Iran
Mourners gather in an alleyway in the Iranian Kurdish city of Sanandaj, western Iran. Photo: Rudaw
SANANDAJ, Iran — Traditions always evolve to adapt to the times we live in. On the dusty ground of an alleyway in the Iranian Kurdish city of Sanandaj, a large crowd gathered to mourn the death of a family member, in an odd mix of traditional and non-traditional ways.
Elderly women wailed, scratching their cheeks until they nearly drew blood; while a young woman shrieked in a high-pitched voice, crying the loudest among them. Their appearance was one of deep shock and bereavement at the death of their relative.
In this part of the country, mourning usually comes with an intense display of emotion bordering on asceticism. But the scene also had a distinctly contemporary aspect from the COVID-19 era, with each person spaced by a few meters, apparently fearing transmission of the novel coronavirus.
“What a blow this loss has dealt to us! God, let no one suffer what we are going through,” said the mourning woman while beating her own body out of grief. A high wind carrying dust swept down the alley amid the loud mourning of men and women, adding to the already distressing atmosphere.
This was the funeral of Fayaq Fathi, a 54-year-old man, held Tuesday in an alley of Naisar neighborhood, eastern Sanandaj.
“My father is in the graveyard, my mother is in hospital, and my brother is at home self-quarantining,” said the deceased man’s 34-year-old son Sirwan, weeping. “I hope no one will suffer what we have been going through.”
Fathi, who tested positive for coronavirus 23 days ago, died on Tuesday at the Tawhid Hospital in Sanandaj. He was one of 7,627 Iranians reported to have died of COVID-19 in Iranian Kurdistan — although actual numbers are almost certainly higher than the official count.
Fathi had made a living for himself and four family members driving a taxi for 20 years. Mourners told me that poverty had forced him to work even during the lockdown imposed by the Iranian government to contain the spread of the deadly pandemic. It is said that the taxi driver ignored health precautions, not wearing a mask or gloves when shuttling so many across the city.
“Do not worry. Nothing wrong will happen to me,” mourners remembered him saying frequently.
The story didn’t end there: two days after the taxi driver tested positive for the virus, his wife and elder son also tested positive, and the family was quarantined in hospital. “My mother stayed in the quarantine section and they advised my brother to self-isolate and quarantine himself at home given that he just had light symptoms,” Sirwan Fathi told Rudaw English.
After four days, the family received a call from the hospital saying their father was in stable condition and would be discharged from hospital soon. But his health then deteriorated due to a diabetic condition, and he had to be readmitted. Four days later, the family came to visit, and upon arrival found an empty hospital bed.
With more than 141,591 cases as of Thursday morning, Iran has been among the hardest hit in the Middle East. The Iranian government was slow to announce lockdown measures to limit the epidemic.
Already suffering from severe economic hardships, the government was forced to gradually relax the lockdown measures by allowing small and medium-sized businesses to reopen to ease the burden on the public, paving the way for another surge of COVID-19 cases.
Struggles under sanctions
“All this happened because of our miserable economic conditions. Had my father not been forced to go out to work, he would not have contracted the virus and our family not destroyed,” lamented Sirwan.
“More heartbreaking than the death of my father was the way he was buried. Only my sister and I were allowed to attend the burial procession. We stood a few meters from the grave while he was being buried by the municipality workers.”
The number of coronavirus cases is on the rise in Kurdistan Province as around 50 to 70 cases are recorded on a daily basis by local authorities. The total number of infections in the province has now reached more than 2,700 with 150 deaths.
“The living conditions of those who have lost their jobs because of coronavirus must be hellish,” Kiwmars Bahmani, 41, a bank employee in Sanandaj told Rudaw English.
Although he has a modest salary, four times that of a common day laborer, Bahmani, a father of one, worries that inflation and the high cost of housing will render his salary inadequate to cover monthly expenditures. “I am forced to go into debt,” Mahmani said.
Return to rural living
The lack of jobs and months of punishing inflation brought on by COVID-19 have driven an exodus of Iran’s urban denizens. Finding it increasingly difficult to make ends meet, they have returned to countryside villages in droves seeking a more frugal life.
The virus outbreak comes during an arduous economic period caused by a new round of sanctions the Trump administration has imposed on Tehran since November 2018.
Payam Qurbani, 42, a barber, saw his business come to a halt three months ago and is now without an income. “In these times, people do not care too much about getting a haircut,” he told Rudaw English.
Although he has saved money for 20 years, Qurbani hasn’t been able to afford buying a house or the expenses required for a man to get married. Until recently, he lived with his mother in downtown Sanandaj, paying 500,000 tomans in rent – about $30.
“After our contract ended [for the year,] the owner of the house doubled the rent,” Qubani said. So he and his mother decided to return to the old house they owned back in the village they had left 20 years ago. “We came back … to live in our old house and help reduce our expenses.”
He had pinned his hopes for a better life on his barbershop. “When I started the business, I thought I would be able buy a car and a house and get married by now,” he sighed. “My years are all gone, and I never managed to fulfill any of my dreams.”
A nearly three-fold increase in rent prices compared to last year has sparked anger and worry among locals in Sanandaj. Kawa Padshaiy, who has worked in the real estate sector for 15 years, says the outlook is not promising. “The price of rent is on the rise and it has never been as bad as this year,” he told Rudaw English.
“Three months ago, I rented out an apartment which now costs double to rent,” he said, attributing the price hike to an increase in the price of construction materials, a sector targeted by US sanctions.
“The real estate market is reliant on state-level political events. The US sanctions have targeted this sector as well causing inflation,” said Padshaiy.
“Unless the political situation normalizes, the inflation will press on.”
Translation by Zhelwan Z. Wali, editing by Shawn Carrié and Yasmine Mosimann
Elderly women wailed, scratching their cheeks until they nearly drew blood; while a young woman shrieked in a high-pitched voice, crying the loudest among them. Their appearance was one of deep shock and bereavement at the death of their relative.
In this part of the country, mourning usually comes with an intense display of emotion bordering on asceticism. But the scene also had a distinctly contemporary aspect from the COVID-19 era, with each person spaced by a few meters, apparently fearing transmission of the novel coronavirus.
“What a blow this loss has dealt to us! God, let no one suffer what we are going through,” said the mourning woman while beating her own body out of grief. A high wind carrying dust swept down the alley amid the loud mourning of men and women, adding to the already distressing atmosphere.
This was the funeral of Fayaq Fathi, a 54-year-old man, held Tuesday in an alley of Naisar neighborhood, eastern Sanandaj.
“My father is in the graveyard, my mother is in hospital, and my brother is at home self-quarantining,” said the deceased man’s 34-year-old son Sirwan, weeping. “I hope no one will suffer what we have been going through.”
Fathi, who tested positive for coronavirus 23 days ago, died on Tuesday at the Tawhid Hospital in Sanandaj. He was one of 7,627 Iranians reported to have died of COVID-19 in Iranian Kurdistan — although actual numbers are almost certainly higher than the official count.
Fathi had made a living for himself and four family members driving a taxi for 20 years. Mourners told me that poverty had forced him to work even during the lockdown imposed by the Iranian government to contain the spread of the deadly pandemic. It is said that the taxi driver ignored health precautions, not wearing a mask or gloves when shuttling so many across the city.
“Do not worry. Nothing wrong will happen to me,” mourners remembered him saying frequently.
The story didn’t end there: two days after the taxi driver tested positive for the virus, his wife and elder son also tested positive, and the family was quarantined in hospital. “My mother stayed in the quarantine section and they advised my brother to self-isolate and quarantine himself at home given that he just had light symptoms,” Sirwan Fathi told Rudaw English.
After four days, the family received a call from the hospital saying their father was in stable condition and would be discharged from hospital soon. But his health then deteriorated due to a diabetic condition, and he had to be readmitted. Four days later, the family came to visit, and upon arrival found an empty hospital bed.
With more than 141,591 cases as of Thursday morning, Iran has been among the hardest hit in the Middle East. The Iranian government was slow to announce lockdown measures to limit the epidemic.
Already suffering from severe economic hardships, the government was forced to gradually relax the lockdown measures by allowing small and medium-sized businesses to reopen to ease the burden on the public, paving the way for another surge of COVID-19 cases.
Struggles under sanctions
“All this happened because of our miserable economic conditions. Had my father not been forced to go out to work, he would not have contracted the virus and our family not destroyed,” lamented Sirwan.
“More heartbreaking than the death of my father was the way he was buried. Only my sister and I were allowed to attend the burial procession. We stood a few meters from the grave while he was being buried by the municipality workers.”
The number of coronavirus cases is on the rise in Kurdistan Province as around 50 to 70 cases are recorded on a daily basis by local authorities. The total number of infections in the province has now reached more than 2,700 with 150 deaths.
“The living conditions of those who have lost their jobs because of coronavirus must be hellish,” Kiwmars Bahmani, 41, a bank employee in Sanandaj told Rudaw English.
Although he has a modest salary, four times that of a common day laborer, Bahmani, a father of one, worries that inflation and the high cost of housing will render his salary inadequate to cover monthly expenditures. “I am forced to go into debt,” Mahmani said.
Return to rural living
The lack of jobs and months of punishing inflation brought on by COVID-19 have driven an exodus of Iran’s urban denizens. Finding it increasingly difficult to make ends meet, they have returned to countryside villages in droves seeking a more frugal life.
The virus outbreak comes during an arduous economic period caused by a new round of sanctions the Trump administration has imposed on Tehran since November 2018.
Payam Qurbani, 42, a barber, saw his business come to a halt three months ago and is now without an income. “In these times, people do not care too much about getting a haircut,” he told Rudaw English.
Although he has saved money for 20 years, Qurbani hasn’t been able to afford buying a house or the expenses required for a man to get married. Until recently, he lived with his mother in downtown Sanandaj, paying 500,000 tomans in rent – about $30.
“After our contract ended [for the year,] the owner of the house doubled the rent,” Qubani said. So he and his mother decided to return to the old house they owned back in the village they had left 20 years ago. “We came back … to live in our old house and help reduce our expenses.”
He had pinned his hopes for a better life on his barbershop. “When I started the business, I thought I would be able buy a car and a house and get married by now,” he sighed. “My years are all gone, and I never managed to fulfill any of my dreams.”
A nearly three-fold increase in rent prices compared to last year has sparked anger and worry among locals in Sanandaj. Kawa Padshaiy, who has worked in the real estate sector for 15 years, says the outlook is not promising. “The price of rent is on the rise and it has never been as bad as this year,” he told Rudaw English.
“Three months ago, I rented out an apartment which now costs double to rent,” he said, attributing the price hike to an increase in the price of construction materials, a sector targeted by US sanctions.
“The real estate market is reliant on state-level political events. The US sanctions have targeted this sector as well causing inflation,” said Padshaiy.
“Unless the political situation normalizes, the inflation will press on.”
Translation by Zhelwan Z. Wali, editing by Shawn Carrié and Yasmine Mosimann
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