It has been about a month that the nationwide November protests in Iran have occurred. Hundreds were killed, the death toll still remains unreleased due to censorship, threats of the regime and irresponsibility of the authorities involved.
The families of the victims are being psychologically tortured and threatened by the officials of the Islamic Republic in several ways:
Firstly, avoidance in providing a detailed report on the death of the victims;
Secondly, delayed delivery of the corpses or delivery in return of an illegal hefty sum, which many families have failed to pay;
Thirdly, threatening the families into concealing their lost member’s name and identity and avoiding interviews with foreign media;
The officials use intimidations, threats and even bribes to make the families admit on a television interview that their lost family member was killed by some of the protestors and not the official police or other official forces. Thus the regime wants to exonerate itself from oppressing the protestors, by announcing the dead “martyrs”, offering ransom and civil benefits to their families to convince them to record such interviews.
The presence of the authorities who have given the death order in the homes of the victims is a case of psychological torture. In addition to the authorities pressuring the families, they try to exonerate/wash the face of the Islamic Republic off the November mass murder and to publicize its propaganda. The families, being under the weight of pressure and threats, can not prevent the authorities attending their funeral parlors. Among those authorities who have visited the families and are responsible for death orders are the secretary of the supreme national security council, Ali Shamkhani and Leila Vaseghi, governor of Ghale Hasankhan, who have direct involvement in the murders of the peaceful November protests.