Tuesday, June 23, 2009

"Despicable details from Iran"

The New Republic highlights the bolded paragraph below, from a Wall St. Journal report on Iran:

On Saturday, amid the most violent clashes between security forces and protesters, [19-year-old Kaveh] Alipour was shot in the head as he stood at an intersection in downtown Tehran. He was returning from acting class and a week shy of becoming a groom, his family said....

Upon learning of his son's death, the elder Mr. Alipour was told the family had to pay an equivalent of $3,000 as a "bullet fee"—a fee for the bullet used by security forces—before taking the body back, relatives said.

Mr. Alipour told officials that his entire possessions wouldn't amount to $3,000, arguing they should waive the fee because he is a veteran of the Iran-Iraq war. According to relatives, morgue officials finally agreed, but demanded that the family do no funeral or burial in Tehran.

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