I always knew something strange had happened to my father's mother. She died when he was very young in Iran, and he and his sister were raised by his uncle. He never spoke about his mother and I learned never to ask. When I grew older, family members told me different things about how she died: tuberculosis, consumption, fever.
Then, one day, my maternal grandmother told me, "I think she did something wrong and they killed her."
When I was 31 years old, my father finally admitted he thought the same thing. By this time, he was estranged from the uncle who raised him, the man he suspected had murdered his mother. He and his other uncle (there were four brothers, and the one sister) are planning on taking the other to court and charging him with honor killing--the papers have not been served yet, and I am dubious about the legal system.
Since I found out, I have made contact with the allegedly guilty uncle and have been making plans to return to Iran and speak to him before he passes. Why did he kill his sister? How did he do it? What was she like? Does he regret it? Will he even admit to it? He has agreed to take me to my paternal grandmother's grave--a place that nobody has ever taken me before. There have been many road-blocks, but this blog is where I chronicle the experience and my general thoughts about all related things. Welcome.
