Massacre in the reeds of Mahshahr

“Listen to this reed as it complains…” [Famous poem by Rumi]

On Tuesday, November 19, 2019, a flood of people who had been protesting for years due to the sudden increase in gasoline prices, shouting their grievances, rose and fell towards the “Jarrahi” reed bed to seek refuge. Most of them were young people who, under the burden of economic, political, and social pressures, could no longer endure. They had come to protest; that's it! But facing armed attacks by military forces with empty hands, what choice did they have other than to save their lives from the deadly trap? They were not armed protesters because they had not come for war. They were just protesters; if there were any weapons, they were fists and shouts.

Military vehicles armed with tear gas and reckless and ruthless shooters shot at the crowd. It is said that some military personnel were also injured in the process. The locals knew that beyond the reed bed, near them, was the "Jarrahi" town, and if they could hide in reed bed, they might be able to reach the "Jarrahi" town and save their lives.

One side was a building, and the other was reed bed; whether willingly or unwillingly, they threw themselves into the trap. That day, unlike usual, reed bed was not the familiar refuge, and there was no news of the "Jarrahi" town on the other side! Whatever it was, the continuous sound of gunfire and the siege of the protesters ultimately led to their mass murder. According to The New York Times, the number of casualties is estimated to be between 60 and 100 people.

An eyewitness tells the Iranwire News Agency about it:
"Everyone ran to one side. The reed bed is small; maybe if it were the “Fallahiyeh" reed bed, people could escape, but anyone who sought refuge in that reed bed was killed right there. We fled towards the houses. They were shooting there too, but with Kalashnikov rifles, not DShK shotguns. That's why not everyone was killed on that side.“

The corpses were still being pulled out of reed bed in the following days. What was seen was beyond a crime. Many bodies had been attacked by wild animals after a few days or had been destroyed by DShK shotgun bullets and were unidentifiable.

The eyewitness continues: "On the day of the reed bed massacre, I was there myself and witnessed what happened to the peaceful demonstrations. They fell with DShK shotguns on the people. They had closed reed bed from both sides like a trap. At least 100 people were killed there. They killed those who sought refuge in the reed bed. They couldn't kill us when we fled towards the houses.“

“Abbas Deris”, born in 1973 in “Abadan”, migrated with his family from this city to "Jarrahi" town of “Bandar-e-Mahshahr” during the years of the Iran-Iraq war.
He was arrested after the reed bed massacre on charges of being a "witness to the incident" and "falsely charged with murder." His accusation was so baseless that the judicial system could not prove it, and eventually, due to the lack of evidence of the crime, his sentence changed from "capital punishment" to a reduced “prison” term.