Families of people killed in protests in Iran have told the BBC that authorities are demanding large sums of money to hand over their bodies for burial.
Multiple sources told the BBC in Persian that the bodies are in morgues and hospitals and that security forces will not hand them over unless their families give money.
At least 2.435 people have been killed during more than two weeks of protests across the country, according to human rights organizations.
A family from the northern city of Rasht told the BBC that security forces were demanding 700 million tomans ($5.000) to hand over the body of their loved one.
The body is in the Pursina Hospital morgue, along with at least 70 other dead protesters, they said.
In the capital, Tehran, the family of a Kurdish seasonal construction worker went to claim his body, but were told they had to pay one billion tomans ($7.000).
The family told the BBC they could not afford it and were forced to leave without their son's body.
The average salary of a construction worker in Iran is less than $100 per month.
In some cases, hospital employees called families of the deceased to collect the bodies before security forces demanded money.
BBC Persian has learned of a woman, whose identity is not being revealed for her safety, who did not know her husband had been killed until she was called from the hospital on January 9th.
They told her to come quickly and claim his body before the security forces arrived and demanded her money.
A relative in London, who spoke to her, informed the BBC in Persian about the case.
The woman then went to the hospital with her two children to collect the body.
She put him in the trunk of her car and drove seven hours to their hometown in western Iran to bury him.
BBC Persian has also received reports that officials at Tehran's Behesht-e Zahra morgue are telling families that if they claim their child was a member of the Basij paramilitary force and was killed by protesters, the body will be returned without compensation or charges.
"They asked us to say that he had participated in a pro-government rally and that it was the body of a martyr. We did not agree," a family member wrote in a message provided to the BBC in Persian.
Watch the video from Iran: A row of bodies in black bags
In another case in Tehran, a source told the BBC in Persian that several families broke into the morgue to retrieve bodies for fear that authorities would not hand them over.
"Several families, fearing that authorities might keep the bodies or bury them without their knowledge, broke down the morgue doors and pulled the bodies out of the ambulances," a source told the BBC.
The families then kept the bodies in the hospital yard for several hours until they could find private ambulances to transport them, the source said.
The disruption of the internet and communications has made it difficult to get a complete picture of what is happening in Iran.
International human rights groups do not have direct access to the country, and the BBC, like other international news organizations, is not allowed to report from Iran by the authorities in Tehran.
Demonstrations began in Tehran on December 29th, following a sharp drop in the value of the Iranian currency against the dollar.
As the protests spread to many other cities, demonstrators turned against religious leaders, and security forces responded with violence.
The protests escalated significantly on January 8, leading to armed clashes.
According to the American news agency Human Rights Activists (HRANA), at least 2.435 protesters have been killed since the beginning of the unrest, including 13 children and 153 people associated with state forces.
It is reported that another 18.470 protesters were arrested.
Meanwhile, arrests continued across the country.
US President Donald Trump has threatened to use force against Iranian authorities if they continue to kill protesters.
However, two days ago he said he had been "informed that the killings had stopped."
Watch the video: Who is Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran?
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