This page keeps the memory of 32 people whose names are linked with Nahavand, in the province of Hamadan. 29 of them were executed and 3 were killed in protests. The first date on this page is 30 Dey 1401 and the last 2 Esfand 1404. The list for Nahavand is almost entirely the list of this city's prison, and belongs almost entirely to one year.
The year 1404
Of the 32 names on this page, 27 names go back to the year 1404. Before that, the names can be counted on one hand: one name in 1401, 2 names in 1402 and 2 names in 1403. That is, in the year 1404 the executions in Nahavand on this list increased in an unprecedented way. The day 14 Dey 1404, with two names, is the day with the most names on this page. The days 30 Dey 1401, 5 Azar 1402, 25 Dey 1402 and 25 Esfand 1403 have one name each.
The ages on this page fall within a very narrow range: from 29 to 33 years, with a median of 33 years. All those whose age we know were in their early thirties; years in which most people have built a family and have children. The sources have written of 6 people that they were women; a notable share in a list of 32 names. One person is also recorded on the list as under 18, although the exact age does not appear alongside the higher ages; a child whose age we do not even know.
Nahid Hemmati
The only name on this page with a description is Nahid Hemmati. The source writes about her: “A woman from Hamadan who, after nearly four years of imprisonment, was executed without the details of her charge and the course of her trial being published.” And: “Ms Hemmati was executed at dawn on Wednesday, 23 Mehr 1404, in Nahavand Prison.”
These two sentences are all we know about Nahid Hemmati. We do not know how old she was, whether she had a child or not, what work she did or who waited for her. Not even her charge was published. Nearly four years of her life passed in prison, and one dawn in Mehr she was hanged without anyone outside those walls knowing why. Her name remains on this page so that we at least know that she existed.
Thirty-four other names
For the other thirty-four people on this page, our sources have recorded nothing but a name, a date and sometimes an age. We do not know who the five other women on this list were. We do not know where and how the three people who were killed in protests lost their lives. The charge attributed to each of those executed is the account of the authorities or the sources, and this page does not regard it as a verdict of their guilt. The silence about these people is part of the reality of executions in Nahavand: the news items are short and often contain only a name and a date.
Sources and the incompleteness of the list
These 32 names are not all of those who were executed or killed in Nahavand. The real number is higher, and from many executions in this city's prison no name has come out; Nahavand appears in our list only with names that a report has recorded. The sources of this page are the Iran Human Rights Society with 23 cases, HRANA with 15 cases and one further case, iranhrs.org with 3 cases, and the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center, the website of the Rah-e Kargar Organisation, Persian Wikipedia and parsi.euronews.com with one case each. Most entries rest on only one or two reports and may contain errors in age or date.
If you knew one of these 32 people, if you have news of Nahid Hemmati or her fellow prisoners, we ask you to send us a memory or a correction.