February 24, 2011

”My brother loved freedom. He loved life. He was tired and participated in Feb. 14th demonstration like many other youngsters just to say that he loved his country. Now neither myself nor any of my family members can believe that Mohammad is no longer with us. This is so cruel when we see that those who had no relation to my brother stole his coffin.”

These are excerpts by a family member of Mohammad Mokhtari, a 22-year-old who was shot on Feb 14th during a demonstration and subsequently lost his life. After his death, due to security pressures his family has refrained from speaking to the media but Majid Mokhtari has said that he cannot hold back anymore.

Majid Mokhtari is the brother of Mohammad Mokhtari. He had to be hosptialized after hearing of his brother’s death. Now after days of shock and not feeling well, he has come on the internet and was greatly upset when he saw the published pictures of Mohammad Mokhtari’s funeral procession in state media.

He tells Jaras in a phone interview: “It’s like someone is telling me a story. A story about a brother who loved life. But he was killed and someone is trying to change his story. And it is painful to see the lifeless body of my brother on the shoulders of people whose faces are not at all familiar to me, his brother.”

State media had reported that the “revolutionary people” buried the body of Mohammad Mokhtari while chanting slogans against seditions leaders, and that he was killed by Mujahedeen elements! They did not even point out his true identity and Mohammad Mokhtari’s lastest entry into his facebook page which read: “God help me to die standing on my feet as I am tired of living this life of humiliation sitting down”. As such, the bodies of two people who were killed during February 14th demonstrations in Tehran have been stolen by plain clothes thugs and have been buried under the watchful eyes of state security.

Regime supporters have done a similar thing with Sane Jaleh, the other youngster who was killed on Feb. 14th. He was reported by state news agency, Fars News as a having been a “Basij member” (they issued him a fake Basij membership card) and similar funeral processions were held for him.

Majid Mokhtari, the brother of Mohammad Mokhtari has started talking for the first time:

– When did you first hear about the death of your brother Mohammad Mokhtari?

– I live away from Iran and follow the news through the internet. I went out on February 14th. When I returned home I talked with a friend of mine in Iran through Skype and I asked him what was going in Iran. I also followed the news myself through the internet, but I still had no idea. The next morning I went to the university. I was sitting in a classroom and I kept receiving text messages from friends. They kept asking me how I was feeling. This was strange to me. I even received a text message from my uncle asking me where I was. I still didn’t know why everyone was asking me how I was.

Then I noticed a few of my Iranian friends came to the university. I asked them what was going on and they told me that they have just come to the take me out for a walk for no particular reason. While walking, I was also checking my facebook pages. All of a sudden I read a message from a facebook friend who asked me if I was related to the martyr Mohammad Mokhtari?” Suddenly, the Earth shook under my feet and I lost the ability to walk. My friends noticed my condition and held me by my arms and they kept asking if something was wrong! I asked them if they knew anything! Has anything happend to my brother Mohammad? After that I don’t know what happened. My blood pressure went down. It was an incredible shock. It’s not easy to hear the news about your brother’s death, especially when you are far away. It immobilizes you. I was hospitalized sinced last Tuesday and I still cannot believe the news is real.

– When was the last time you talked to Mohammad?

– A few days before February 14 I was in contact with my brother through Facebook. A week prior we talked over Skype. My brother was sitting next to my father and mother and when I asked him about the latest news, he was trying hard to hide the fact from my parents that he was going to go to the demonstrations. He did not want to worry them. Mohammad was a very humorous  man. I talked to my mother after his death. She also cannot believe that Mohammad is gone. My mother was saying that on February 14th she had jokingly told Mohammad: “Let’s sit and have our last lunch together.” My brother went out to the demonstrations, laughing and full of humor and never returned.

– How do you feel when you see the pictures of the funeral procession of your brother, and is the picture of a middle-aged man crying of your father?

– In the beginning the doctors would not allow me to see the pictures in the hospital, but later when I saw them I broke down. Yes, I saw the picture of my father who was hugging another friend of Mohammad and crying. But I don’t know the rest of the people who were carrying the coffin. Who are these bearded and strange looking people burying my brother?  It’s very painful. I looked through all the pictures to see at least a few people with whom my brother had spent time in his life but their numbers were very limited. I don’t know what to say.

This is very cruel that first they kill Mohammad and then they don’t even let us to freely cry for him. I hear that they tell families of martyrs things like: “You have two other sons…so you should be careful about what you say and how you act regarding Mohammad’s death”. Is this justice? There is no reason to kill an innocent person in broad daylight and then when this happens in order to relieve our own conscience we say that he wanted to join his friends! No! He wanted freedom…he was tired of this country…everybody was tired…

– Would you tell me about Mohammad a little? What were some of the things he liked? What dreams did he have?

– I had recently won in the United States Green Card lottery. Mohammad had set all his hopes on me and wanted me to get him out of Iran some day. He wanted to live freely. Now everyone is trying to console me saying that Mohammad met his fate. But I don’t know. He loved sports and music. He loved life. He loved freedom…I cannot believe that all this love is gone. He used to always tell me: “Majid, why have you lost so much weight? You should go to a sports club and take care of yourself.” He himself was always into sports. He loved singing. He was very lively. He was full of life. I used to get emotional and tell him: “They have killed so many people in the demonstrations”. I used to worry for him. But Mohammad was very active on the internet. He had even changed his Facebook profile picture to the poster for February 14th demonstration. And anyone searching for his name on Facebook, would find him with a green wristband and therefore the regime was not able to issue him a fake “Basijs Membership Card”.

– When did you last contact your family and how is their emotional state?

– They are worried. They have lost a dear one. They cannot talk freely and they keep changing the subject. I want to know how they killed my brother. I have heard two different stories. One said that he had a gunshot wound on his head but the other story says that a bullet hit his shoulder area, he fell and got up, tried to move but fell again. As a brother it’s natural for me to want to know which story is true. But whenever I ask my family they are very careful in responding and prefer not to talk about it. I believe that when they warned my family about their other two sons, this was in fact a threat.

– What’s your most important memory of Mohammad?

– All brothers fight at some point. I remember when Mohammad had just lost his best friend, Rouzbeh,  he had turned much more sensitive. Therefore when we got into fights, I used to go make up with him quickly. I loved him so much that I could not bear seeing him hurt. Mohammad and I were not just two brothers. We were friends. We shared a lot. Losing Rouzbeh had really affected him in a negative way. Here, being away from Iran, when I saw a picture of the tombstone of Mohammad, I also saw Rouzbeh’s grave next to his. It’s so difficult to see that my brother with all his life dreams is now buried.

– What would you like to say to the officials?

– I just cannot say anything. It’s painful. It is the highest level of cruelty to try to change someone’s life story! To try to change the identity of the murderer and to try to show things in your own favor…when I see them do these things and how they quickly pick up the coffin and gather around it and wrap it with the Islamic Republic flag, it’s nauseating. I cannot believe that they do these things. I really don’t know how they are going to justify their actions later. This lie is not even the type of lie that Ahmadinejad often tells. This lie is like you know who the murderer is and you are still lying. You are turning everything around 180 degrees right in front of people’s eyes. The whole process was controlled. What can I say. Mohammad loved life. He didn’t deserve to be killed.

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