Soghra Hatami: 73-Year-Old Woman Who Went to the Protests and Never Returned

According to information received by IranWire, 73-year-old Soghra Hatami, a resident of Fardis, Karaj, was shot directly at close range by the suppressive forces of the Islamic Republic on January 9 and killed.

Sources close to the Hatami family say she was standing bravely in the front line of the Fardis protests amid the crowd when they shot her in the head with live ammunition, and she died instantly. This is the story of yet another kind and selfless mother of Iran.

Perhaps one of the bloodiest crackdowns on the evening of January 9 occurred in Fardis, Karaj, an event so horrifying and bloody that the shock of watching civilian videos of fallen citizens, whose streams of blood flowed on the ground, will remain with us for years.

“We must also contribute our share”

Soghra Hatami was a 73-year-old mother. On January 9, she intended to take to the streets following a call for protests. An informed source told IranWire: “An anniversary memorial service was being held for one of Soghra Khanum’s neighbors who had passed away the previous year. Soghra Khanum told the neighbors there that she intended to go to the protests. Witnesses say one of the neighbors told her that no one expects anything from you or me, but Soghra Khanum replied, ‘Should I just sit back while a young person goes out, gets arrested, executed, and killed, and then reap the benefits once the country is free? I cannot do that.’”

Everyone thought that by nightfall, the idea of going to the protests would leave Soghra Khanum’s mind. At night, however, she reminded them again: “I am going tonight.” The informed source who spoke with IranWire says, “Her daughter was afraid. She told her, ‘Mom, these people have no mercy. The streets are drenched in blood. They will shoot.’ She replied, ‘My child, blood must be shed for freedom. My blood is no redder than the blood of all these young people.’”

At dusk, Soghra Khanum went to the street with one of her daughters, who accompanied her primarily to look after her. At first, they were on a side street and could hear the sound of chanting and gunfire from afar. Soghra Khanum told her daughter that they must go to the main street. At the corner of the street, a few young people were chanting. One of them did not have a mask. Soghra Khanum pulled a mask out of her bag and gave it to him. In the blink of an eye, they were in the middle of a flood of people. The crowd was chanting, and their numbers were growing by the moment. Tears of joy from the passion of the crowd and the feeling of the air of freedom exhilarated Soghra Khanum. Leading the crowd, she clapped and chanted. In a fraction of a second, however, the whistling sound of a bullet pierced the air and struck Soghra Khanum’s head.

The informed source who spoke with IranWire says: “Believing that she had been shot was extremely difficult for her daughter. She assumed someone had bumped into her mother while fleeing, and that she had lost her balance, but when she saw her face drenched in blood, she realized she had been shot. Her daughter screamed with all her might and called for help. Witnesses say a teenager came to their aid, and they took her to the parking lot of a building.”

The parking lot was full of wounded, lifeless bodies and clotted blood on the ground. Someone took Soghra Khanum’s daughter’s shawl and bound the head wound of the brave woman of this story: “They told her daughter, ‘Don’t worry, it’s nothing, it’s just pellets.’ In that chaotic, apocalyptic moment, two young men brought a car and placed Soghra Khanum inside to rush her to the hospital. When they reached the hospital, the doctor said she had passed away the exact moment she was shot and had felt no pain.”

They planted a cypress in her memory; they cut down the cypress

The informed source who spoke with IranWire says, “Soghra Khanum was buried in the Eshtehard cemetery. Security agents did not permit her family to bury her in the Fardis cemetery. In memory of the courage and bravery of this 73-year-old woman, the neighbors planted a cypress tree in front of their house, but a few days later, pro-regime vigilantes (Atash-be-ekhtiyar-ha) uprooted the cypress tree. They are oblivious to the fact that the moon does not remain behind the clouds forever. Eventually, a day will come when everyone realizes that both the young and old in this country sacrificed their lives to achieve freedom.”