Artist: Behnam Mohammadi
By Kayhan Life Staff
In a country with 65,000 unfinished projects, the Islamic Republic finally managed to complete one thing after a 120-day delay: a funeral.
Embellished and extravagant, it stretched out over six days, five cities, and two countries. In Tehran alone, six thousand sprinklers cooled the faithful. Fifty million loaves were baked. Airports closed, field hospitals went up, visas were handed out, and volunteers were called in to give the regime one final show of power for a supreme leader it had presented as a pillar of the Islamic world.
Meanwhile, Iranians now pay 88.6 percent more for the same basic goods than they did a year ago. Bread and cereals have risen by 120.7 percent; “fruit and nuts” by 93.5 percent; “food and beverages” by 90.7 percent; and “milk, cheese and eggs” by 90.2 percent. Millions still live surrounded by unfinished schools, hospitals, and roads.
For families who are not allowed to mourn their own dead—the executed, the shot, the disappeared, and the passengers lost in the sky—the message was clear: in the Islamic Republic, grief is only allowed when it serves the state.
