Another case of violent rape and murder.

A horror film in words!

Rouhi Shafii

 Some news are easy to believe and some need more time for the reader to digest. The number of the disappeared in the post-election Iran is not known. Many families are still searching for the loved ones. What I am about to write are taken from various sources. Together, they make a full horror picture.

A few days ago, I read about the unmarked graves in a new plot in Behesht-zahra cemetrey in south of Tehran. Then the story of the bodies that were kept in the freezers, the frozen bodies at the washing halls of the cemetrety in the middle of the night!

Usually, bodies brought to the washing halls are washed during the normal working hours. But!

The daughter of a woman worker at the cemetery spoke of the unsual hours her mother was summoned to wash bodies and prepare them for burial. When quized by her daughter and after a firm promise that she would not disclose the information, the mother spoke of the frozen bodies and the difficulties the workers had to de-frost them before the wash especially when the work had to finish before dawn. In some cases there were so many bodies that it would take longer and the foreman would rush the workers to wrap the corpses half-frozen. Unusual though, sometimes the male workers were brought in against objections by the female workers to help finish the job!

Later, some employee at the registery office of the cemetrey spoke of the unmarked graves in a new plot. When these pieces of news leaked out the director of the cemetrey denied everything. A few days ago he was removed from his post!

Saideh Pour-aghaie was the only daughter of an injured war veteran. Her father died a few years ago of the injuries inflicted during the Iran-Iraq war. Saideh and her mother lived on their own. Saideh, though very religious and traditional, like thousands of Iranian youth could not stand by and watch her votes stolen from her. She never attended any rally or street demonstration. All she did was the rooftop chanting at nights. One day, three women and two men went to their house and took Sadideh away. Her mother looked everywhere, searched everywhere with no use.  Saideh´s raped and mutilated body was among those who were buried in those unmarked graves! Last week a simple ceremony was held to commomerate Saideh. Some senoir members of the Green movement attended the ceremoney.