A TRIBUTE TO ZOHREH, WHO TAUNTED HER TORTURERS IN #IRAN
The
dictators commit crimes to keep the power for a longer time. On the
other hand, there are always people who stand against them and pay the
price for freedom. In the recent history we have Hitler and Khomeini.
One has been defeated and somehow brought to justice and the other one
have not been yet, but will be. Khomeini killed 120.000 people to
survive its ruling.
At
the first glance it looks just a number but each unit of this enormous
number represents a life with all its details. Hassan Mahmoudi, a human
rights advocate, has revived on of this glorious numbers, whose name was
Zohreh Heydari.
"The
Nazi hunters from Germany were midway through a four-hour interview
with Judith Meisel when they pulled out a photo of a young S.S. guard
the 88-year-old Holocaust survivor hadn't seen for nearly 75 years."
The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported on July 8, 2017:
In
a desperate, final dash to bring the guard and others to account for
Nazi atrocities committed decades ago, investigators from Germany's
Federal Justice Office, aided by FBI agents, visited Meisel's St. Louis
Park, Minn., home last month after once thinking that there were no more
living survivors of Stutthof. Founded by German authorities after an
internet search, Meisel offers a rare chance for prosecutors to present
one more survivor's account of a brutal camp in Poland where 60,000
died.
"I
think it's important to send the message that no matter how long ago
these crimes were committed that humanity will seek justice until it can
no longer do so," said Gregory Gordon, a former federal prosecutor who
worked on cases involving Nazi war criminals.
Although
history will never forget the lessons and memories of Holocaust,
ironically, history repeats itself with similar events. The dates and
the names of the players may change, but the general motifs remain the
same.
Zohreh
Heydari was a 17-year-old Iranian woman from the city of Qom (125
kilometers by road southwest of Tehran). She was part of the first
group of people who were taken away during the massacre in the summer of
1988, executing more than 30,000 people in Iran. She was sentenced in
court to 70 lashes, and the night prior to her execution, she received
those 70 floggings.
The
massacre of 30,000 political prisoners in Iran was a crime against
humanity. Khomeini desired to get rid of his main opponents and
guarantee the survival of his regime. After three decades, there is a
movement seeking justice for that massacre and the other crimes
conducted by the Iranian regime.
Zohreh
Heydari is certainly an inspiration to all those women now continuing
the struggle against Iran's corrupt, misogynist mullahs. Her courage
and bravery, her capacity to take risks, and her strong willpower
contributed to her mature appearance.
"She
was arrested while trying to escape the country," said her fellow
inmate, "on her way to joining the resistance. She underwent a
tremendous amount of torture and used to recount her memories from the
period of interrogation. She used to say, 'The torture room seemed so
small to me that upon my return to my cell it felt as if I have stepped
in to a hotel. I would take advantage of that space until it was time to
return for more torture the following day.'"
Zohreh
used to stand steadfast against the interrogators from the Iranian
Revolutionary Guard Corps. Whenever the Iranian Revolutionary Guards
(IRG) in Evin Prison would rush into our cells to attack us, they would
directly go to Zohreh and assault her, assuming she was guilty and
responsible for everything.
She
used to suffer from severe migraine headaches. "They used to rush into
our cells with their lashes, beating everyone. Due to Zohreh's
headache, she had not partaken in our protest this time around.
However, Halvaee, that evil executioner who had a particular hate for
Zohreh, directly approached Zohreh and started kicking her with his
heavy boots. Zohreh started yelling, 'you malicious, dirty guard, leave
me alone! Don't you get close to me!' It was exactly because of her
continuous persistence that we had nicknamed her 'Waterfall.' Her
shouts were similar to the roar of the waterfall as it continuously
pounds upon falling."
Zohreh
and I were on a hunger strike together for a month in Gohardasht
Prison. When we were transferred to solitary confinements, our cells
were near each other, so we were able to know how the other was doing.
We
preoccupied ourselves by learning various languages and dialects such
as Azeri, Shomali, and Kurdish. Ever since those days, the Azeri word
"oushachlar," meaning "friends" or, more colloquially, "guys," has
become very popular and is still used to this day. That's how we used
to refer to each other. And that's how the word "waterfall" (Aabshar in
Farsi, phonetically similar to Oushachlar in Azeri) came to signify
Zohreh.
Whenever
we were moved or transferred to different cells, Waterfall was the one
in charge of announcing wake-up calls and blackouts. In fact, her voice
was so loud and clear, as if it were coming through a speaker, reaching
from one side of the hall to the other. She was also in charge of
announcing daily prayers while in solitary confinement. Each morning,
she would yell out, "Hey, oushachlar [guys], good morning!" At the time
of prayers, she would call, "Oushachlar, it's time for prayers. Let's
pray together." And at the end of prayers, she'd say, "May God accept
our prayers, oushachlar." When they turned off the lights at nights,
Zohreh's loud and clear voice would break the silence in our cells by
wishing everyone a good night. All the guards recognized Zohreh's voice
and knew that Waterfall was her nickname. She was not afraid of anyone
and would face them all singlehandedly.
The
female guards were not capable of punishing or silencing her, hence
they always sent brutal male torturers. One day, as dusk was falling,
she called everyone to prayers. "Oushachlar, it's time for prayers!"
We all stood up in our cells for prayers. Like the usual routine, she
called out, "May God accept your prayers" once we had finished. She
hadn't fully completed her sentence when we heard her cell's door open,
followed by the voices of three men. We realized they had been waiting
to attack her after our prayers. On the one hand, we could hear the
beatings of those three heinous torturers, and on the other hand,
Zohreh's voice, shouting, "Get out of my cell, you evil bastards! Don't
you touch me!"
An
hour of this unjust but proud battle continued. The rest of us who
were in the surrounding cells started banging on our doors and yelling
to leave the poor girl alone. We didn't know what had happened to
Zohreh, as she had gone silent. The beatings had continued for more
than an hour. Only the voices of those three who were taking out their
revenge and hatred on her could be heard. They left her cell after a
while, and although we kept calling Zohreh, she didn't respond to any of
us.
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