Iran authorities demanding money for return of protesters' bodies: Report
What's the story
Families of protesters killed in Iran's ongoing demonstrations have alleged that authorities are demanding large sums of money to release their bodies. The BBC reported that the bodies are being held in mortuaries and hospitals across the country. At least 2,435 people have been killed since the protests began on December 29, 2024, according to Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA).
Financial extortion
Families face financial demands for body release
In Rasht, a family was asked to pay 700 million tomans (about $5,000) for their loved one's body. The family told BBC that the body was being stored at the Poursina Hospital mortuary among at least 70 other deceased protestors. In another case, a family in Tehran was forced to turn back after they were told that they must pay a billion tomans (around $7,000) if they wanted the body of their son, a Kurdish seasonal construction worker, back.
Case
Hospitals informing families to collect bodies
Such cases have become so rampant that hospital staff have started calling the families of the deceased to give them advance warning to come and retrieve the bodies before security forces can extort. BBC Persian was told that a woman, who did not know her husband was killed, received a phone call on January 9 on his phone from hospital staff. They informed her she needed to come quick and get his body before security forces came and demanded payment.
Conditional release
Authorities offer conditional release of bodies
Reports also suggest that Tehran's Behesht-e Zahra mortuary officials have offered to release bodies without charge if families claim the deceased were Basij paramilitary members killed by protesters. A family member told BBC Persian they were asked to attend a pro-government rally and portray the body as a martyr's, which they refused. "We were asked to participate in a pro-government rally and portray the body as that of a martyr. We did not agree to this," they said.
Desperate measures
Families resort to desperate measures to retrieve bodies
In a separate incident, families in Tehran broke into a mortuary, fearing authorities would take their loved ones' bodies. They stood guard until they could arrange private transport. The protests erupted over the plummeting value of Iran's currency and have since turned against the clerical regime. Security forces have responded with violent crackdowns, leading to thousands of deaths and arrests.