaj

This page holds 1421 names linked with Karaj; 1358 people are recorded in the province of Alborz and 63 people in the province of Tehran. The first date is 13 Tir 1388 and the last 20 Mehr 1405. Most of these names come from the prisons of this city, from Rajaei Shahr to Ghezel Hesar: 951 people were executed. 395 people were killed in protests, 12 people lost their lives in custody, one person died in suspicious circumstances, 6 people were killed outside the protests and one other person by government forces. And the shadow of execution still hangs over many: 31 people are at risk of execution, 17 people have been sentenced, the sentences of 6 people have been upheld and one person faces a charge that carries the death penalty.

Years and days

The year 1404, with 440 names, is the heaviest year of this page, and the year 1395, with 168 names, comes after it; then 1394 with 99 names, 1402 with 89, 1393 with 81 and 1398 with 79 names. The day 18 Dey 1404 with 97 killed and 19 Dey 1404 with 74 killed are the bitterest days in the street. On 12 Mordad 1395, 23 people are recorded on a single day, on 13 Tir 1388, 20 people and on 4 Khordad 1394, 15 people. The ages range from 12 to 72 years, and the median is 32 years. 31 people were under 18, and the sources have written of 94 people that they were women. For 222 people we have details of their life.

12 Mordad 1395

Kaveh (Khaled) Veisi, 32 years old, an assistant in a clothing shop, had been admitted in 1381 to study mathematics at the University of Kurdistan but did not go because of poverty. His child was born on the night he was arrested. According to the source, he “was imprisoned for three months in a room like a coffin, always in a standing position.” On 12 Mordad 1395 he was executed in Rajaei Shahr “together with 24 other defendants.” Kaveh (Abubakr) Sharifi, 31 years old, was also executed on the same morning; he had said: “I had no hand in any assassination whatsoever.” His family learned of his arrest 124 days after it happened.

Other people executed

Bahram Ahmadi, 20 years old, a final-year mathematics student in Sanandaj and the ninth child of a working-class family, dreamed of going to the old people's home and visiting lonely grandfathers and grandmothers. He was executed in secret on 7 Dey 1391 in Ghezel Hesar. Hamed Ahmadi, 33 years old, a mobile phone seller, “called his daughter, Mahna, from inside the prison every day at noon.” Seyed Mohammad Hosseini, 39 years old, a worker and martial arts champion who “taught martial arts to poor children free of charge,” was executed on 17 Dey 1401. He had said: “I grew up without father and mother and with hardship.” The charges are what the authorities stated, not a verdict of guilt.

Those killed in the street

Sam Afshari, 17 years old, a computer student, provincial swimming champion and his father's only child, was shot from behind on 18 Dey 1404 near Mehran Square. His father has said: “The breathing tube was in his mouth. They came and shot him. One last bullet.” Zahra Azadpour, 27 years old, a player in the Mehregan Pardis women's football team and a mountaineer who had climbed Damavand, was killed on 19 Dey 1404. Atefeh Naami, 37 years old, an accountant and architecture student who was preparing for her wedding, was found dead in her apartment in Azimieh on 5 Azar 1401.

Sources and incompleteness

1421 names are not all of those from Karaj who lost their lives; the real number is higher, and from many executions no name has come out. We record only names that have a source. The main sources are the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center with 683 cases, the Iran Human Rights Society with 329, the Kurdistan Human Rights Network with 283, HRANA / Human Rights Activists in Iran with 269, Iran International with 253, iranhrs.org with 146, HRANA with 141, Persian Wikipedia with 83, iranintl.com with 75 and the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (English-language) with 55 cases. If you knew one of these people, send us your memory or correction.