This page keeps the memory of 27 people whose names are linked with Shushtar, in the province of Khuzestan. 25 of them were killed in protests and 2 were executed. The first date on this page is 26 Aban 1398 and the last 24 Tir 1405. But what sets the list for Shushtar apart from many pages is the age of those killed: the median age on this page is only 17 years.
A page of children
Those whose age we know were between 9 and 43 years old. A median of 17 years means that at least half of those whose age is recorded were children or adolescents. The sources have clearly written of 5 people that they were under 18; the youngest of them was a 9-year-old child. The sources have also written of one person that she was a woman. This page is above all a reminder of the adolescents who were lost in the streets of Shushtar.
Two uprisings
More than half of the names on this page, 14 names, belong to the year 1398. For most of them the sources have not recorded the exact day of death; only one name has the date 26 Aban 1398. The year 1404, with 9 names, is the second year of this page, and of these, 5 people were killed on a single day, 19 Dey 1404. The remaining names are scattered: 2 names in 1401, including one person on 25 Aban 1401, one name on 19 Khordad 1402 and one name on 24 Tir 1405.
Mehdi Mahmadi Kartalaei
Mehdi Mahmadi Kartalaei was 16 years old. The source writes that he “was shot from behind while he was near a motorcycle repair shop.” According to another source, on the evening of 19 Dey he “was killed in the area of Shushtar and the village of Aghili in the province of Khuzestan by the military gunfire of government forces.”
His body, according to the source, “was handed over after money had been received and a pledge taken from the family, and on Saturday morning, 20 Dey, he was buried under security conditions and in the presence of a limited number of relatives.” One of the witnesses of that day has said: “On that same day, in the area of the Saheb al-Zaman road in Shushtar, I saw with my own eyes more than 8 lifeless bodies.” This statement, although only the account of one witness, shows that the number of those killed in Shushtar that night is probably greater than the names we have.
Abdollah Fathi Mard Monjezi
Abdollah Fathi Mard Monjezi, 43 years old, the oldest person on this page, was “an electrical engineer.” The source writes about him that he “always spent part of his income on helping needy families.” He “was killed by a bullet to the head.” Our sources have not recorded the exact date of his death. An engineer who shared part of his bread with others stands on a page most of whose names belong to children.
What we do not know
For 25 other people, the sources have written nothing but a name and sometimes an age and a date. We do not know who the 9-year-old child on this list was, which school the child went to and how the child was killed. We do not know who the two people executed in Shushtar were; the charge attributed to them is what the authorities stated, not a verdict of guilt.
Sources and the incompleteness of the list
These 27 names are not all of those from Shushtar who lost their lives; the statement of that same witness also shows that the real number is higher. We record no name from Shushtar without a source. The sources of this page are Persian Wikipedia with 16 cases, HRANA / Human Rights Activists in Iran with 9, Iran International with 7, the Iran Human Rights Society with 6, iranhrs.org with 3, and IranWire, independentpersian.com, Iran Kargar, Radio Zamaneh and IranWire with 2 cases each. Some entries have only one source. If you knew one of these 27 people, send us your memory or correction.