Deceived and Abandoned

Nooshabeh Amiri
Nooshabeh Amiri

There was a custom in the days prior to the 1979 revolution in Iran because ‎of which the press used the word “deceived” instead of “raped” or ‎‎“trespassed”. Censorship required it, and so it was done. When some body ‎was raped, they simply wrote that the person was deceived. The stories of ‎the deceived were always popular, especially as there really was no ‎deception involved. ‎

This is somewhat similar to Mr. Palizdar’s recent stories (an associate of Mr. ‎Ahmadinejad in thought). He is busy exposing financial and political ‎corruption in the Islamic Republic of Iran. He too uses the word “deception” ‎for all kinds of violations and trespass. And Mr. Palizdar, who is a member ‎of the Majlis’ investigation committee, is not the only one who has been ‎using the word deceive instead of trespass or rape for years. There are others ‎who now remember that Mahmud Mokhtari and Mohammad Pooyandeh ‎‎(both writers who were murdered by the security forces of the Islamic ‎regime in the 1980s), were actually writers and not villains “worthy of ‎death”. Does this rising awareness go back to a growth of conscience ‎among the figures of the Islamic republic or is it because of the effects of the ‎ruthless battle among those who are engaged in eliminating one another?‎

It made us laugh to read the words “deceived” and “deception” those days. ‎Normally news stories on the subject quoted deceived women (translation: ‎loose women) in these terms: I was walking on a main avenue in Tehran ‎when a car stopped in front of me. A young man was at the wheel of the car. ‎I got into his car and then found myself on the way to a nearby town. Then ‎he deceived me. The first time, I simply disregarded it. The second time he ‎took me to his friend’s house. They both deceived me. Again I simply ‎disregarded it. Then we went to a restaurant and on to a yet another friend’s ‎house. There were other people in the house. It was a good party. Then all of ‎a sudden all those people at the party deceived me!‎

These stories appear similar to the ones around Mr. Palizdar and others like ‎him. After many years in which these individuals were witnesses to, ‎participants in or even leaders of similar crimes, they are now suddenly ‎raising their voices that they hopped into the car of the government: ‎Ayatollah Yazdi was the driver of the vehicle. He deceived me. He then ‎drove me to ayatollah Vaez Tabasi’s house. There he deceived me. I ‎discounted it. Then we drove to Mohsen Refighdoost’s house. There, he ‎deceived me along with ayatollah Emami Kashani. I still disregarded it. ‎Then we went to a Friday congregational prayer event. It was a good night. ‎There, all of the participants deceived me. And the story went on.‎

So now we are left with the Palizdars. They plan to travel from city to town ‎to tell us about the catastrophes and crimes which people know in detail. ‎

 

And now that they expose the crimes, the only punishment that is reserved ‎for them - these proud heroes - is to close their shops for a period ranging ‎from 3 days to 3 months. It could be the three month summer holidays or ‎just three days that shut included the shutting of Fars news agency linked to ‎the security – military establishment. And this new show has plenty of ‎spectators in the country. Because every time someone is killed, the event is ‎celebrated by those who have perpetrated it. ‎

But just as every person who was affiliated to the pre-1979 regime in Iran ‎received a few-minute trial and then tasted execution (and I must say that ‎neither the “trespasses” nor the “deceptions” of those people were anywhere ‎as serious as those that Mr. Palizdar has been exposing about people who are ‎still around, and who deserve far greater retributions), so will the Palizdars ‎and the other”Brothers” who will one day face at least the same fate as their ‎predecessors, if not more. If the last SAVAK (Shah’s security and ‎intelligence chief) boss General Nassiri received the death sentence in the ‎manner that we know it, then what kind of a court and trial do Falahian, ‎Ejeyi, Mortezavi, Rey-shahri etc await? Are we going to loose the defenses ‎that these people will want to present at their trial? Are not we going to hear ‎about the defenses that the minister of science, for example, who has sent ‎one student after another from one interrogation room to the next torture ‎chamber on a continuous cycle, is going to raise at his trial?‎

Let’s go a bit further. Does condemning the opponents of Mr. Ahmadinejad ‎translate into acquitting the president who just a few days ago in Rome took ‎our country yet one step closer to war and destruction? Or is the leader of ‎Iran who approves of every single measure to silence any independent and ‎natural voice in the country because it voices a small piece of the crimes that ‎are committed around the country, going to be acquitted? Do you really ‎believe that by exposing the crimes of a cabal, the leaders are going to stay ‎immune?‎

 

It is said that during the height of the rallies against the monarchy in 1978, ‎the Shah himself saw the crowds from a helicopter and asked the question: ‎‎“What have I done to these people?” We ask Mr. Khamenei, the leader of ‎the Islamic republic: “Do you too not know what you have done to the ‎people of this land? You too do not know the difference between rape, ‎transgression and deception?‎

Mr. Khamenei! believe me, we are not far from the day when people make a ‎film about you regarding those who during your era were “deceived and ‎abandoned”. Take advantage of the little time that is left to deal with this ‎criminal gang. This window will not last forever.‎