Which One is Zarei?

Nooshabeh Amiri
Nooshabeh Amiri

The plan to boost public morality is implemented with more ferocity. The city is filled with ‎‎”Zareis.” General Zareis, before arrest, while observing Friday prayers of nude women.‎

Back then, we, as people who had to answer for the way we covered our hair and head and ‎dressed, did not know what the generals do in evenings and at nights, when they are off duty. ‎Now we know. Therefore, the question is, among those who have returned to the cities, which ‎one is another Mr. Zarei? ‎

It is said that all tragedies begin with a misunderstanding. That is why we tried year after year to ‎prevent any misunderstandings and avoid tragedies. They kept saying these are the words of ‎enemies of the revolution. It is a plan to defame, to destruct. To destroy character… and we ‎cried listening to their speeches. And perhaps, like Ayatollah Khomeini had said, crying is for ‎awakening. The nation would be more awake. And it was. ‎

Now, the officials themselves said that two Majlis deputies are ethically corrupt. They revealed ‎that General Zarei held Friday prayer sessions in the presence of six nude women. They said ‎Judge Mortazavi has a case of sexual deviation; a judge from Kurdistan enjoys sodomy, and ‎former minister did in his room what normal people do in their homes…‎

And these are just news of ethical and sexual corruption. ‎

Now, in connection with this, is it a misunderstanding to think that among the male and female ‎police officers that you have sent to the streets, Zareis are picking their future prayer partners? It ‎is wrong to fear that young boys are arrested for the sake of sodomizing judges? How can we ‎know the kids that enter your vehicles will return home safely? ‎

Actually, how could we know that Zarei and Zareis are not among them? Especially after they ‎saw that in the “Islamic Republic” one can enter not only the sphere of Iranian women, but also ‎the sphere of “fundamental and holy principles of Islam” and avoid punishment. ‎

When we used to go to the Ghazal Hesar prison to visit political prisoners, there were mini-buses ‎there that transported the families of prisoners from the road to various wards within the prison: ‎both families of political prisoners, and families of regular prisoners. A police officer would sit ‎in each mini-bus and supervise the crowd. We, who were the relatives of political prisoners, ‎were all sad, our heads tucked into our bodies. Relatives of drug dealers and murderers and ‎fraudsters, however, looked like were on a picnic. They spoke loudly - from top to bottom of ‎government - and laughed. ‎

One day, a new police officer was on board and shouted: shut your mouths. ‎

From among the crowd, a woman whose husband had raped thirteen other women, shouted even ‎louder: what’s the matter, brother? Have our husbands committed political crimes that you speak ‎to us like that?! The police officer was silenced. ‎

It is the story of today, when relatives of general Zareis, out at a picnic in our ancient land, say ‎shamelessly: have our husbands spoken about human rights that you are torturing them? A few ‎counts of rape and kilograms of corruption are not worthy of this treatment! At a time when ‎everything can be done except speaking of “rights.” ‎

Seriously, among these men and women, so-called police, that you have unleashed in our cities, ‎which one is Zarei? Would you deliver our sons and daughters, or sodomizing judges, to ‎generals who pray?‎