Families Say Iranian Authorities Are Demanding Money to Release Protesters’ Bodies

Overview

• Reports relayed by O Globo from BBC Persian describe hospitals and morgues under security control withholding remains unless large sums are paid.
• Specific cases include demands of about 700 million tomans in Rasht and 1 billion tomans in Tehran, with bodies kept at facilities such as Poursina Hospital and forensic centers.
• Some relatives say officials offered to waive payment if families declared the deceased as Basij members and presented them as martyrs at Behesht-e Zahra.
• Accounts include families forcing entry into a Tehran morgue to recover corpses and then guarding them for hours to prevent authorities from taking them back.
• International monitors and HRANA estimate roughly 2,000 to 12,000 deaths and tens of thousands detained since late-December protests, while at the UN Security Council the United States said all options are on the table to deter further killings.