Turkmen leaders killed · E'dam-e rahbaran-e khalq-e Torkaman

Culture of origin: Turkmen · Historical

Holiday sources: Iran · Turkmen

After the 1979 revolution the Turkmen of Turkmen Sahra set up peasant councils to win back land and cultural rights, and the Revolutionary Guards fought them in Gonbad-e Kavus that spring and again in Bahman 1358. On 18 Bahman the Guards abducted four Turkmen leaders, Shir-Mohammad Derakhshandeh Tumaj, Makhtum, Vahedi and Jorjani, tortured them and killed them on 29 Bahman 1358 (18 February 1980). The revolutionary-court judge Sadegh Khalkhali ordered it, though he denied it.