Grieving Iranians cowed into silence beside the graves of protesters

By Joseph Ataman, Frederik Pleitgen, Claudia Otto, CNN

Tehran (CNN) — On Thursday evenings, Tehran’s largest cemetery comes to life as people flock to pay their respects to lost loved ones.

Weeks after thousands were killed in a bloody crackdown on protests against the government, the ritual has taken on new significance as families of the dead grieve.

“I’ve never seen the cemetery so busy in my life,” one woman tells CNN.

Alongside the bodies of martyrs from Iran’s past wars, the dusty earth of Behesht-e Zahra cemetery now cradles the remains of protesters killed in January’s protests, the latest conflict to rake Iran’s streets.

In one small patch, nestled among the graves of Iranian soldiers killed by Israeli bombs last year, a handful of new graves marks security officers killed during the demonstrations.

Relatives hum around the graves, many of them women clad in the black ankle-length chadors favored by Iranian conservatives.

A few minutes’ drive away, at the far edge of the cemetery, small crowds stand gathered across the wide plain of headstones. Rectangular graves lie covered with flowers and petals, awaiting their monotone stone slabs. On some, a photo of a young man or smiling young woman looks out at the nearby carpet of gravestones.

‘So many words to say’

More cars roll past, disgorging mourners.

As we walk among them, families offer trays of sweets and tea.

Around the grave of one young man, his mother and grandmother quietly sob, his friends crouched down by the small mat of flower stems. One relative, her eyes wet with tears, says they searched for four hours for his body in Kahrizak morgue, where the remains of many protesters were taken.

Fearful the violence of the state would pursue his family even in death, she asked us not to film the gathering.

Meters away, around another young man’s final resting place, we observe a similar huddle.

“We have so many words to say,” his friend blurts out to us, quickly silenced by the anxious whispers of his father, stepping between us.

CNN was allowed into the country with the government’s permission to get a limited view of what’s happening on the ground.

Pain in the pockets

Outside Tehran’s Grand Bazaar, locals are more ready to talk.

Iranians have two choices, one young woman who gives her name only as Sagher, tells CNN: “They either go on the street and get killed by weapons or stay at home and die of hunger.”

“Trump made some promises to us,” she said of the US president’s early-January posts promising backing for protesters against Iran’s government. “All the young people came to the streets relying on his words,” she added.

Hadis, a shopkeeper visiting the bazaar to buy supplies, says nothing the government does now can restore trust following January’s violent crackdown. CNN is only using her first name for safety reasons.

“There is a sense of despair among people,” she says. “We have taken this course several times. I believe this will be the end of everything.”

The bazaar was ground zero for the protests, which were sparked by the country’s dire economic situation and hyper-inflation.

Hadis says vendors have recently stopped accepting business cheques and that growing geopolitical tensions are causing sudden shifts in the price of Iran’s currency against the dollar.

With prices that day up 20-30% on the day before, she said she wasn’t able to purchase anything for her shop selling accessories.

“Dollar and gold prices are increasing every day and the inflation is crazy high,” Tehran resident Sagher said. “The price of a single item may be 100,000 tomans ($0.77) today and it may increase to 200,000 tomorrow.”

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