On the occasion of the anniversary of the liberation of Khorramshahr, Viranshahr
The unsaid of an interview with Jahan Ara’s mother:
I asked Mohammad Jahanara, his mother said Hassan!!
I knew they had three martyrs. Muhammad (commander of the martyred Khorramshahr Corps, Shahid Mohammad Jahanara), who was the commander of the Khorramshahr Corps, Ali, who was martyred in the Shah Prison and under the torture of Savak, Mohsen, who was captured and missing in Khorramshahr. When I looked around, I saw not three people, but four people. One was Hassan’s photo, as if he was a student who was arrested during the organization’s demonstrations in 1960.
On the same day he was arrested, Mohammad went home and told his mother to put clothes and essentials in a sack for Hassan. He said don’t worry mother. We all know that Hassan has done nothing but reading newspapers and participating in some demonstrations. It will be released soon.
Jahanara’s mother spoke strongly about Hasan, about Hasan who was executed in the summer of 1967. I used to ask about Muhammad and the rest of his martyred sons, and he used to say about Hasan. It was as if he wanted to talk more about a boy who was forbidden to talk: “All my children were good, but Hassan was the best and strongest of all.” I said to myself, “Maybe the fact that his name is forbidden has made him dearer in the eyes of his mother.”
He looked at the photos and said: “Every time they come from the Shahid Foundation and say take Hassan’s photo.” Shahid Ziad Foundation brings Iranian and foreign guests to our house. They tell the guests that these are the families of three martyrs. They tell us if there is a picture of Hasan, what do you want to say about him?
Many times tears gathered in his eyes. He said: “For me, all four are my sons, why should I take the picture of one?” His heart was full of unsaid words, full of sadness: “My frustration is more than that if they wanted to execute my son, why did they keep him in prison for nearly seven years, it was a very hard prison, he said that in the cold of winter they should have bathed in cold water, he said that…”
He was angry and said: “I know my son was innocent, Muhammad knew it too. Everyone said, mother, don’t be sad. Hassan is innocent, reading newspapers and demonstrations are not crimes.”
Muhammad was martyred and did not see his brother who was innocent and was sentenced to eight years (twelve years?) and was executed after seven years.
Jahanara’s mother spoke loudly about her sons, about her martyrs. Most of all from Hassan.
I said: Mother, they won’t let me print your words. He said I will tell you. You can’t write but you can describe to some people.
The father listened to his wife’s words for a while and got up and left without saying anything. It was as if there was a small shop nearby and their lives passed from there. Their life was too simple. Their share of life and revolution was the loss of four sons, except for Muhammad, no one spoke of the other three.
Father’s silence was heavy. As if he didn’t want to talk about it, maybe he didn’t even want to hear his wife’s words, so he got up and left.
Their father went everywhere to save Hassan. In front of everyone he reached, he told them that my three sons were martyred on the way of the revolution, you forgive us this one. But no one accepted, no one.
Later, I read in Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani’s memoirs that Jahan Araha’s father had also visited him. Hashemi had written that I could not do anything for him.
Mohammad’s mother was talking and I was taking notes, notes that I knew had no place in Hamshahri or any other newspaper. But I kept the notes, I had promised the mothers of Jahanara to tell others.
This post is written by amirBRZa