Althought the Iranian security forces had urged the families of casualties of the November protests not to hold mourning ceremonies, Kurdish civilians held a mourning ceremony for Mina Sheikhi in the city of Saqqez and five other victims killed in the city of Marivan, local sources told the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN).

“On 26 December, the family of Mina Sheikhi and a group of people in Saqqez gathered in Aichi cemetery in commemoration of the 40th days of her death,” an source in Saqqez told KHRN.

Meanwhile, security forces have summoned and threatened Mina Sheikh’s family in Saqqez in addition to the families of protestors killed in the cities of Javanrood and Marivan not to hold any mourning ceremonies.

Mina Sheikhi, born in 1960 and a single mother of six children from Saqqez who was residing in Tehran, was shot dead by the Iranian security forces on the roof of her apartment in the Persian Gulf neighbourhood located at south Tehran on 16 November.

Additionally, per local sources from the city of Marivan, a group of civilians from Marivan and the families of casualties of recent protests gathered at Beheshte Mustafa Cemetery in Marivan and held a commemoration on the 30th day of Borhan Mansournia in Kermanshah, Behrouz Maleki, Mehran Tak, Osman Naderi and Danial Ostevari in Marivan.

Security authorities have begun installing surveillance cameras in the cemetery following the burial of the casualties in November.

Borhan Mansournia, a Kurdish civilian from Marivan and a vet graduated from Orumiyeh University was killed by security forces during a mass protest in Kermanshah. Mansournia was in Kermanshah on his military service after obtaining his degree. He was shot in the back on 16 November. The bullet went through his stomach and he was seriously injured for which he underwent surgery and lost his life due to his critical injury. Four other protestors were killed during protests in Marivan in November.