Amir Arshad Tajmir; 'His homeland was seventy million Iranians'

The victims of 88 recount the stories of those who lost their lives during protests against the results of an election. These are the tales of individuals whose lives ended after the tenth presidential election in Iran in June 2009. The stories of citizens who were killed by direct gunfire during protest marches, beaten in the streets or in prison, inhaled tear gas, had police vehicles run over them, thrown from pedestrian bridges, and other violent methods. With the death of each person, the lives of one or several families fell into insecurity and crisis. Winter has just arrived, and the city is dressed in black. On the sixth of Dey, 1388, coinciding with Ashura, several months have passed since the tenth presidential election in Iran, yet the streets of Tehran are still filled with those protesting the election results. Many young people have organized through Facebook and social networks to express their dissent on Ashura. Amir Arshad Tajmir, a 25-year-old and the youngest child in the family, has a strong and pure emotional bond with his parents. Despite this, when his mother stands before him with concern and asks him not to go to the streets today, he cannot bear to not accompany the protesting people. In those early days, I had a conversation with Shahin Mohinfar, Amir Arshad Tajmir's mother, who said: 'Amir Arshad said, I am going for my homeland. I said no, don't go, you are my homeland. He said, don't be selfish, your homeland is Amir Arshad Tajmir, my homeland is seventy million people of Iran.' It is noon on Ashura, and the crowd is moving, chanting. Riot police are on both sides of the crowd, and plainclothes forces are reportedly mingling among the crowd on motorcycles. From June to Ashura, many protesters have been killed. For this reason, the people are angry, and this anger is evident in their slogans. When the crowd loudly chants harsh slogans against the regime, suddenly the sound of gunfire rings out, and tear gas smoke swirls among the crowd. Amir Arshad anxiously looks around. The sounds of people's coughing and their chants intertwine. People set fire to garbage bins at the street corners to rid themselves of the tear gas. Angry protesters search for stones and pebbles to throw on the ground, in the garden beside the street, under trees and hedges. Amir Arshad hears the screams of several women who are caught under the feet of baton-wielding agents and are screaming. One of the agents drags a young woman across the concrete street, and another is attacking her with a baton. Amir Arshad's mother, a well-known and experienced broadcaster of Iranian radio, recounts that the girls Amir Arshad went to help later came to her and shared the story of what happened to them on Ashura 88: 'People were booing when they were being beaten. Amir Arshad shouted, 'What pain does booing them relieve? They are our sisters and mothers; we must save them.' When Amir Arshad saved them, people told him to run, run before they catch you.' Amir Arshad gets up, keeping one eye on the agents and the other searching for a way to escape when suddenly a police vehicle speeds toward him. Amir Arshad runs breathlessly from the middle of the street to the sidewalk to find a safe place. The police vehicle is moving fast. Panic has gripped the passersby and protesters. People hurriedly seek refuge on the sidewalks, Amir continues to run, but time is running out. People see young Amir Arshad left behind under the wheels of the police vehicle. A few rush from the sidewalks toward the street, wanting to help Amir Arshad and another young man named Shahram Farajzadeh, who was also run over by the police vehicle, but the driver of the police vehicle reverses and runs over both of them again at a higher speed. The bodies now crushed lie before the eyes of the people. Blood spills on the concrete street. Bystanders are too shocked to help. A few, unable to bear the heartbreaking sight, collapse on the street and wail uncontrollably. News spreads among the people and media that several protesters were run over by a police vehicle, and then the people took them to the hospital. Amir Arshad Tajmir's brother is the first to inform their parents that his younger brother is one of the casualties of Ashura. He wrote on his Facebook page about that day: 'Ashura, noon of Ashura, the burned police pickup at the intersection of Hafez and my heartbeat that quickened from that moment and has not calmed down... Boulevard Keshavarz... Sasan Hospital... the terrified pink epaulettes... Shahram, and Amir Arshad with that satisfied and bloody smile... the street... high-end cars that blocked the road for donations... and the sudden burst of sobs... and this wish that God never makes me the bearer of any news again...' Amir Arshad's brother becomes the bearer of the news, and the news reaches the parents. The father collapses on the ground with his chest and face in the dirt. This is Behesht Zahra... No one can stop the cries of Amir Arshad Tajmir's mother. Brigadier General Ahmadreza Radan stands before the camera of the Islamic Republic's television and confirms the news of the protesters' deaths on Ashura. 'Two people were killed by a vehicle in an accident, and according to information provided by the people, the incident is under investigation by the police to identify the vehicle and driver.' The father of Amir Arshad stands by his son's grave. One witness to the incident, Leila Tosali, the daughter of Mohammad Tosali, a prominent activist of the Freedom Movement, was seen in a video published on YouTube. She saw the body of a man who died under the wheels of the vehicle on the asphalt of the street. The witness was later arrested and sent to prison for having spoken to the media and stated that she saw with her own eyes the police vehicle run over the bodies of the protesters. People hear news about the clashes on Ashura through the official television of the Islamic Republic. However, there is no news of identifying or arresting those who shot at the people or those who ran over the protesters with vehicles. The television continuously reports on the Ashura march and labels the protesters against the election results as thugs and those who marched against the sanctities. Shahin Mohinfar leaves the national media forever after 25 years of work. Her heartfelt writings on her Facebook page resonate with the people. Those who have memories of this woman's voice on famous radio programs now read the writings of a woman who says she carries a heavy heart but is proud of her Amir Arshad, who was not indifferent when he went to save his sisters while they were screaming under the rain of batons. She says she is heartbroken remembering that her son went to the streets empty-handed but was met with bullets: 'Innocent... the only thing I cannot believe is that my young, healthy, strong, well-educated, and kind child was killed for no reason, not just my child but all the other youths... The calamity that befell my Amir Arshad was horrifying; they crushed my child alive three times, for what? I am dying; my child died in agony, innocent... They should look into my eyes, have the courage to look, so I can tell them, you killed my child for no reason, but I wish you never see the grief of your beloved ones.'