This page keeps the memory of 61 people whose names are linked with Mahabad; 60 are recorded in the province of West Azerbaijan and one in the province of Tehran. The first date on this page is 18 Farvardin 1394 and the last 11 Tir 1405. The fates in the list for Mahabad are varied: 31 people were executed, 17 were killed in protests, 7 lost their lives in custody, one person died after release from custody, one person in suspicious circumstances and one person lost their life at the hands of government forces outside the protests. 3 people have also been sentenced to death.
Autumn 1401 in Mahabad
The year 1401, with 20 names, is the heaviest year of this page. Two days of that autumn weigh most heavily: 5 Aban 1401 with 4 killed and 27 Aban 1401 with 5 killed. The year 1404 with 13 names and the year 1403 with 5 names come after it. Earlier, on 18 Farvardin 1394, three names are recorded, and on 19 Tir 1396 and 17 Esfand 1402 two names each time. The ages range from 21 to 65 years, and the median is 32 years. The sources have written of 6 people that they were women. No one under 18 is recorded on this page.
5 Aban 1401: two women
Fereshteh Ahmadi, 32 years old, “owned a photography and photocopy shop” and had completed a master's degree in computer engineering at the Islamic Azad University of Urmia. “She was married and had 2 children aged three and eight.” She was killed by a sniper's bullet on Mohammad Moulan Street, exactly on her 32nd birthday. Her family received the body only on the condition that they bury her immediately and without taking her to Sardasht.
Kobra Sheikh Saqqa, 52 years old, was killed on the same day by a military bullet in front of her house on Iranpeyma Street. She “married at 13 and gave birth to four children” and had studied in the Literacy Movement. She had said: “When the young people are in the street, I cannot stay at home.” Her husband has said: “I saw with my own eyes from the balcony people in military clothes target our alley and our house with a hail of military bullets.”
Kamal Ahmadpour and Ribaz Salehivand
Seyed Abdolkhalegh (Kamal) Ahmadpour, 34 years old, a master plasterer, “married and with 2 children,” prepared bread and sandwiches for the protesters and looked after his elderly father and mother. On 27 Aban 1401 he was shot in front of the door of his house. The neighbours have said: “When the bullet struck him, he ran 12 metres and said, I think I've been shot.” The family hid his body three times so that it would not be taken.
Ribaz Salehivand, 21 years old, was a steel fixer and had learned tattooing from his friends. He had said: “If we don't go, who will go to the demonstrations? It is my responsibility and duty to take part.” He was killed on 1 Azar 1401 near the village of Haji Mamian, and the issuing of his death certificate was delayed by 45 days.
Those executed
Rahim Mohammadpour, 36 years old, a farmer and passenger driver and father of 2 children, gave books to the prisoners in Mahabad Prison and wrote petitions for them. He was executed on 17 Aban 1395 and insisted on his innocence to the end. Sheikh Morad Ebrahimi, who was executed on 19 Tir 1396, according to the source was raising a young daughter with autism on his own. Saber Sheikh Abdollah, a master's student at Allameh Tabatabaei University, has been sentenced to death. The charges are what the authorities stated, not a verdict of guilt.
Sources and incompleteness
These 61 names are not all of those from Mahabad who lost their lives; the real number is higher, and for Mahabad, too, we have included only names that have a source. The main sources are the Kurdistan Human Rights Network with 45 cases, the Iran Human Rights Society with 36, Persian Wikipedia, the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (English-language) and HRANA with 15 each, the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center with 14, iranhrs.org with 10, Hengaw with 6 and English Wikipedia with 4 cases. If you knew one of these people of Mahabad, send us your memory or correction.