Source: www.radiofarda.com
Radio Farda has learned that following pressure from the Ministry of Intelligence on Baha’i citizens regarding the burial of the bodies of followers of this faith in the Tehran cemetery, “the fate of the bodies of some Baha’i citizens is unknown.”
Informed sources have told Radio Farda that in the past three months there are multiple instances where Baha’i citizens have consigned the bodies of their loved ones to Behesht Zahra Cemetery but are unable to follow through with appropriate burial as they cannot obtain any information on the status of those bodies.
In one case, the body of a Baha’i woman with the last name Rahimian was consigned to Behesht Zahra a few days before Nowruz 1403 (March 2024). At the time of this article her family had not been able to learn the status of Ms. Rahimian’s body. The official documents of Behesht Zahra do not specify whether the body has been buried or kept in the morgue.
In continuation of this trend, Masoud Momeni, a representative of the Ministry of Intelligence at the Baha’i cemetery known as Golestan Javid, prevented the burial of another Baha’i citizen named Nosratollah Ehsani in this cemetery on Friday, June 28, “despite the burial permit”.
The number of missing bodies during this period is not currently known.
According to received reports, some Baha’i citizens have been able to bury the bodies of their relatives in this cemetery, which belongs to the Baha’i community, only by paying the above-referenced Masoud Momeni a sum of fourteen million tomans.
Previously, Radio Farda reported that since the beginning of last year, the Ministry of Intelligence of the Islamic Republic have been forcing Baha’i citizens to bury their deceased in the Khavaran communal cemetery. Khavaran Cemetery is the site of mass graves of political prisoners who were executed during the summer of 1988. It is located in the old area of the Baha’i cemetery in Tehran, Golestan Javid.
According to the Baha’i community, although the lands of the Baha’i cemetery in Tehran belong to this community, an agent of the Ministry of Intelligence who introduces himself as “Masoud Momeni” has demanded a hefty sum for the burial of Baha’is in this cemetery.
In May 2023, four Baha’i Citizens were arrested for “non-compliance.” Shadi Shahidzadeh was arrested while attempting to go through legal channels for permission to bury her grandmother in Behesht Zahra. Mansour Amini, Valiollah Ghadamian, and Ataollah Zafar, who voluntary assist fellow Baha’is with burial arrangements, were arrested in May 2023 in connection with this cemetery.
In July 2023, Branch 26 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court sentenced each of these four people to five years in prison, and they are currently serving their sentences.
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