Friday , 29 March 2024

‘Grave sleepers’ shock Iranians

Al-monitor – On Dec. 27, Shahrvand daily ran an article that shocked ordinary Iranians and officials alike. The piece, titled “Living inside the grave,” reported on how a group of homeless people had taken shelter in a cemetery close to Shahriar, a town in Tehran province.


AUTHOR
Rohollah Faghihi

“It’s been a month since the cold led the homeless to settle in the big cemetery of Nasir Abad in the suburbs of Shahriar. Some are living inside the cemetery and the pre-prepared graves, and a few families are [residing] around the cemetery,” Shahrvand reported.

According to the daily, “Inside the cemetery, there are 300 pre-prepared graves, 20 of which have been occupied by at least 50 homeless people. One person or sometimes three or four people live inside each grave.”

Shahrvand continued, “These graves are mostly used for sleeping and are vacant during the day, while [these] people are away to collect waste products or beg in order to make money for drugs and food.”

The guard of the cemetery told Shahrvand, “The first days they came here, we forced them out, but the number of them is high, and they have no other place to go. … Some of them were taken to [a drug rehabilitation] center, but many of them escaped the center and returned here.” He added, “Almost all of them are addicts.”

The report prompted many reactions. Asghar Farhadi, the famous Oscar-winning director, wrote a damning open letter to President Hassan Rouhani on Dec. 27, saying, “Today, I read the shocking report on the lives of men, women and children who are living inside graves of a cemetery near Tehran. … I read it and I’m completely choked with shame right now.”

Noting the hard-liners’ possible plans to use the controversy as a political tool, Farhadi continued, “I suggest that at least to create diversity in terms of writing today’s history — which will shock [those in] the future — sometimes officials [should] walk anonymously among the people without any entourage.”

Moreover, Mohammad Ali Abtahi, a deputy of former Reformist President Mohammad Khatami, wrote on his Instagram account Dec. 27, “The ‘grave sleepers’ report shook Iran. … Injustice and poverty should be the concern of all officials and sides. All Iranian officials are equally guilty for the social crises, poverty and corruption. I wish the sensitivities of the senior clergy, top managers and officials of the administration, the judiciary and parliament to marginal issues be replaced by [focus on] the people’s problems.”

On Dec. 28, Rouhani, while giving a speech at a meeting involving the supervision of government, said, “I read the letter of one of the artists yesterday that was very painful. Some live in [cardboard] boxes or under bridges due to poverty, but I have heard less about the grave sleepers. … How can the honorable nation that sacrificed its life for the Prophet’s [Muhammad] household tolerate seeing some of its countrymen take shelter in graves to escape the cold weather? This is intolerable for the government and the people.”

On the same day, the office of public outreach of the president announced that it would pursue the matter of the “grave sleepers” to address their dire situation.

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