Mehr 1401

This page keeps the memory of 359 people who gave their lives in Mehr 1401 or whose fate was decided in this month; from 1 Mehr 1401 to 30 Mehr 1401. Mehr 1401 is the month in which the “Woman, Life, Freedom” uprising reached everywhere: 280 people were killed in protests in this month. 27 people were executed, 25 people lost their lives in custody, 17 people were killed outside the protests and 6 others by government forces, and 4 people were sentenced to death.

8 Mehr 1401

One day in this month weighs more heavily than all others: 8 Mehr 1401, with 155 names. Zahedan, with 158 names, makes up nearly half of this page, and Sistan and Baluchestan, with 162 names, is the leading province. After it come Tehran with 35 names, Shiraz with 10, Rasht with 7, Sanandaj with 6, and Neyshabur and Kermanshah with 5 names each. Other days, too, have many names: 16 Mehr 1401 with 18 names, 10 Mehr with 17, 1 Mehr with 14 and 20 Mehr with 13 names.

The ages range from 2 to 88 years, and the median is only 24 years. 51 people were under 18; fifty-one children and adolescents in one month. The sources have written of 35 people that they were women.

Zahedan

On 8 Mehr 1401, in the prayer ground of the Makki Mosque in Zahedan, Farzad Shahbakhsh, 26 years old, a tiler's apprentice who together with his brother provided for a family of eight, was killed by a bullet to the heart from behind. One of his parents has said: “He had come to pray. Is praying a crime?” Omid Shahnavazi, 20 years old, a construction worker and father of a two-year-old daughter, who as a child had no birth certificate and had not been able to go to school, lost his life in the same prayer ground from three sniper bullets. Yaser Shahbakhsh, 36 years old, whom the source calls one of the shooting talents of Baluchestan, was also killed on the same day.

The adolescents

Sarina Esmailzadeh, 16 years old, a “gifted” student at the Farzanegan school in Karaj who wrote poetry and had a YouTube channel, was killed on 1 Mehr 1401 in Mehrshahr by baton blows to the head. She had said: “We have a series of restrictions that are much greater especially for women, like the compulsory hijab.” Abolfazl Adinehzadeh, 16 years old, was killed by pellets on 16 Mehr in front of Ferdowsi University in Mashhad; before going, he had tied his shoelaces tight.

Others

On 16 Mehr 1401 in Sanandaj, Peyman Menbari, 25 years old, who had just become engaged, Yahya Rahimi, 31 years old, who had been married for a year, and Mohammad Amini, 39 years old, who was building a house to start a family, were killed. Mohammad Jamehbozorg, 59 years old, a carpet seller in Malard, was killed by pellets at dawn on 2 Mehr in his home; he had said: “Even if there are a thousand of you, you cannot take me without a warrant.” Negin Abdolmaleki, 21 years old, a biomedical engineering student, was wounded with a baton on 20 Mehr in Hamadan and died in the dormitory. Sasan Ghorbani, 31 years old, in Talesh, whose family intended to go and ask for the hand of the girl he loved, lost his life on 30 Mehr. Amin Bazrgar, 28 years old, a carpenter and wrestler whom the source calls a friend and training partner of Navid Afkari, disappeared, and the remains of his body were found on Mount Derak near Shiraz.

Sources and incompleteness

359 names are not all of the Javid-Nam (“everlasting names”), those who lost their lives, in Mehr 1401; the real number is higher, and we record only names that have a source. The main sources are the Iran Human Rights Society with 413 cases, English Wikipedia with 211, Persian Wikipedia with 206, the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center with 103, Haalvsh with 45, the Kurdistan Human Rights Network with 26, and iranhrs.org and the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (English-language) with 22 cases each. If you knew one of the Javid-Nam in Mehr 1401, send us your memory or correction.