The first anniversary of the death of green
student protester Mostafa Ghanian was held in Mashhad last Thursday under the
watchful eyes of the security forces and plainclothes agents. But despite the
intimidations, thousands of people and green opposition supporters participated
in this program which was held at Imam Reza's mausoleum.
Mostafa Ghanian
The family of Mostafa Ghanian once again stressed
the innocence of their son and thanked the people of Mashhad for their sympathy
and participation.
Video of the
memorial held in Mashhad
Background (source: Amir Kabir Newsletter):
Mostafa Ghanian
Mostafa Ghanian, 26, a graduate of architectural engineering, was shot to
death by sharp shooters hidden in the surrounding buildings on the evening of
June 17 while he was calling Allah-O-Akbar (god is great) from the roof of an
eight-story building in Saadat-Abad section in Tehran.
In the evening of June 17, Mohammad-Taghi Ghanian, Mostafa's father and a
well-known revolutionary figure from the city of Mash-had in the previous
regime, had just returned to Iran from a trip to Germany, and went to his son's
student apartment directly from the airport.
According to Mr. Ghanian senior, his son went to the roof of the building to
call out Allah-O-Akbar as a sign of protest, and sometime later he heard a loud
commotion coming from inside the building. Then, one of the neighbors knocked
on the apartment door and told the father that his son needed him on the roof.
When the father reached the roof, other attendants in the roof told him that he
must stay low due to shootings - and soon the father pulled his dying son into
his arms. He had been gravely shot in the head - minutes later, the son died in
the arms of his grieving father.
After few days, the family members of Martyr Ghanian received his body from the
coroner's office with intervention from the office of Vaez Tabasi, who is an old
friend of Mr. Ghanian's father. The family registered a complaint against the
murders and complied with an order not to hold any mourning ceremonies.
File Video: Mostafa Ghanian's Father speaking at the mourning ceremony
