Many of these fresh constructions, I knew, were converted cemeteries full of the regime’s executed political prisoners. Paving over those unmarked mass graves with turf, with water features, to show the world how happy and pristine Tehran had become. Clean. I’d heard this whispered: If you were taken prisoner, they would ask you, “When you were growing up, did your father pray, fast, and read the Holy Quran?” You were supposed to answer no, though most reflexively said yes. “No” meant your delinquency was not your fault. If you said yes, you’d be tortured or hanged.
