Islamic Republic security forces prevented the commemoration ceremony for Daryoosh and Parveneh Forouhar and arrested a number of attendees.
The sixteenth anniversary of the death of the couple was to be commemorated on Saturday November 22 at their home, where they were stabbed to death by assailants who entered under the guise of students seeking to interview the political activists for a publication.
Security forces were deployed yesterday on the street and prevented people from attending the ceremony. Reports indicate that despite their efforts, some people such as Nasrin Sotoudeh and Akram Neqabi managed to get through and enter the Forouhar home.
Sotoudeh is a prominent human rights lawyer and Neqabi is the mother of Saeed Zinali, a student activists who was arrested 15 years ago by security forces and has been missing ever since.
Reports indicate that Nargess Mohammadi and Gohar Eshghi were among those prevented from entering and along with others they assembled on the street. Reports add that the security forces confiscated phones, cameras and tablets.
Parastou Forouhar was standing at the door of her parents’ home to meet with the attendees.
For years, the government refused to give permission to hold a ceremony for the slain activists. Last year, when Hassan Rohani took power, permission was granted to their daughter, but on the day of the ceremony, security forces surrounded the location and imposed some restrictions.
Daryoosh Forouhar, the leader of Iranian Nation Party, and his wife, Parvaneh Eskandari, were killed around the same time as Mohammd Jafar Pouyandeh and Mohammad Mokhtari, two dissident writers. These murders are considered as part of systematic move against Iranian dissidents and are referred to as the chain murders.
