More than 200,000 Iranian soldiers were killed in the eight-year war between Iran and Iraq. After the war ended in 1988, it was revealed that the bodies of over 10,000 Iranian soldiers were still missing.

Anbar Jaberi lives with her daughter and grandchild near the Iraq border. She says she goes out onto the moors with her grandchild every day to think of her son.

Every few months, the bodies of a number of unknown soldiers are discovered near the Iraq-Iran border. The funerals held for them are attended by many of the mothers and families of missing soldiers.

Anbar Jaberi, who has waited 23 years for news of her son, weeps over his old clothes.

Notes and photos belonging to Mohammad Tajik, killed when he was 18.

Mothers and families of missing soldiers gather around the coffins of ‘unknown martyrs’—unidentified bodies that have recently been discovered near the Iraq-Iran border.

After 31 years of waiting, Zarrintaj Bahrami (72), the mother of Behrouz Sabouri, hears that a DNA test has identified her son’s body. Few mothers of missing martyrs hear such news.

Eshrat Tabatabayee (72), the mother of Ahmad Afshar, embraces her son's body after 30 years of waiting. He was identified by his ID tag.

Shirin Fahimi (75), the mother of Safdar Fahimi, killed aged 21, has been waiting 27 years to recover her son’s body.

Zahra Banazadeh (68), the mother of 19-year-old Hamidreza Raee Banazadeh, has waited for him for around 27 years. Every new year, she—as with many Iranians—visits a former war zone, such as this one near Shalamcheh, one of the main sites of the Iraqi invasion. Such locations are seen as holy ground.

Contemporary Issues,3rd prize

Waria: Being a Different Muslim