Zahedan

This page keeps the memory of 637 people of Zahedan, the capital of the province of Sistan and Baluchestan; from 20 Ordibehesht 1388 to 20 Mehr 1405. 416 of them were executed and 169 were killed in protests. 12 people were killed by government forces outside the protests, 10 people lost their lives in custody, 3 people were killed by government forces and one person was assassinated outside Iran. For another group, no ending has yet been written: 15 people are at risk of execution, 9 people have been sentenced to death, the sentence of one person has been upheld and one person faces a charge that carries the death penalty.

8 Mehr 1401

One day weighs on this list more than any other: 8 Mehr 1401, the day on which 141 people of Zahedan were killed. The year 1401 has 241 names in all. But Zahedan had already gone through heavy years before that: 56 names in 1392, 34 names in 1393, 28 names in 1388 and 38 names in 1400. The day 4 Aban 1392 with 16 names, 23 Tir 1388 with 13 names, and 29 Azar 1389 and 16 Khordad 1401 with 11 names each are days on which several people gave their lives together.

The ages range from 2 to 88 years, and the median is 28 years. 30 of these people were under 18, and the sources have written of 44 people that they were women. For 159 people we have details of their life.

The Makki prayer ground

Farzad Shahbakhsh, 26 years old, was a tiler's apprentice and, together with his older brother, provided for a family of eight. He has been described like this: “He was calm, benevolent, sociable, pleasant, trustworthy, committed, kind, peace-loving and good-humoured.” On 8 Mehr 1401 he was killed in the prayer ground of the Makki Mosque by a bullet to the heart from behind. Omid Shahnavazi, 20 years old, was a construction worker and “married with a two-year-old daughter.” The source writes: “He had not gone to school because as a child he had no birth certificate.” But he had studied at the mosque and become a molavi (Sunni cleric). He too was killed by three sniper bullets when he had gone to the Makki prayer ground for Friday prayers.

4 Aban 1392

On this day, according to the sources, 16 people were hanged together in Zahedan Central Prison. Habibollah Riginejad Shouraki, 33 years old, was a cloth seller and “married with a 3-year-old daughter.” After 15 months in solitary confinement, he saw his wife and daughter for the first time in a year and a half. The source writes that he had been sentenced to eleven years' imprisonment. Hamed Vekalat, 29 years old, was a guard at a pier-building company and, because of his family's poverty, had only gone to school from the age of 10. Abdolvahab Rigi, 22 years old, was a seminary student, and Mehrollah Rigi Mahernia, 22 years old, “was 17 at the time of his arrest.” He had said: “Because I was the youngest of all in age, I let everyone else go and went out of the cell last of all.” The body of none of them was handed over to the families. The charge attributed to them is what the authorities stated, not a verdict of guilt.

Zakaria Rigi

Zakaria Rigi, 27 years old, led the prayers at the mosque in prison and taught the Quran, and “if any money reached him in prison from his family, he shared it with the prisoners in need.” He lost his life in custody on 28 Esfand 1390. The officials said he had committed suicide; his family says: “He was not the kind to commit suicide!”

Sources and incompleteness

637 names are not all of those from Zahedan who lost their lives; the real number is higher, and we add only a name that has a source. The main sources are the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center with 392 cases, the Iran Human Rights Society with 288, Haalvsh with 149 and 8 cases, English Wikipedia with 122, Persian Wikipedia with 119, HRANA with 50, Iran Human Rights with 13 and iranhrs.org with 12 cases. Some entries have only one source. If you knew one of these people of Zahedan, send us your memory or correction.