Behesht-e Zahra

Behesht-e Zahra is the largest cemetery in Iran located in the southern part of Tehran. When the first person was buried in Behesht-e Zahra on July 25, 1970, the activity of this cemetery started. Behesht-e Zahra, both before and after the Islamic Revolution, was managed under the supervision of the Tehran Municipality. With the occurrence of the Islamic Revolution in 1979, this place became the centre of public attention and turned from a place where only the deceased are buried to the grave of martyrs who had lost their lives on the path of the Revolution. After the bitter and bloody event of September 8, 1978, in which hundreds of people were killed by the forces of the Shah’s regime in Jaleh (Shohada) Square in Tehran, Behesht-e Zahra took on a different face. The bodies of the martyrs of this event were transferred to this cemetery and buried in plot 17. Since then, despite the imposition of martial law and the presence of armed agents in Behesht-e Zahra, the bereaved families and other groups of people used to gather in plot 17 and hold demonstrations against the imperialist powers. Plot 17 in Behesht-e Zahra gradually became a place of pilgrimage, such that after arriving in Iran on February 1, 1979, Imam Khomeini (ra) went to Behesht-e Zahra from Mehrabad Airport to deliver a speech for the people near this plot. This was the first time that Behesht-e Zahra would be connected to the city of Tehran with a large crowd.

During the Iran-Iraq War which began in September 1980, Tehrani martyrs of the battle fronts were buried in Behesht-e Zahra. During the eight-year War, nearly thirty thousand martyrs were buried in this place. The families’ attention to the graves of their martyrs has turned these places into spectacular museums. Small shrines in which the photo of the martyr and some of his personal belongings are kept can be seen above most of the graves. During the war, the soldiers passing through Tehran would sometimes spend an hour next to the graves of the martyrs and recite prayers. The second time that millions of people filled the distance between Tehran and Behesht-e Zahra, was in June 1989 when Imam Khomeini’s funeral and burial ceremony took place in the western part of Behesht-e Zahra. In addition to the tombs of the martyrs and the Shrine of Imam Khomeini, Behesht-e Zahra also has become one of the most visited pilgrimage sites in Iran. currently, Behesht-e Zahra covers an area of 524 hectares, of which 300 hectares are green spaces. Behesht-e Zahra could be considered the symbolic history of Iran’s Islamic Revolution; the history of a country in which many noble people could be recognized including the leader (Imam Khomeini (ra)), President (Martyr Mohammad-Ali Rajaei), Prime Minister (Martyr Mohammad-Javad Bahonar), president of the Supreme Court (Martyr Sayyed Mohammad Hoseyni Beheshti), ministers (Martyr Hasan Abbaspour, Martyr Mohammad-Ali Fayyazbakhsh, Martyr Mohammad-Javad Tondgouyan, Martyr Mahmoud Qandi, Martyr Musa Namjou, etc.), Friday Prayer Leader (Sayyed Mahmoud Taleqani), Army commanders (Major General Martyr Mansour Sattari, Lieutenant General Martyr Ali Sayyad-Shirazi, etc.), MPs (Martyr Sayyed Reza Paknejad, Martyr Gholam-Hoseyn Haqqani, Martyr Sayyed Mohammad-Baqer Lavasani, Martyr Mostafa Chamran, etc.), and IRGC commanders (Martyr Ali Jazmani, Martyr Ahmad Nourzad, Martyr Ahmad Aajurlou, Martyr Gholam-Hoseyn Afshordi, Martyr Yousef Kolahdouz, etc.).

Reference: The Encyclopedia of the Islamic Revolution