Family members of demonstrators killed in recent weeks’ protests in Iran have reported that authorities are demanding large sums of money to release the bodies for burial, according to the public broadcaster. BBC.
Various sources heard by the BBC Persianthe broadcaster’s Persian-language service, stated that in some parts of the country, bodies are not released from hospitals and funeral homes to family members unless they pay sums estimated at between 700 million and 1 billion tomans (about US$5,000 to US$7,000).
The broadcaster highlights that, in many cases, workers’ monthly salaries are less than 100 dollars, which makes it impossible to make these payments.
A family in the northern city of Rasht told the BBC that security forces demanded 700 million tomans ($5,000) to release their loved one’s body. The body was being laid to rest in the Poursina Hospital morgue, along with at least 70 other dead protesters, they said.
In some cases, hospital officials called relatives of the deceased in advance to tell them to quickly remove the bodies before security forces could extort money.
A BBC Persian also received reports that officials at the Behesht-e Zahra morgue in Tehran were telling families that if they claimed that their relative involved in the protests was a member of the Basij paramilitary force and was killed by protesters, the body would be released without charge.
At least 2,435 people have been murdered in protests across the country in recent weeks, according to surveys by human rights observers and sources linked to the regime who spoke anonymously to the press.
