The Mourning Mothers (also known as the Mothers of Laleh Park; Persian: مادران پارک لاله, romanized: madaran park laleh) are a group of Iranian women whose spouses or children were killed by government agents in the protests following the disputed Iranian presidential election of 2009. The group also includes relatives of victims of earlier human rights abuses, including mass executions during the 1980s.
Formation and Context
The Mourning Mothers emerged in the political context of the 2009 Iranian presidential election protests, which became one of the largest opposition movements in the history of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The election, in which incumbent president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared the winner over reformist candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi, was widely disputed due to claims of election irregularities. Mass protests known as the Green movement broke out across Iran and were met with a large-scale security crackdown involving police and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), resulting in arrests, violence, and reported fatalities.
Activities and Demands
The group holds recurring silent vigils in Tehran's Laleh Park, where participants dress in black. Their principal demand is government accountability for the deaths, arrests, and disappearances of their children. They have also called for the revocation of death sentences for political prisoners, the release of prisoners of conscience, and trials of "those who were responsible for and who ordered their children's murders."
In 2009, Iranian Nobel Laureate Shirin Ebadi urged women around the world to show solidarity with the Mourning Mothers by wearing black and meeting in neighborhood parks on Saturdays.
Arrests and Repression
Members of the group have faced repeated arrests and imprisonment. On January 9, 2010, more than thirty Mourning Mothers were arrested by security agents at Laleh Park. In 2011, member Zhila Karamzadeh-Makvandi was sentenced to two years in Evin Prison for "founding an illegal organization" and "acting against state security." Other members, including Mansoureh Behkish and Shahnaz Akmali, have also received prison sentences for their activities with the group.
Related Movements
Following nationwide protests in Iran in November 2019, new groups of mourning families appeared, including the "Aban Mothers." In 2022, the Mothers of Laleh Park expressed support for the protests sparked by the death of Jina Mahsa Amini, declaring solidarity with the "Woman, Life, Freedom" movement. During the 2025–2026 protests, some grieving parents engaged in public acts of mourning at cemeteries and funerals as a form of protest, with some sources referring to these acts as the "Dancing Mothers."
