The Iranian authorities refused to allow the Kurdish filmmaker Mansour Karimian to be buried in his hometown of Sanandaj (Sînê) in the Kurdistan Province, also known as Rojhilat, following his death in a Turkish airstrike on North and East Syria on 26 December.
Upon learning of Karimian’s death, his family travelled to North and East Syria on 30 December to attend the funeral. After the ceremony, their plan was to transport the director’s remains by road through the Kurdistan Region of Iraq to their home country. However, on arrival in Sanandaj, the family encountered resistance from Iranian forces, who prevented them from burying the director in his birthplace.
Despite a week of efforts to obtain permission for the burial, the Iranian authorities refused to budge. Karimian’s family therefore decided to bury him in the city of Sulaymaniyah (Silêmanî), Iraqi Kurdistan.
Karimian’s burial is scheduled to take place on 7 January.
Born in Sanandaj in 1984, Karimian had spent two decades working in cinema, the last two of which he had dedicated to working in North and East Syria. He was one of the victims who died in the recent Turkish air strikes that have targeted civilian settlements and infrastructure in the Kurdish-led areas of Syria.
At least 10 civilians have been killed and more than 25 injured in these recent air strikes.