A sheet of memoirs of revolutionary women / lady who preferred SAVAK torture chamber to royal pardon

Family group Undoubtedly, women in the Islamic Revolution are certainly not less than men if they do not play a greater role than men. Women in various positions of mother, wife, child and sister have been present in various scenes of the revolution and have been arrested, imprisoned and tortured during the struggle.

“Tahereh Sajjadi” is one of these resilient women and a militant lady before and after the Islamic Revolution of Iran and the wife of “Mehdi Ghioran” who started her activities in the fifties. He was arrested and tortured by SAVAK for his connection to the assassination plot of an American officer in Iran. He was arrested several times with his wife and remained in the torture chamber of the Joint Anti-Sabotage Committee of SAVAK and was imprisoned.

Here are some memories from his difficult life:

I started my political activity almost in 1973, when I typed the pamphlets and leaflets of the militant religious groups, made microfilms from them, and put them in special postcards to be sent to the militants abroad. In those days, women did not engage in much political activity, and although the people had seen the oppression of the Pahlavis and experienced the defeat of the national movement and then the coup d’état of 28 August, they did not dare to engage in militant and political activities due to severe repression. There was SAVAK.

My wife, Mr. Mehdi Ghayouran, was aware of political issues and had contacts with many militant and political figures. In the National Movement, although he was not more than sixteen years old, he was a supporter of Ayatollah Kashani and Mossadegh, and he was detained around the clock in clashes with members of the Tudeh Party. From 1340 and the beginning of the Imam Movement, he cooperated with the delegations of the Islamic Coalition and was one of the active members of that party and also played a role in the establishment of the Welfare School.

In 1350, many members of the Mojahedin Khalq were arrested and their organization almost disintegrated! From then on, Ahmad Rezaei tried to communicate with the fighters and came and went to our house. The conditions were not such that I could attend their meetings, but Mr. Ghioran explained everything to me and, of course, spoke to me about his doubts about their interpretation of the Qur’an and the Nahj al-Balaghah. These words made me doubt whether the path we are taking is basically pleasing to God or not. Of course, this was the concern of many people at that time.

The Mojahedin Khalq Organization was a religious organization in the 1340s and early 1350s. In 1974, the organization assassinated the head of the SAVAK Joint Anti-Sabotage Committee, Colonel Zandipour, who was said to have played a major role in immoral torture, especially against women! Of course, I had not seen him myself. Samadiyeh Labaf and Mohsen Khamoushi played an important role in this operation. Mr. Ghioran was supposed to pick up and bring the last car they were changing from behind a park. Of course, we did not know about this operation and we found out after Zandipour’s execution.

In 1975, after my arrest, I found out in SAVAK that the two were Samadieh Labaf and Mohsen Khamoushi. Mohsen Khamoushi told me in court: I told someone I knew the zealous, but he said you were wrong! Of course, he had said this to another person and he had also said under torture: Probably the person who took over the car was zealous and the woman who was with him was probably his wife! Based on this information, SAVAK agents went to Mr. Ghioran’s workplace and arrested him.

A relative at his place of work told me about it. I quickly tidied up the house, washed the yard, opened the water fountain, and turned on the lights in the rooms and the yard to look like a normal house, and I, as a simple housewife with no information. It has no political issues, let me show. Incidentally, this trick was also effective. Manouchehri, a well-known SAVAK interrogator, and several agents brought Mr. Ghioran home. It was clear that they did not have much information from us. They did not want to make a fuss. I said to them: Why should I come with you? I did not do anything.

They put Mr. Ghioran in another car and told him to tell me not to resist, and they put me in another car and took me away. They took me to the joint committee and gave me a blouse and pants to change my clothes. At first, Mr. Ghioran was shown to Mohsen Khamoushi, and he also confirmed that he was Ghioran, and from that moment, punching and kicking started! Then they showed me and he doubted and said: because the tent was on that lady, she is not sure! With his skepticism and the simplicity I had shown myself, they doubted that I had been with Mr. Ghioran. I learned from the interrogators that the case of our house had not been leaked, however, they all tried to bring Mr. Ghioran to justice by harassing and harassing me.

I saw that the situation is very critical. I simply hit myself and shouted at Mr. Ghioran: “Who is this woman that they say was riding in the car with you?” Are you in a relationship with a woman? “What’s going on?” Mr. Ghayuran also kept saying: “Which woman? “There is no woman!” But I was not manipulating and I was shouting: “So tell me where you are at night when you come home late, you have taken a second wife and I did not know, do not hurt your hand!” The interrogators complained that they had killed my husband and I, and that we had mistaken them! Eventually this trick made me a worker and I was released in the morning. When they returned home, the officers laughed and made fun of the fact that they had arrested a simple woman! They believed in this game, otherwise it would not have been SAVAK’s tradition to get rid of anyone so soon. However, two weeks later, when we were exposed by another, I was arrested again, but this time I could no longer play the role of the simple housewife.

They closed my eyes and took me to the committee. The only thing that worried me there were my children. My daughter was with her aunt, my little boy was with his aunt and my eldest son was with his cousin. I did not hear from the children for nine months. Sometimes they would say: We will bring them here and beat you in front of them so that you can talk! I must say that we separated from the Mojahedin Khalq in prison and no longer had any relations with them.

I was on the joint committee for about a year and then I was transferred to Evin Prison. Of course, I was sent back to the Joint Committee several more times because members of the Red Cross had come to visit Evin Prison and the regime did not want them to see the effects of torture on the prisoners. Mr. Ghioran was also moved a lot; Because he was still paralyzed and there were many signs of torture on him. The second time the Red Cross came, I named them Mr. Ghioran.

Three or four months later, once I was being taken in for questioning, I was walking past a room where I saw my wife for a moment. They always threw something at us when they took us in for questioning, but that day I think they did not do it on purpose and kept me in front of that room to see them, maybe my will would weaken and I would give them the information they wanted. He was interrogated and someone wrote. Then they called to bring a stretcher and take them away. I found out that day that he was alive.

On December 13, 1978, when the political prisoners were released, we were one of the last groups and our number was very small. We were taken to the room of the head of the prison and he put a notebook in front of us and told us to sign, but he put his hand on the note above the signature. I said: I will not sign until you take your hand and I will return to my cell! He was finally forced to raise his hand and I saw him write: With royal forgiveness! I said that I do not want this amnesty and I will not sign it and I will stay in prison here. Eventually it got to the point where they begged me and the others to go out, and we came out signed. It was night, and despite the martial law, large crowds gathered in front of the prison to greet the released political prisoners.

* Dhikr or Ghias Al-Mustaghithin or Arham Al-Rahmain

I was once severely tortured to tell the news about people. I knew that my wife, Mr. Ghioran, was also severely tortured, and I was concerned about her health. Everyone is more or less aware of the torture that took place in political prisoners in 1953 and 1954. The point was that when my life came to me under horrible torture, a phrase by Arash, a savage torturer, created a joy in my heart that I had never experienced such joy in my life. He tortured, he did not confess. From that moment on, neither torture nor harassment could hurt me.

I was so happy to imagine Mr. Ghioran’s martyrdom that even if the information did not go through, I forgot the pain of torturing him and myself. In prison, I was constantly chanting “either Ghias al-Mustaghithin or Arham al-Rahimin” and I was repeating Surah Al-Ansharah and writing on the wall of my cell. Towards the end of my time in solitary confinement, I was not interrogated and tortured as much as before, and I had the opportunity to look at the prison walls.

The cell was completely dark, and only for a short time of day did the sun shine into the cell the size of a coin. In that dim light on the cell wall, I recited poems that inspired me. One of the prisoners wrote: This bit of the warmth of the sun will one day be gone and the sun will rise.

Several other beautiful poems were on the wall. I also wrote a verse from Surah Al-Ansharah on the wall with a pin I had hidden, “It is indeed easy with every difficulty.”

Source: Institute for the Study of Contemporary Iranian History, interview with Tahereh Sajjadi

Shahed Yaran monthly from Tahereh Sajjadi’s memoirs

End of message /

You can edit this post