Iran-Iraq battlefield tours spark controversy in Iran
Critics accuse educational tours to the sites of the Iran-Iraq war of indoctrinating students and promoting tourism on unsafe roads.
TEHRAN, Iran — Rahian-e Noor (Path of Light) is the name given by military organizations, such as Sepah and Basij, to tours that throughout the year take visitors to areas that were once the heart of the battle during the Iran-Iraq war. Critics of these tours, however, say that the tours are meant to indoctrinate and are upset that a shocking number of traffic accident fatalities have occurred en route to these sites, so much so that the tours have earned the nickname, Rahian-e Goor (Path of the Grave).
On March 17, a few days before the start of the Nowruz holidays, which is the busiest time of the year for these tours, the supreme leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, appeared among the staff responsible for conducting these tours. “Certain incidents that occur from time to time during these trips should be prevented,” Khamenei said. “However, these incidents should not be used as an excuse for questioning this important and beneficial activity in its entirety.”
What the leader of the Islamic Republic is referring to by “certain incidents” might be one of the most shocking traffic accidents of the past few years in Iran. In mid-October 2012, a bus overturned in southwestern Iran and 26 passengers were killed and 18 more were injured. Passengers on the bus were a group of female high school students from the city of Borujen, in the province of Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, who were returning to their city after a visit to one of the Rahian-e Noor camps in Khuzestan.
On March 25, there was yet another fatal accident resulting in loss of life. The chief of police has confirmed that the majority of those killed in the accident were “boys,” suggesting that they were mostly teenagers and students.
