Zanjan Province

This page keeps the memory of the Javid-Nam (“everlasting names”), those who lost their lives, from the province of Zanjan. This list contains 169 names, from 18 Mehr 1389 to 5 Mehr 1405. The city of Zanjan with 136 names has the largest share. In the data for this page, 32 names are also recorded with the city of Qazvin, and Tarom has one name.

Fates and years

In Zanjan, execution has cast its shadow over the other fates: 137 of these 169 people were executed. 29 people were killed in protests, 1 person lost their life in detention and 2 people were killed by government forces. The median age is 35 years; the youngest was 16 years old and the oldest 67. 7 people were under 18 years of age, and there are 14 women in this list.

Executions in Zanjan continued in all the years of this list: 10 names in 1390, 10 names in 1398 and 10 names in 1401. But the year 1404 with 68 names, nearly two fifths of this entire page, is the heaviest year, and the day 18 Dey 1404 with 13 names the heaviest day. These are followed by 18 Mehr 1389, 21 Aban 1390, 23 Esfand 1390 and 2 Aban 1391 with 3 names each.

Dawn of 18 Mehr 1389

The earliest date in this list is a day on which four people were hanged together in the grounds of Zanjan Central Prison, without the presence of a lawyer or family. Two of them were brothers: Siamand Mirza, 33 years old, and Ghahreman Mirza, 34 years old, both simple workers. Ghahreman had come to Iran from Iraqi Kurdistan at the time of Saddam's rule and could rarely see his family. Siamand was the father of a son; according to the source he “was known among the prisoners for his generosity and self-sacrifice.” Before the execution he had asked to see his young child, who was with his mother in the same prison, but was not permitted. The source says that the father of these two brothers, when he went to Zanjan to follow up on the fate of his sons, died of the shock on hearing the news of the execution of both.

Behnaz Forouzandehdel, 32 years old, a homemaker and the mother of a 12-year-old daughter, was also executed at the same dawn. The source describes her as “very kind and somewhat naive and trusting” and says she “always had a smile on her lips and helped the other prisoners.” By her own account, she was pregnant when she was arrested and lost her child. Her body was buried in Urmia.

Some other names

Arshia Barari, 25 years old, a Kyokushin karateka and national fitness champion, was an English teacher and an outstanding master's student. He was killed on 18 Dey 1404 in Zanjan by a military round; the source says his half-alive body remained on the ground for an hour and the agents did not let anyone go to his aid. Mehdi Gorgij, 50 years old, father of two children, was executed on 17 Esfand 1402 in Zanjan, and Ali Ezzati, 45 years old, who was also the father of two children, on 16 Tir 1403. For most of the other people executed in this province we have nothing but name and date.

About this list

The list of the Javid-Nam in Zanjan province is not complete. The real number of those killed and executed from Zanjan, Tarom and the other cities of this province is higher, and we record only a name that has a source. The largest share comes from the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center with 71 cases; followed by the Iran Human Rights Society with 68 and HRANA with 30 cases. Every Zanjan name on this page has at least one source, but some only one. For 7 people a description of their life is available. If you knew one of these 169 people, share your memory or correction with us.