Mehrdad Heidari Fard was only 15 years old. He was a very kind, studious, disciplined, and polite adolescent.

Information regarding the extrajudicial killing of Mr. Mehrdad Heidarifard, son of Ehteram Kasraiyan and Ahmad, was obtained from an interview conducted by the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center with Mr. Heidarifard’s uncle, [his mother’s brother] (January 10, 2022), his friends’ and acquaintances’ messages, and an electronic form submitted to the Boroumand Center (March 4, 2010). News of this extrajudicial killing was also published on Janhaye Shifteh website (January 5, 2015); in the In Memoriam section in the book “Shahidane Ma Dar Rahe Azadi, Dar Rahe Socialism” (“Our Martyrs, Perished for the Cause of Freedom, for the Cause of Socialism”), a Rahe Kargar Organization publication; and in the Kar Publication, Number 104, the Fadaiyan Guerrilla Organization (Majority) of Iran’s publication (April 8, 1981). Additional information about this killing was obtained from the Lor Liberation Movement’s website (January 9, 2014); Shabestan News Aganecy (June 28, 2016); and Navide Shahed website (September 2, 2021).

According to available information, Mr. Heidarifard was 15 years old, born in the city of Khorramabad, single, and hailed from one of Khorramabad’s families known in the realms of art and politics. “We had a large family, and we played a role in all artistic and political realms because of our position in the city. Every member of our family, which numbered 10 to 15, was either involved in artistic or political work.” (Boroumand Center interview with Mr. Heidarifard’s uncle). Qodrat and Nasrollah Kasraiyan, two of Iran’s most famous photographers, are Mr. Heidarifard’s uncles, [his mother’s brothers].

Mr. Heidarifard was a student and had finished eighth grade at Shahram Hafezi Middle School. He liked poetry and wrote poems himself. He was a good calligrapher as well. “He was really talented. His handwriting [and calligraphy] was really beautiful and he also wrote poetry.” (Boroumand Center interview with Mr. Heidarifard’s uncle).

Mr. Heidarifard was also a member of the Pishgam Organization of the Fadaiyan Guerilla Organization. His political activities at this Organization consisted of hand-writing pamphlets, distributing pamphlets, writing slogans, and organizing book and photography expositions. He also participated in school protests. According to one of his classmates, “Mehrdad was a very kind, studious, disciplined, and polite adolescent. He liked drawing and was good at it”. He continued: “One of his more prominent character traits was his calmness and his dislike of violence. In essence, our friendship started with a fight. As young kids, I hit him in the face with a pencil, but he didn’t respond to me with violence. That fight led to our friendship. (Mr. Heidarifard’s friend and classmate).

The Fadayian Khalq Guerrilla Organization, a Marxist Leninist group inspired by the Cuban Revolution and the urban guerrilla movements of Latin America, was founded in 1971 by two communist groups opposed to the Pahlavi regime. Following the 1979 revolution, the Organization, which had renounced armed struggle, split over their support of the Islamic Republic and of the Soviet Union

In 1980-81, a group of the city’s Hezbollahis, led by Hojjatoleslam Fakhreddin Rahimi*, who had turned the city of Khorramabad’s Alavi Mosque into an Islamic Revolution Committee station, attacked the Kasraiyan family’s art gallery and set it on fire. “Believe me, they attacked and pillaged like the Mongols [attacked Iran in the 13thCentury]: Anybody who could get their hands on anything, a chair, a cooling unit, etc., would take it and leave. And this was just a prelude [to what was to come].” (Boroumand Center interview with Mr. Heidarifard’s uncle). A report of the attack on Mr. Kasraiyan’s art gallery states in part: “We will not forget and we will not forgive the time where the talented Kasraiyan Brothers’ art gallery in Khorramabad and the expensive paintings there were set on fire in a savage attack by the Hezbollahis dispatched from Khorramabad’s Alavi Mosque, led by the defunct mullah Rahimi.”

The aforementioned group was known among the townspeople as the “Black Gangs”. The Fadaiyan Organization (Majority) wrote this regarding these gangs: “The toiling people of the Lorestan [region’s] towns have witnessed [the Black Gangs’] counter-revolutionary operations over and over again. Not a day goes by where supporters of progressive and anti-imperialist organizations are not beaten, pursued, or kidnapped in public by hoodlums affiliated with Black Gangs. This has become part of these criminals’ daily routine, which they unabashedly call their actions ‘in the defense of the Islamic Republic’, ‘revolutionary’, ‘in defense of Islam’, etc.” It continued: “Currently, the Black Gangs in Lorestan Province have become a serious danger and an important tool in the hands of counter-revolutionaries. Every minute of every day, most cities and towns in Lorestan are subjected to horrific incidents, chaos, and unrest. Every day, the people of Lorestan, especially the city of Khorramabad, are witnessing a series of movements and operations conducted by organized bands of hoodlums. The actions of these criminal and anti-revolutionary groups include the beating and pursuit of supporters of progressive political organizations, attacking anti-imperialist gatherings, exhibitions, and bookstores, kidnappings, assassinations, and other horrific crimes.” (Kar Publication, Volume 104).

The background on the extrajudicial killings by the Islamic Republic of Iran

The Islamic Republic of Iran has a long history of politically motivated violence in Iran and around the world. Since the 1979 Revolution, Islamic Republic operatives inside and outside the country have engaged in kidnapping, disappearing, and killing a large number of individuals whose activities they deemed undesirable. The actual number of the victims of extrajudicial killings inside Iran is not clear; however, these murders began in February 1979 and have continued since then, both inside and outside Iran. The Abdorrahman Boroumand Center has so far identified over 540 killings outside Iran attributed to the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Dissidents have been assassinated by the agents of the Islamic Republic outside Iran in countries such as the Philippines, Indonesia, Japan, India, and Pakistan in Asia; Dubai, Iraq, and Turkey in the Middle East; Cyprus, France, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Norway, Sweden, and Great Britain in Europe; and the United States across the Atlantic Ocean. In most cases there has not been much published and the local authorities have not issued arrest warrants. But documentation, evidence, and traces obtained through investigations conducted by local police and judicial authorities confirm, however, the theory of state committed crimes. In certain cases, these investigations have resulted in the expulsion or arrest of Iranian diplomats. In limited cases outside Iran, the perpetrators of these murders have been arrested and put on trial and the evidence presented, revealed the defendants’ connection to Iran’s government institutions, and an arrest warrant has been issued for Iran’s Minister of Information.

The manner in which these killings were organized and implemented in Iran and abroad, is indicative of a single pattern which, according to Roland Chatelin, the Swiss prosecutor, contains common parameters and detailed planning. It can be ascertained from the similarities between these murders in different countries that the Iranian government is the principal entity who ordered the implementation of these crimes. Iranian authorities have not officially accepted responsibility for these murders and have even attributed their commission to internal strife in opposition groups. Nevertheless, since the very inception of the Islamic Republic regime, the Islamic Republic officials have justified these crimes from an ideological and legal standpoint. In the spring of 1979, Sadeq Khalkhali, the first Chief Shari’a Judge of the Islamic Revolutionary Courts, officially announced the regime’s decision to implement extrajudicial executions, and justified the decision: “ … These people have been sentenced to death; from the Iranian people’s perspective, if someone wants to assassinate these individuals abroad, in any country, no government has any right to bring the perpetrator to trial as a terrorist, because such a person is the implementing agent of the sentence issued by the Islamic Revolutionary Court. Therefore, they are Mahduroddam and their sentence is death regardless of where they are.” More than 10 years after these proclamations, in a speech about the security forces’ success, Ali Fallahian, the regime’s Minister of Information stated the following regarding the elimination of members of the opposition: “ … We have had success in inflicting damage to many of these little groups outside the country and on our borders”

At the same time, various political, judicial, and security officials of the Islamic Republic of Iran have, at different times and occasions, confirmed the existence of a long term government policy for these extrajudicial killings and in some cases their implementation. **

Threats Made Against Mr. Mehrdad Heidaifard, and His Death

On August 23, 1980, Mr. Heidarifard was shot and killed with a single bullet on Khorramabad’s Kakavand Street, at the intersection of Alavi Boulevard.

According to available information, on the day of the events, Mr. Heidarifard was meeting with his uncle, Mr. Qodrat Kasraiyan, in order to transport passengers with the latter’s car; his car did not start, however, and at that point, a Buick with four passengers blocked their way. One of the individuals pointed his Colt firearm at his uncle and told him “you’ve become pretty brazen”. The driver of the car told the individual holding the weapon “don’t kill him” (meaning “just scare him”), but he immediately fired his gun. The bullet hit Mr. Heidarifard in the throat, killing him instantly. (Boroumand Center interview with Mr. Heidarifard’s uncle).

Mr. Heidarifard’s body was transported to the hospital after his death. The interviewee recounted: “We proceeded to go toward the hospital with my brother but the city was quite restless because the news had spread very quickly. On top of that, my brother kept chanting ‘Death to Khomeini’ on the way. The Pasdars (members of the Revolutionary Guards Corps) were not around and the streets were empty, that is, no one wanted to come out fearing things would get bad. Several cars were driving behind us, also chanting ‘Death to Khomeini’, as we drove to the hospital.” He continued: “Mehrdad was supposed to be buried the next day. We went to the hospital to take possession of his body when we were told that it was not there. They said they had taken his body to the cemetery. So we left but the atmosphere was quite chaotic. Mehrdad’s home was full of people who had come to show their support; it was way too crowded.”

According to Mr. Heidarifard’s uncle, their family had been threatened before the murder: “The Islamic Republic’s so-called apparatus and its hoodlums had developed a strange sensitivity to our family. There was a Friday Prayer Leader [in Khorramabad] by the name of Mehdi Qazi***, Sheikh Mehdi Qazi, who had said in a meeting they had held amongst themselves ‘if we want to calm things down in Khorramabad, the first thing we have to do is kill a member of the Kasraiyan family. We can calm things down and quell the sedition by killing one of them’. A person who was present at that gathering informed us and told us to be careful because they intended to kill us.” (Boroumand Center interview with Mr. Heidarifard’s uncle).

Officials’ Reaction

The officials did not allow the family to take their loved one’s body from the hospital to the cemetery. Members of the Revolutionary Guards Corps and other forces had surrounded them at the cemetery. The interviewee stated: “To make a long story short, we ended up going to the cemetery, and [when we got there,] we realized that the body was already [at the mortuary, where it was] being washed [according to Islamic rites]. So in effect, they didn’t let us transport his body from the city to the cemetery because they were afraid of chaos happening in the city. When we got to the cemetery, we realized that the entire cemetery was surrounded, that is, vehicles from Revolutionary Guards Corps and other forces had all gathered there.” After the burial, security agents attacked the funeral participants. A number of family members were able to flee to [the cities of] Kermanshah, Borujerd, and Tehran; some, however, were arrested. “We got away, but they had taken several people outside the city and severely beaten them; among them were friends and relatives. I mean they had beaten them to a pulp in the valleys in the outskirts of town. They had handcuffed and blindfolded them and had seriously beaten them up to teach them a lesson not to participate in such funerals ever again.” (Boroumand Center interview with Mr. Heidarifard’s uncle).

The officials did not allow Mr. Heidarifard’s family to follow up on their loved one’s case.

Family’s Reaction

According to available information, in the afternoon of the incident, Mr. Heidarifard’s father and two uncles went to one of Khorramabad’s police precincts in order to follow up on the case. The interviewee stated that they identified the driver of the car and two other individuals as the killers. The head of the precinct, however, effectively did nothing, saying that the Revolutionary Guards Corps was the one to investigate their complaint and that the police couldn’t do anything. At that very moment, a Pasdar came to the precinct and said that they had arrested several people and that the family should go to the Revolutionary Guards’ [location] in order to identify them. The family protested and stated that they would not go the Revolutionary Guards, and asked the head of the precinct to bring the detainees there to be identified, but the Pasdar refused. Subsequently, in order to support the family, the head of the police precinct accompanied the family to the Revolutionary Guards location, and came back without identifying anyone. The interviewee recounted: “On the way, I asked him ‘Colonel, what was the story, why would they make you wait?’ He said ‘the fact of the matter is that we were just arguing that entire half hour, and they wanted me to let go of the case and leave because they said it was a political matter. They wanted me to leave you there and get out, and I refused because I had given you my ethical word’.” (Boroumand Center interview with Mr. Heidarifard’s uncle).

Mr. Heidarifard’s mother spoke at the cemetery and stated: “I have no fear. And I will not cry because that would make these people happy.” (Boroumand Center interview with Mr. Heidarifard’s uncle).

Impacts on Family

According to available information, Mr. Heidarifard’s family suffered a lot after their loved one’s death. According to the interviewee, “I mean, naturally those closer to him suffered more from this tragic event, especially because he was killed for no reason at all.” He continued: “Neither of Mehrdad’s parents was forced to leave Iran; they left Khorramabad, however, and went to Tehran, probably because of the mental trauma they had suffered.” Mr. Heidarifard’s uncle, Mr. Kasraiyan, was fired from his job.

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*Hojjatoleslam Seyed Fakhreddin Rahimi was one of the Islamic Republic’s operatives in Lorestan. Prior to the Revolution, he was in contact with Khomeini, and on October 27, 1978, he and five other clerics, Seyed Nureddin Rahimi (his brother), Sheikh Mehdi Qazi, Sheikh Abbassali Sadeqi, Seyed Jafar Varamini, and Seyed Majid Seifossadat, went to Khorramabad, establishing the core of Khomeini’s supporters there. They tried to appropriate the people’s demonstrations and gatherings for the benefit of Moslem Revolutionaries, particularly Khomeini. After the Revolution, Rahimi played a significant role in crushing other groups through organizing the Hezbollahi group known as the Black Gang.

**Read more about the background of extrajudicial killings in the Islamic Republic of Iran by clicking on the left hand highlight with the same title.

***Mehdi Qazi Khorramabadi was a cleric who was Ruhollah Khomeini’s representative in Lorestan Province in the early days of the Revolution. Khorramabad’s Revolutionary Court was under his and his family’s influence at the time.