Families of murdered protesters are charged $3K "BULLET FEE"

[SkyDaddy7]

Source: WSJ

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.

Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124571865270639351.html

---

I really am lost for words...I heard rumors of this on Twitter but the "BULLET FEE" was much higher. The parents of Neda were not allowed to have her body unless they donated her organs? This regime is extremely SICK!

[babylonsister]

1. I hadn't heard that about Neda's organs. She was dead; don't

organs die, too? Anyway, as I said in another post, maybe the regime is trying to discourage everyone with these draconian measures.

[Alcibiades]

9. That's where most donor organs come from

Cadavers. There's a limited window for harvesting, but you can take transplantable organs from a fresh cadaver.

[babylonsister]

12. I understand that, but I thought a person had to be

living, i.e., hooked up to equipment that allows the body to not die until the organs are harvested.

[madmax]

14. That was my understanding. n/t

[backtoblue]

18. There are other body parts besides organs that can be donated after death.

Long bones, skin, eyes, etc. can all be donated within a certain time frame.

[babylonsister]

19. I know, but the poster was talking about major organs. I

am pretty sure they can't be harvested if a person has been dead for any length of time.

[Lasher]

30. You're right.

Organs such as the heart, lungs, and pancreas can be used for transplantation only if they are removed from a person whose body is maintained on life support systems after they are declared brain dead. The artificial life support is necessary to maintain an adequate blood supply to the organs so they are suitable for transplantation.

Most people don't suffer brain death and therefore their organs, such as their heart and lungs, cannot be used for transplants. However, some of their organs, tissues, or parts may still be useful. Such tissues as the cornea, bone, and skin don't need to come from a person whose body is artificially maintained on life support. However, all organs or tissues must be removed within a relatively short time after death.

http://www.lectlaw.com/filesh/qfl03.htm

[wolfgangmo]

45. That is the best case scenario

However if you consider that many organs are harvested after accidents, this is not always possible. In such cases the organs are harvested ASAP from the dead body.

[caseymoz]

38. delete

[rainbow4321]

50. Her relatives said they wanted and took

her femur. The family finally relented because as long as they refused, the body would not be released.
But your right, organ donations (internal) need to be harvested while there is still air and blood circulating through them---which would not be the case if her body was already IN the morgue when the "request" was made.

[ohio2007]

2. That's the new "Pay as you go" plan implemented by the theocracy

Somebody has to pay for the voter fraud security action

http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-279934

[lisa58]

3. this is really sick

[SkyDaddy7]

6. I agree!

There really is nothing other to say than "IT IS SICK"

[raccoon]

4. I've heard the Nazis used to charge families for hanging their relatives.

This is beyond disgusting.

[DeLaroche]

41. Saddam

Saddam used to do that.

[groovedaddy]

43. The Red Chinese also did it. n.t

[go west young man]

5. too bad we couldn't get this kind of personal story from the Wall Street Journal

when American tanks and troops were destroying Iraqi lives. Funny how they seem to suddenly care about Persian people now. It would of been nice if some of the people on this list were given as much respect. http://warnewstoday.blogspot.com/2008/03/casualty-reports.html

[SkyDaddy7]

20. I know...

I hesitated to post this considering the source but I had seen rumors of this on Twitter so I posted it.

[FailureToCommunicate]

34. Blame the Wall Street Journal for the War in Iraq. That's original. 'The WSJ was so remiss

in not swaying public opinion to keep the Bush Administration from attacking Iraq.' No doubt many here at DU will agree with you: 'America has no freer press than a country, like say,Iran. Can't trust WSJ or NY Times or NPR or MSNBC, or The Nation or heck even
The Onion.'
And all those real journalists who were killed trying to bring you news of the previous Nedas of dangerous regions... What about them, the Danny Pearl types? Were they just dim-witted dupes foolishly risking their lives because 'Hey, we have the internets, who needs (real) reporters anymore?'

The blame for Bush's disastrous miss-adventure in Iraq lies at the feet of many, including everyone who voted for Bush AND everyone who did not take to the streets (either time) to protest our OWN election fraud.

[go west young man]

55. I'm not knocking Iranians who want reform and true freedom.

I'm knocking the way our "American mainstream" press feeds us coordinated information when and how it suits them. All those real journos you speak of are used and spat out by that same big media machine. Danny Pearl included. The WSJ cheerled that war by the way. They were not "remiss in not swaying public opinion". They were warmongering and flagwaving as was the NY Times. They barely mentioned the worldwide protests against the oncoming war in February 2003. They actually repressed that info. And now we are all supposed to jump on their Iran bandwagon. Even if there was a change in leadership in Iran it would matter not. Moussavi is not much different that "awgmydinnerjacket". Both leaders will continue doing oil business with Russia and China and the US will continue to act like it has a divine right to dictate to the world who their leaders should be. In other worlds it's all bullshit. Let Iran unravel Iran. We should stay out of their business and out of the Middle East.

[Ghost Dog]

51. Ain't psyops wonderful. n/t

[proteus_lives]

7. Jesus.

What a final "fuck you"

This is beyond sick.

[SkyDaddy7]

23. Did you hear what they did to Neda's family?

They basically forced them to donate her organs before they could pick up her body for burial...This SICK stuff is beyond my ability to comprehend!

[proteus_lives]

53. China does that to state prisoners too.

It's horrible. The final violation.

[razorman]

8. I have read that China does the same thing when they execute someone.

[Blandocyte]

10. Must be tempting to

give the fee assessors a few bullets "very quickly", if ya know what I mean, and tell them keep the change.

[SkyDaddy7]

24. I feel the same way...

I have never wanted to pick up a gun and go after another group of human beings like I have following this...To be honest I do not consider the Iranian regime to be human beings after watching what they are doing to unarmed innocent people. The anger and hurt I feel for the Iranian People is overwhelming!

[MoonRiver]

11. Iran

is quickly becoming #1 world pariah. In fact I do believe they are competing hard for that position. :mad:

[snappyturtle]

13. As hard as it would be, maybe the families shouldn't pay and

make a martyr out of the deceased loved one instead(?). I can't imagine every family would have the money to pay the ransom for their loved one's body.

[SkyDaddy7]

25. They don't have the money!

This is what makes it even more disgusting! Their religion has strict guidelines for burial and the families are being denied this right by the so-called religious authorities!

[snappyturtle]

33. Well I figured they probably don't have the money and understand

their burial guidelines. It's disgusting beyond words.

[roguevalley]

52. it's another perversion of Islam and know its getting around Iran.

another nail in their coffin, the clerics.

[sui generis]

15. when I worked in Pakistan they had a similar deal

If you were "punished" by the extrajudiciary courts (i.e., caned, etc.) you had to pay a room and board fee, read, ransom, before they would release what was left of one's relative to the hospital or morgue.

[struggle4progress]

16. The "bullet fee" claim -- that relatives of those killed by a government must pay a "bullet fee" to

claim the body -- occurs in several incarnations: it is told of Ethiopia in the late 1970s, of China in the early 1980s, and now of Iran. The Hartford Courant remark, about the Iran story, that "details are unclear" is perhaps correct. Curiously, only last week, Forbes ran an article recalling the China "bullet fee" story.

ETHIOPIA, a country study
Federal Research Division Library of Congress
Edited by Thomas P. Ofcansky and LaVerle Berry
Research Completed 1991
... During the Red Terror in Addis Ababa, security forces frequently mutilated the bodies of political dissidents, dumping them along roads or stacking them on street corners. They also forced some victims to dig their own graves before being executed. The government required families to pay a "bullet fee" of about 125 birr to retrieve bodies of relatives, when they could be found and identified ... http://www.samizdat.com/ethiopia_country_study.html
http://www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-4552.html

Find (e.g. using google books) Red China Blues By Jan Wong p316
search for "bullet fee" -- the source in this case is a reporter for Moonie-owned UPI

Execution Day In Zhengzhou
By Wu Hongda with John Creger
... Most of the executed’s families did not come to claim the bodies, although they would have had to pay just the minimal “bullet fee” to take possession ... http://www.connexions.org/CxLibrary/Docs/CX5051-ExecutionDayinZhengzhou.htm

How much does a bullet cost in china?
... 2 months ago ...
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090416201719AAd4WfQ

What does a bullet cost in Iran?
By Susan Campbel on June 23, 2009 6:48 AM
The family of Kaveh Alipour .. was told they had to pay a “bullet fee” ... before they could retrive his body for burial ... Details are unclear ... the fee was waived ...
http://blogs.courant.com/susan_campbell/2009/06/what-does-a-bullet-cost-in-ira.html

Beijing Turns To Lethal Injections
Vivian Wai-yin Kwok, 06.17.09, 09:40 AM EDT
... assault rifle is still the most common execution tool in China -- and families of the executed were slapped with a "bullet fee" from the local governments ... http://www.forbes.com/2009/06/17/beijing-death-penalty-reform-politics-china.html

[DFW]

17. Do they use bullets made of platinum in Iran?

[The Stranger]

21. This is beginning to sound like the stories of Iraqi soldiers defenestrating Kuwaiti babies.

[Vidar]

22. If this is true, I'm hoping a successful revolution exterminates the current regime.

[slackmaster]

26. Reality imitates Chris Rock's ridiculous idea

No surprise.

[RDANGELO]

27. What is the Muslim belief about burial?

Do they have to be buried to ascend?

[sledgehammer]

32. Yes

And it's usually done within 24 hours. There's typically no wake/viewing/preservation/etc. Muslims want the body to be buried as undisturbed as possible.

Often if a person dies in the morning, then they are buried the same evening.

As such, autopsies become a bit of a problem. Unless the family demands it, or there is a potential criminal case, it is very rarely done.

Organ donation is extremely rare among Muslims - it's discouraged.

[ohio2007]

35. She was burried before sunset on that same day. Not everything on twitter is going to hold up

but rumors do grow legs very well there.

jmo

[SkyDaddy7]

46. She was buried in time but

The parents were basically forced to donate her organs. So said her family.

[MajorChode]

28. It's hard to say if this is real or not

Remember all the lies about Iraq the Kuwaitis told prior to the 1st Iraq war? As shitty as the Iran regime is, I'm not prepared to accept everything reported in the news as gospel.

If it is true, it wouldn't surprise me much. There's lots of 3rd world countries that do similar things for executed prisoners.

[Blue Meany]

29. They used to do this to the families of Baha'is who were

executed in the early years of the Islamic Republic, but I think the fees were much lower.

[ohio2007]

36. I also call BS nt

[TankLV]

31. Great - now the Repuke Party has ANOTHER great idea for when they're back in power...

but we won't do anything, because we'll be too busy watching idol or some new missing white girls...

[jmowreader]

37. In other words: pay us a bribe or your child won't go to Paradise

There's a wonderful Persian word that describes this practice: baksheesh--a tip, or an outright bribe. While this is truly disgusting, is this an official Iranian government policy or something an enterprising morgue superintendent came up with?

[Richd506]

39. This evil is beyond comprehension

[caseymoz]

40. That's called holy harassment.

This regime is taking a hammer to whatever legitimacy it had left.
:grr:

[Snazzy]

42. uh, that's not the article's headline

and the next para explains that they in fact paid no such fee.

[Tab]

47. I agree about the headline

at best, could be parenthetically added to real headline.

On the other point, although that family ended up paying no fee, it's not like they weren't asked or pressured into doing so. That is a ridiculous amount for that area, and perhaps it was never thought they'd pay it, it was just harassment, or perhaps it's just a side scam some soldiers are putting on (and not sponsored by the state). They obviously have no respect for those people anyway, since they murdered a member of the family, so they probably don't care about charging them. The bigger question is whether or not it's state "policy" or just a scam some are running. The article only mentions the one case - it didn't sound like they went out and talked to other families or found other families.

[Snazzy]

48. It's exactly the kind of story that spreads like wildfire

Yet is based on rather vague assertions of what someone unnamed said to someone unnamed in this family in the middle of a hot crisis/political crisis/media shitstorm.

Google it, already all over the place. I especially got a kick out of seeing it on Nicholas Kristof's FB page. Like others said, reminds me a bit of the incubators.

(typo)

[alcibiades_mystery]

44. I heard they were throwing protester babies out of incubators, too

:eyes:

[newtothegame]

49. Finally, we can honestly discuss/problem solve the brutality of this culture towards it's people...

without being called out left and right as "racists" here on DU. Let's problem solve people, not troll hunt. Everyone's so f'in bent on being politically correct.

[Obamanaut]

54. Did you read in the same article that the fee was waived?

<snip>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. Kaveh Alipour's body was quietly transported to the city of Rasht, where there is family.<snip>

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124571865270639351.html

same article