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Mother of Mostafa Karim Beigi, one of the protesters killed in December 27 protest: “My son told me never to beg the officials.”
Fereshteh Ghazi-Rooz Online
"He was always saying that it is not clear how much blood will be shed before our children could live freely in the future. He constantly reminded me that if he gets arrested I shouldn’t go to Evin prison. He even said: “Your cry and begging before the officials is the worst type of torture for me. Don`t go there, even if they kill me. Don`t cry, don`t beg. Keep your head up…”
After more than two months since the Ashura uprising on December 27, 2009, the names and identity of some of those killed on this day remains unknown. Many of the families of those killed are under pressure not to speak out on how their loved ones have been killed.
However, Shahnaz Akmali, the mother of Mostafa Karim Beigi continues to insist that those who ordered and those who committed the murder of her sons and other Ashura Day`s victims to be identified and tried.
26 year old Mostafa lost his life on Ashura with a bullet to his forehead, as his body was pushed off the College bridge in Tehran.
What follows is the interview conducted by Rooz website with Mostaf`s mother. After 14 days without any news on his fate, the body of her son was returned to her and was buried under tight security measures.
Q: Ms. Akmali, how were you informed of your son`s martyrdom?
A: I had no news of my son for 14 days; our family were looking for him by going to Evin prison everyday, but nobody would respond to our inquiries. We went to complain, the security agents had a repulsive and awful reaction to our request, and told me: “Go find your son in a ditch, and get him out…your kid has definitely done some crack and is in some dumpster.” I told them my son wasn’t even smoking cigarettes, and had left his house to protest the killing of the youth of our country. When we went to Tehran`s central police station, I saw Mostafa`s photo, but they told me I was mistaken and this person is not your son, and he had already been identified by someone else. I couldn’t believe it. They ask me to go and check the coroner office at Kahrizak¹. I went there and identified my son`s body. He was still wearing a scarf. My whole world came crashing down around me. I don`t remember what happened next, and how they took me out of Kahrizak.
Q: You said that your son had gone to take part in the protest. Did he usually attend such gatherings?
A: Yea, since the summer of 1999 student uprising, he always attended the protests. And he was present at all the protests since the June 2009 election. He used to say that we would get our votes back, and we will not let them trample upon blood of the youth who had lost their lives. He was always saying that it is not clear how much blood will be shed before our children could live freely in the future. He constantly reminded me that if he gets arrested I shouldn’t go to Evin prison. He even said: “Your cry and begging before the officials is the worst type of torture for me. Don`t go there, even if they kill me. Don`t cry, don`t beg. Keep your head up…” Believe me in those 14 days, I never once went to Evin, his father used to go, despite the fact that my heart was in pain, I didn’t go.
Q: Did you know that Mostafa had participated in protest of Ashura?
A: Yea, I knew, he would go and join the people.
Q: There were some reports on how you were being harassed by a phone call from your son`s cellphone. Were they true? Did anybody contact you during those 14 days?
A: Yea, every night between 2:30am to 3:00am, somebody would call our house, but they wouldn’t speak. Sometimes we could hear them breathe. My husband and I were thinking it was our son who contacted us, but they wouldn’t let him speak. We would cry out of joy, because we were led to believe our son was alive.
Q: How long did these phone calls last?
A: They lasted until the day we identified my son`s body, then they stopped.
Q: When was the body of Mostafa returned to you? In what condition was it?
A: Mostafa was martyred on December 27th, and we identified the body on January 9, 2010, and we buried him overnight on January 11th. There was a bullet 
hole on the left side of my son`s forehead. They had performed an autopsy on his body, and there was a long stitch from his neck until right below the navel. His kidney, heart and other organs were removed, but we had no problem with that, because he as well as my daughter and myself always said that if we became brain-dead , our body parts and organs should be donated to those in need.
Q: Apparently, they set some conditions for returning your son`s body. Could you explain what was cited as the cause of death in his death certificate?
A: The coroner office told us that he was killed on Ashura, but they issued three death certificates. One cited head collision with a sharp object as the cause of death; the second cited fall from the bridge as the reason; and in the third it was written that he died as a result of a bullet to the head. They returned the body to us contingent on accepting the collision with a sharp object as was cited in the first death certificate. Since we wanted to have the body back, we accepted.
Q: Your family is a resident of Tehran. Why didn`t you bury Mostafa in Behesht-e Zahara (Tehran’s main cemetery)?
A: It was our own decision, because on one hand, they told us that they would give us a two-story grave for free. However, the funeral should be attended only by the father, mother and sister of Mostafa. On the other hand, they asked us to announce that Mostafa was a Basiji. Mostafa’s father said that we wanted to bury him next to his grandmother. As soon as these words left Mostafa’s father mouth, they dug a grave in the village of Jogheen, near Shahryar, and a car from Intelligence Ministry escorted the body to Behesht-e Zahra where, without telling us, they washed the body, and brought to Shahryar to bury. They were filming the entire ordeal. My son was buried at 8 pm, and I was really wishing to bid him farewell, and embrace his body one last time. The grave they had dug was too small, and the body didn’t fit in, so I got a chance to hug my son [while they fixed the grave]. There is one question that I would like you to ask doctors: when the person who was reading Quran entered the grave and held Mostafa’s head, his hands were soaked in blood. He climbed out while crying, and they brought another person. How is it possible that my son who had been killed on December 27th, was still bleeding from his head on January 9th.
"There is one question that I would like you to ask doctors: when the person who was reading Quran entered the grave and held Mostafa’s head, his hands were soaked in blood. He climbed out while crying, and they brought another person. How is it possible that my son who had been killed on December 27th, was still bleeding from his head on January 9th."
Q: Did they allow you to hold a memorial service for Mostafa?
A: We held a memorial ceremony in the neighborhood mosque. It was full of intelligence agents so that no one would protest or says anything. They came to our door a few days later and said your son was a basiji, and we want to bring a wreath for the commemoration of the 40th-day² of his death. I responded that my son wasn’t a basiji, and I wouldn’t even hold a memorial service for that day. That is why we didn’t have a ceremony, and we only gathered at his grave.
Q: Ms. Akmali, was your son a student?
A: No, he had graduated from high school, and was working freelance with one of his friends. They had partnered up in a business of central network telephone installation. They had, for example, contracts from Ministry of Education.
Q: Have have opened a case and asked that those responsible for the murder of your son be held accountable?
A: Yes, the case is open in Criminal Court. The murderer of my son has been identified too, and the officials know very well who he is. However, I don’t want them to execute him. I want those behind these criminal acts to be presented and punished. The person who has ordered the death of my son has to be identified. It’s not important if they bring someone and say he is the shooter. What is important is whomever that has ordered the shooting. He has to be punished. Meanwhile, I have taken my case to the higher court of divine justice, and have asked God to destroy those responsible for these tragedies. We believe in life after death, and we know there is a heaven and hell. I have left it to God.
¹Kahrizak detention centre was a prison camp just outside Tehran which was used in the aftermath of June 2009 disputed election for holding some of the protesters. The horrific conditions in this prison camp, systematic torture and rape of some of the prisoners, and the resulting death of some of the prisoners led to a major scandal that forced the closure of the camp by Ayatollah Khamenei’s order.
²In Iranian and Shiite tradition 7th and 40th day following one’s death is commemorated by mourning ceremonies.
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