Iran
Protests erupted in November after the government announced a 300% increase in the cost of fuel. File photo: Rudaw
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Iranian authorities are offering "blood money" to relatives of protesters killed in November's nationwide protests in an attempt to deflect responsibility for their deaths away from security forces, sources close to relatives of the slain have told Rudaw.
Burhan Manswrnya, a Kurdish man from Kermanshah, western Iran, was injured on November 16, 2019 as security forces opened fire on protesters. He died in hospital 35 hours later following heavy blood loss and the reluctance of medical staff to treat those injured.
Now his family is reportedly being pressured to register their son as a “martyr,” implying he was killed by protesters and not by government forces.
“Government agencies have finalized Manswrnya’s dossier for his registration as a martyr, and the only thing remaining is the permission of his family,” a close acquaintance of the family, who wished to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals from security forces, told Rudaw.
Families are reportedly offered $30,000 as “blood money” and a monthly pension of a little over $300 by the Iranian government if they register their dead as “martyrs,” which involves speaking on television to distance their relatives from the protests. Other privileges such as university places and guaranteed employment in the public sector are also offered.
Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) confirmed to Rudaw that such pressure is indeed exercised by authorities. The number of cases cannot be confirmed, KHRN has said, for fear of endangering the affected families.
On November 15, protests emerged across Iran following a 300% increase in fuel costs amid crushing US sanctions. The protests were met with merciless repression, leaving at least 1,500 people dead.
Manswrnya, a graduate of Urmia university, was serving in Kermanshah’s Disciplinary Police as part of his compulsory military service, which was slated to be over by November 18. Having studied veterinary medicine, he often volunteered to treat the livestock of poor people for free.
Despite being part of the Disciplinary Police, Manswrnya joined the protestors that day. He spoke to one of his brothers at 5:30 pm. Fifteen minutes later, security forces opened fire, killing 8 people alongside him and injuring scores others.
Manswrnya’s older brother took him to Farabi hospital, where medical staff refused to treat any protestors.
They then waited for another hour and a half for an ambulance to arrive to take Manswrnya, bleeding heavily, to Talaqani hospital. Under popular pressure, the hospital began admitting injured protestors. Half an hour later, Manswrnya was in the operating theater.
“Burhan’s body had become numb and had lost much blood. They conducted the surgery without even using anesthesia, which lasted until 1:30 am,” the acquaintance added.
Despite his critical condition, he was not taken to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). His doctor did not answer nurses, and made a much delayed visit. The doctor eventually sent Manswrnya to the ICU, where he shortly died after.
Manswrnya had told family members that special forces had shot him. After his death, his corpse was taken to the Medico-Legal Department. His body was returned to his family, but badly damaged.
“Burhan’s blood is respected among the people. He has become a source of pride for his family, his death a source of pride. The government wants to show that Burhan was not related to the protests and that protestors had shot and killed him,” another family acquaintance who also wished to remain anonymous due to safety concerns told Rudaw.
KHRN confirmed other cases of families whose members were killed being pressured in the Iranian Kurdish cities of Kermanshah, Mariwan, Sanandaj, and Javanrud.
“Some families, due to the pressure of security agencies, have accepted that their dead be registered as Iran’s martyr," added KHRN.
The efforts of security agencies matches with the official rhetoric of the regime, who have claimed that protestors are saboteurs who had shot people from behind to create “martyrs” for their protests.
“A lot of time, Hoshang Bazwand, the governor of Kermanshah, and Bahman Rayhani, the commander of IRGC’s Kermanshah branch, have called Manswrnya’s family to visit them, but the family doesn’t want this and has, under different pretexts, declined their meeting,” the source explained to Rudaw.
Manswmya’s family fought to retrieve his corpse, and were made to sign a pledge not to speak to any media regarding their son’s case.
The family took his corpse to their home in Gilyah, Kurdistan province by private ambulance, amid fears Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) would confiscate the body. They buried him at night, on November 20.
A source from the Martyr’s Foundation of Mariwan had told the family that if they were to postpone his burial by another day, the IRGC would have confiscated the body and buried him as their “martyr”.
The family has since tried to file a medical negligence lawsuit against Talaqani hospital and Kermanshah police, and have even hired a lawyer. The lawyer has told them that the case requires the coroner’s report and Manswyma’s hospital’s file, which are proving hard to obtain from the hospital and local intelligence office.
Reporting by Fuad Haghighi
Translation by Mohammed Rwanduzy
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