Fortieth-Day Memorials Test Iran’s Crackdown

Families across Iran will mark the end of the traditional 40-day mourning period this week for those killed at the peak of a bloody crackdown from Jan. 8 to Jan. 10. How they observe those ceremonies will test both the reach of the state’s suppression and the opposition’s ability to find new ways to defy the leadership.

"They’ve reinvented this with a revolutionary rage," said Arash Azizi, noting that dissidents have turned the rites into boisterous, celebratory affairs that reject the Islamic Republic’s austere rule. Some mourners plan cemetery gatherings; others are avoiding mosques and graves, renting event halls to evade religious rites and the authorities’ attention.

Iran

iran, crackdown, 40-day, memorials, mourning rites, jan 8-10, cemetery gatherings, event halls, dissidents, state suppression