From a large number of letters and news reports that I have
received recently from inside Iran’s prisons on the verge of the Persian New
Years, “Norouz”, I have brought three different examples so that we can be in
sympathy with their pains and sufferings.
Massoud Arab Choubdar launches hunger strike in solidarity
with political prisoners Farid Azmoudeh and Iraj Hatami
Tuesday, 29 March 2016
Massoud Arab Choubdar in a letter to the child of Farid
Azmoudeh, currently in prison, saying he has launched a hunger strike in
solidarity with Farid Azmoudeh and Iraj Hatami.
“Greetings to my dear Arteen, greetings to the Hatami and
Azmoudeh families, and I truly admire you and I know you are very concerned
about the critical conditions of Iraj and Farid.
My dear Arteen, I heard you crying at nights. Believe me that
I cannot bear your tears, as I am filled with rage.
From behind bars your father taught you a very important
lesson. He taught you how to live with pride. Tomorrow, you will be speaking of
your father with pride. I have launched a hunger strike today for you, your
father and “Uncle Iraj”, our dear friend who is also under the pressures of
prison along with your father, but they have not succumbed to the pressures. I
will be with them every step of the way. Please draw my picture in your drawing
book along with your father and Uncle Iraj.”
Love, Uncle Massoud
Tehran – Norouz message from the wife of political prisoner
Behnam Ibrahimzadeh
My name is Zobeide Hajizadeh, the wife of political prisoner
Behnam Ibrahimzadeh. First and foremost I wish all the Iranian people a happy
new year with the hope of all political prisoners being freed this year.
The judiciary has not provided Behnam any leave, even on the
verge of New Year, and they have forged a new case against him and sentenced
him to nearly 7 years behind bars for his contact with the media and Dr. Ahmed
Shaheed, the UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Iran, and for posting
statements and texts about workers and human rights inside Iran. This showed
that the judiciary cannot realize justice in Iran.
In the past few months the judiciary and the Tehran public
prosecutor showed that after forcing me and my ill son to go from door to door
in the hallways of the judiciary and forensics and Tehran’s hospitals, in the
end they did not budge and still refused to issue any leave for Behnam.
They couldn’t tolerate a father, who has already spent 7 springs
and new years behind bars, to be able to be along his ill child.
The judiciary and security apparatus must understand very
well that through threats, pressures, opposing any leave or refusing to provide
medical care for Behnam they will never be able to force us to surrender. In
fact, these pressures will strengthen our will and we will finally be
victorious in this struggle.
A text from political prisoner Saeed Shirzad, detained in
Gohardasht Prison of Karaj (west of Tehran) to the mother of executed political
prisoner Farzad Kamangir
I have no New Year’s gifts.
In the name of humanity,
Dear “Mother”, I wanted to write this letter to yourself
Norouz so that with each word you would know that I have no New Year’s gifts
(In Iran it is custom for the elders to give gifts to their younger relatives,
called “Eidy”).
Can one have New Year’s gifts when they accuse us of
terrorism for being crazy about our cause?
Today, the perpetrators of the 1988 massacre and chain
murders become the people’s so-called “hope”, and the “Purple Fox” (a term used
by Iranians for Hassan Rouhani) becomes a jurist, and prisons are filled with
those whose crimes are their beliefs.
Can one truly have a New Year’s gift when “Auschwitz” becomes
a synonym for camp “Liberty” in Iraq (where Iranian dissidents are under siege
by the Iranian regime’s elements in the Iraqi government).
I may have no gifts to give, but I can say Happy New Years.
Saeed Shirzad – Gohardasht Prison in Karaj, west of Tehran
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