After his execution in December 1990, Pastor Hussein Soodmand was buried on the outskirts of the Beheshte-Reza cemetery in the city of Mashhad in northeastern Iran. Since then, the only sign that someone was buried there has been a concrete slab. Now it too has been removed, according to Article18.
When the family went to visit the grave on the anniversary of his death on December 3, only the bare earth remained. Soodmand's daughter, Rashin Soodmand, who now lives in Europe, says:
"As a family member of a martyr, I would like to say that the disrespect that was shown to our father's grave. The killing of our father was evil and against the law. They buried him in a place called la'anatabad - a place that is cursed - without telling us. They didn't even allow our family to see him or say goodbye to him. For years we have had to go to this remote place to visit his grave and we have not even been allowed to erect a tombstone with his name on it. Now they even want to remove the last trace we have left of him. We will complain about this cruel and disrespectful act to any relevant national or international body."
In this video, video clips from a memorial service following Pastor Soodmand's martyrdom and funeral, and Rashin talks about his reaction:
Pastor Soodmand converted to Christianity before the Islamic revolution in 1979 and was active in several Christian organizations, including the Bible Society. He was a pastor in Isfahan and later in Mashhad. In 1990 he was arrested. For a month he was tortured and held in solitary confinement. When he was briefly released from prison, his friends advised him to escape to save his life, but he preferred to stay and explained his worried friends:
"Following the example of the Great Shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ, I am willing to lay down my life for my sheep. If I were to flee from this danger, the flock would be weakened and discouraged. I don't want to set a bad example for them, so I'm willing to go back to prison - and even give my life for them if necessary."
Two weeks after being re-imprisoned, he was convicted of apostasy by an Islamic court and immediately executed. His family was only informed after the death sentence had been carried out, according to Article18.
Pastor Soodmand remains the only Iranian Christian to be executed for apostasy following an official verdict. However, others have also been sentenced to death, including Pastor Mehdi Dibaj and Yousef Nadarkhani. Pastor Dibaj was finally acquitted after nine years in prison, but five months later he was killed under suspicious circumstances. Several days after his disappearance, he was found dead in a park in a suburb of Tehran with multiple stab wounds in his chest. Yousef Nadarkhani was also eventually acquitted after international pressure, but was later arrested again. The second time, the charge was the much broader "threats to national security". He is now serving a ten-year prison sentence in Evin prison in Tehran.
