Sunday, July 20, 2008

Guilty Feelings of a Revolutionary Guard 20 Years Later

During the terror years of the eighties which led to the massacre of the Iranian political prisoners in 1988, there was a disturbing news which further shocked any decent human being.

The leadership of the Left wing groups in Iran were still ploughing through Marx and Lenin's writings and squabling whether the clerics, who were in complete control of the country, represented the petty bourgeoise class, natural allies of the Proleteriat according to Lenin, or a merchant bourgeoise class, blah blah. While their young, even teenage ordinary supporters and sympathisers were being lined up for mass executions, the Left's leadership in Iran considered such intellectual theoretical debates as having top priority, because the correct Marxist-Leninst formulation, in their warped out of touch minds, was important to decide the 'correct' tactics against the regime!

Yet any sane rational person by hearing such shocking news that was coming out of the Islamic Republic prisons would say, what difference does it make? these are nothing but brutal savages.

The horrific news, was that female prisoners who were virgins, were raped before their execution. Apparently according to the Koran, virgin girls will always go to heaven, and by raping them before their execution, one would prevent them from entering the Paradise. Clerics in the prisons would perform the Sighe, temporary shi'ite marriage, ceremony and their 'temporary husbands' could do as they pleased before these young girls were executed in the morning.

Ayatollah Montazeri, who was the original designated successor to Ayatollah Khomeini, as the next Supreme Leader, also mentions in his memoirs, the enormous feeling of guilt he suffers for not having stopped this loathsome conduct in Islamic prisons at the time.

Families of these executed girls also reported, how a prison guard or a revolutionary guard, would bring the tragic devastating news of their daughter's death to their household and have the further audacity of telling them, 'by the way, last night, we were your son-in-law'. Just imagine what these families went through in those moments.

In a Persian weblog, You Killed Iranians but Iran Lives On, the blogger writes about an uncle who is now a Major in the Revolutionary Guards. The uncle's wife is dead and the guilty feelings are catching up with him in his old age, perhaps because he now sees himself in the waiting lounge for the next world. The uncle was stationed in the Shiraz prison at the time, and was amongst a group due to be sent to the war fronts the next day.
After the evening meal and reading the Komayl prayers, the prison governor, told them he had good news, 'You can choose any of the female prisoners due to be executed as your temporary wives for the night.'

Some of them refused to take part in this crime, the blogger's uncle was also tempted to turn away and nearly did, but someone shouted at him, 'Hey, where are you going, you don't want to leave this world without having tried it, do you?' The temptation and his youth, and his uncertain future at the war front finally won over.
According to the blogger's uncle, the young girl said she was sentenced to death, after she had gone along to a Tudeh Party meeting, Iranian pro-Soviet Communist Party. Her name was Leyla. After he spent the night with her, he watched her get executed along with the others. At the time he justified the unsettling experience to himself, by thinking' This is necessary so that Islam can spread'.

Like many other henchmen, the Revolutionary Guard who took part in this inhumane act, is now suffering the after shocks of his barbarity, yet some Tudeh Party affiliates of those days, like Elaheh Rostami, SOAS lecturer, and Haleh Afshar, the People's Peer!, still try and justify the regime and claim women in Islamic Republic are better off than before by quoting meaningless statistics like 'More women are vaccinated now than during the Shah's regime'. With some, perhaps, the guilty conscience will never catch up.

32 comments:

Winston said...

IRGC is a criminal, mafia like entity and US government was correct to put this criminal group on terror watch list. Aside from these, I myself have heard horrible stories about prisoners of conscious during the early 1980s. This current regime is a barbaric and terrible system.

Anonymous said...

Horible and so terrible.

Now lets deal with today's issues. The biggest enemy of Iran is planning an attack. Who is there to defend our father land and save us from becoming a satellite colony like Iraq and Afghanistan.

Nazanin jaan perhaps?

Sohrab said...

I remember my parents speaking about some friends or acquaintances going through a similar ordeal: their teenage daughter was detained for distributing some Marxist leaflet or another, and the next time they heard about her, it was news that she'd been executed delivered by a RG who claimed to have been their son-in-law.

Azarmehr said...

The biggest threat against Iran is teh Islamic Republic. If there were no Islamic Republic there would be no threat of war against Iran. There are powerful factions in the Islamic Republic who want a military confrontation.

Hanif Leylabi said...

Women as a group are better off they. More of the read write learn and work than ever before.

İ suppose the Shahs soldiers were too noble to rape female prisoners? Or too humane to rip their finger nails out?

Anonymous said...

excellent post thank you.

if you are interested, please add a link to my blog:
http://andishehblog.wordpress.com/

Ill add a link to yours too.

Mehrtash said...

Rage. Rage! RAGE!!

How dare such parasites argue that the IRI is somewhat the light for women, or that it accords women their rights!?

The likes of Haleh Afshar are traitors to the cultural wealth of Iran, as well as to other women; in fact, they are traitors to humanity!

I know a girl who kept winning the arts prize back in Iran. Her awards were pots and pans, because that's where the IRI envisage the place of a woman to be - in the home. The sheer audacity of such chauvinstic ideology!

I have faith in the true allies of Iran, which includes Nazanin "jaan". While 'anonymous' plays upon his/her harp and sings sermons with his/her fork tongue, the rest of us Iranians shall endeavour for truth, justice, freedom and democracy in Iran.

On a note, these clerics are warped in believing a rapee shall go to hell; victims don't go to hell according to the scriptures...Whether one believes in the scriptures is entirely a different matter. I myself do not subscribe to them, but have read a few pages to comprehend the obvious and common-sense within the verses.

The likes of the IRI and the regime itself is like that of a cancer in an otherwise perfectly healthy and beautiful body - in preserving the body's integrity, the cancer is surgically cut out.

Bahramerad said...

Don't make me lough Anon...
These bustards will be the first ones to shave their stupid beard and melt into the Iranian crowds — just like Saddams lackeys did in the face of the American superior forces.
In the case of hated Basiji and hezbollahies, they will run into the eager arms of the Iranians holding long nooses waiting to hang them from the first tree on the Pahlavi avenue.

Azarmehr said...

Hanif

You always speak like a retard. Tell me how many teenagers were executed under the Shah for going along to a meeting or handing out leaflets??

I think you display your very low IQ by making statements like
'Women as a group are better off they. More of the read write learn and work than ever before.'

Not only your grammar sucks your whole logic is warped as a result of the cult like SWP's Marxist-Leninist clap trap who have brain washed you.

Go to Iran and talk to the women. Nothing is stopping you.

Winston said...

May be this Hanif Commie was high when he was typing. LOL

Anonymous said...

Hello,

You know, when you have these debates with older Iranians they tend to lose sight of what actually matters.

If women are better off then they were under the Shah (which is a generalization that I don't quite subscribe to), what does that mean for women? Does that mean they are content under the IRI? And by making such a statement, is one implying that the IRI should get the benefit of the doubt because women can drive or become lawyers?

The fact of the matter is, in today's Iran, women cannot wear what they please, they cannot leave the country without a man's permission, they cannot even get a hotel room without a man, and aside from all the blatantly sexist laws, the revolutionary courts and other governmental institutions are patently biased towards women. Consider the fact that all female candidates were disapproved by the Council of Ministers for election to the Expediency Council.

Women's rights issues did not end in America after they got the vote; they still haven't ended. But in Iran, they haven't even began to be taken seriously And we can thank all the ass-backwards people we've had ruling Iran since the Safavids, and the Pahlavis are no exception.

be salamt,
barmakid

Azarmehr said...

Barmakid,

Here I am reading your comment, thinking at last Barmakid has said something which makes sense right until the end when you have to ruin it all by saying 'Pahlavis are no exception', whatever the shortcomings of the Pahlavi kings, no one can deny that the huge improvement in women's conditions in Iran was purely because of the the Pahlavi kings and their 50 year rule. You only have to compare where Iranian women were during the Qajar dynasty, i.e. in a sack, and where they were in 1979.

Of course if Iranian women were not as liberated as the women in Europe, then you should also take into account the influence of the mullahs in the backward sections of the Iranian population and the readiness of the Iranian society for such changes.

Its funny how some people criticise the Shah saying his Western reforms were too fast for teh Iranian society and then on specific issues like women, they say oh yes but the Iranian women were not as liberated as the women in Europe!!!

Anonymous said...

Dear sir

I am Sadia Ahsanuddin and I am a researcher affiliated with Harvard University in the United State of America. I was wondering if you would be willing and able to fill out a survey for me, please, and answer some questions. My focus is on democracy, the internet, and openness in Iran. Please contact me at ahsanudd@fas.harvard.edu. Thank you.

Sadia Ahsanuddin

Winston said...

Commies need to get over the Pahlavi era. It belongs to the past. What do you do now with regards to this criminal regime in Iran?

Anonymous said...

Every time you talk about some hideous crime in this regime, arse brains like Socialist Worker Hanif La La yee, come up with some comment like 'ooh what about during the Shah ooh the Shah ooh'.

The analogy would be to talk about the crimes of Stalin and some dim wit say ooh what about the Tsar, ooh the Tsar...

Mehrtash said...

Now now,

It is pointless to compare the evils of the IRI with any other rule in time or space. What is of material importance is that what is happening under the rule of IRI is pure and unequivocally unethical and immoral.

For example, as we're on the subject of women, the Conservative Council in Iran have issued a 'Fatwa' against the ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).

I strongly argue that it does not matter what the Qajaris did, not how good or bad the Pahlavis were - they are all history. Perhaps we can learn from history. However, to reiterate, what matters is what is happening today, and how one can make the necessary changes in order to yield a government born out of democracy, secular and human rights abiding jurisprudence.

The International human rights treaties serve very well as a framework and guidance on the protection of human rights. Women and men - all members of the human family.

Anonymous said...

Hello,

There are a few things that we should be aware of though, aside from the historical comparisons (btw, I thought that Czar analogy was a good way to put it).

The IRGC is a powerful faction inside the IRI, indeed the most powerful. And the most important thing to understand about them is that they operate independently of the government, even more so now than when Khomeini was rahbar. For example, they funded, developed, and commanded there own naval and air forces in the midst of the war with Iraq in 1984.

They are THE biggest obstacle hindering reforms, not to mention revolution. Now I'm not an advocate of revolution, but should one occur the IRGC (along with the basij) will effectively crush it.

They have their own fund-raising mechanisms (through the various bonyads) and their own command structure, nominally under the control of Sayid Ali. It's like they are a government within a government (except they are more powerful than the IRI, but paradoxically, are a main source of power for the IRI). The US understands this, as well as Russia and China, that's why they agreed on the sanctions and didn't use their veto power like they do on other, broader sanctions.

They say that Saddam effectively coup-proofed his government through various strategies that included overlapping security structures. He did this because the number one threat to any Iraqi government is a coup de'tat.

Well, in Iran the biggest threat is not so much the coup de'tat, given the relatively decentralized power structure (you can't just take over Tehran and expect to control all of Iran - it's just not that type of country). The biggest threat to the IRI is revolution, be it manufactured or natural, and in my view they have, unfortunately, effectively revolution-proofed their government.

Peace,
barmakid

Winston said...

این کمونیستهای حرومزاده یادشون رفته چطور سرشون با خمینی در یک اخور بود

Azarmehr said...

Barmakid,

You are becoming slightly more sensible these days.

Two questions, in light of what you have just said, which I agree with regarding IRGC.

How were you going to organise Iranian women into burning their scarves at the ballot boxes, as you had suggested before during your holiday trip to Iran?

You have not mentioned, and probably are not aware, of the weaknesses in the IRGC. Yes IRGC want to show the Iranians that they are mighty and strong and invincible, and force the population to become submissive and resigned to defeat, however those who work within the IRGC will tell you that this show of strength is a facade. There is a lot of dissatisfaction within the lower and middle ranks of the IRGC. Most of them are unhappy about the job they are doing and are there to earn a living only.
Many of the active radical students are in fact sons and daughters of IRGC officers.

Thats why we need to have effective sanctions against the top ranks of IRGC. The West seems to concentrate on those who IRI who are involved with nuclear activities only, yet the top ranks of IRGC and those involved in human rights abuses should be targetted. This will create dissent and open up the cracks in IRGC further and help erode that image of invincibility they so love to create.

A lot more can be said on this topic, but I have to go...

Hanif Leylabi said...

The Shah assassinated and murdered and tortured plenty of people as well as gunning down hundreds in the streets.

I have been to Iran and I have talked to women there.

And they all tell me that they are tired of war and that anything we can do here to stop a war would be the biggest present we could give.

Mehrtash said...

Hanif, who knows- had the shah had been successful, perhaps Iran would not have fallen into the hands of the tyrants that abuse it today.

Winston said...

hanif lalaee, shut the hell up please. Read some books and articles about history. Read stuff Emad Baghi has written on the number of people killed during the late Shah's government. Moreover, you are lying again. You've never been to Iran. And you have never talked to any iranian woman. You lying communist. Iranian women want freedom, prosperity and equality and they'd welcome any one who provide that for them. Bastard, your lies are making me puke.

Anonymous said...

حنیف خالتوری، خفه شو لطفآ

Azarmehr said...

Hannif, judging by my experience in UK and seeing how working class people run a mile when they see some SWP freak approach them, my guess would be that in the same way either the Iranian working class women ran away when they saw your bourgeois mannerism or you just never dared get close to them and find out about their problems, instead you ended up talking to a few rich women, morafahine bi dard, who were happy for the status quo to remain the same and continue to profiteer from the current system where a few with the right connections through commissions and middlemen activities remain comfortable and maintain their luxurious life styles.

I am certain that you never talked to any of the women who were helped and educated by the Azarmehr Women's Association for example.

Even in UK despite your complete freedom of activities for more than 4 decades, I doubt if you have more than a handful of working class members and supporters. SWP have no major influence in any of the trade unions, they have never managed to have an MP elected anywhere in UK, I have never worked in a factory or a production unit where I have come across anyone on the shop floor who was an SWP member or sympathiser. SWP membership is largely some bourgeois students who go through a phase of feeling guilty about their parent's wealth and they usually and by in large grow out of this phase as they grow up, which is why very few members of SWP are actually members for more than 3 years.

I am not surprised at SWP's lack of ability to gather any sizeable support amongst the UK population, I am talking even less than 1%, much less than 1%, after 4 decades of activity in a free society, I am not surprised because after all you all do talk a lot of bollocks almost all the time. Working class people are cleverer than you give them credit.

Hanif Leylabi said...

Class consioussness it very low especially after Thatcher smashed the unions and ravaged Britain's working class. This is why no revolutionary Party in Britain can claim to being anything close to a mass Party. I've never claimed anything to the contrary.

Having said that the SWP is the biggest revolutionary socialist organisation in Britain and one of the largest in western Europe.

Most of our members are actually members of Trade unions and last time I checked the National President of the CWU was an SWP member, UCU left in which the SWP plays a large role had half the seats on the UCU national executive and there has been a spate of trade union victimisation recently many of the victims also being SWP members. These include Yunus Bakhs, Karen Reissman and Pat Carmody.

SWP membership clearly isn't 'largely student' or we wouldn't be able to function as an organisation with a headquarters, staff members a weekyl newspaper, monthly magazine, quarterly journal and the host of the largest socialist university in western europe (Marxism)

Though unlike any other left group we do have groups on most major campuses.

I suggest you read up on historical materialism to understand why people do not accept revolutionary ideas just because people preach them to them in a free society.

And stop putting words in my mouth. I never said women were content with the regime. Interesting how you find the need to invent things I've said to prove your points.


Winston - You really think people are going to believe tyou when you say that a) freedom and prosperity can be delivered by an US b52 bomber and b) that this is what Iranian women want? Where are the calls for war or american intervention in the democracy movements, the womens movement the workers movement the student movements? They aren't there. They exist only in your right wing zionist head.

Azarmehr said...

Oh give over Hanif! Thatcherism is history. You cant still blame your lack of popular support on someone who resigned nearly two decades ago. In fact everyone including the Tory Party, in order to become more popular, have tried to distance themselves from Thatcherism.

Yes you have one member who heads a Trade Union, God knows what circumstances it was that got him the job, these things happen all teh time in Trade Unions, my guess is no one else wanted the job and just wanted to get on with their life, but the membership is not pro-SWP. I bet most of them wouldnt even know what SWP is.

You dont have any popular support because you talk bollocks. You are still Leninsts, and you dont realise that the working classes in UK are now more educated, better read and better informed and probably know more about Lenin and his atrocities than you do. Who in their right mind would want to turn Britain into a Leninst state?? Think about that!

Hanif Leylabi said...

Jane Loftus President of the CWU is a woman Mr. Know it all.

I never said that the membership was pro SWP. Just like I would never say the stop the war movement shared a lot of the SWPs politics. That's not how revolutionary politics works.

Again mate you really don't get our politics. It's not about the Party turning the country into a Leninist state. It's about Party with Leninist methods of organisation acting as a catalyst to agitate, educate and organise amongst the working class.

Azarmehr said...

Thats where you go wrong, who are you to educate the working class, just because you read a couple of books by Lenin. You should let the working classes to educate you

Mehrtash said...

To whatever quality, to whatever extent - we can always learn from each other.

Anonymous said...

Interesting back and forth; keep it up Hanif:) And please, don't waste your time responding to things Winston says - he's a bitter man who does nothing but label and libel those who have different opinions than his.

barmakid

Anonymous said...

"Apparently according to the Koran, virgin girls will always go to heaven, and by raping them before their execution, one would prevent them from entering the Paradise."

I know the Quran (or Koran) as you call it very well- and it says no such thing. Can you supply the verse or admit being or a liar or at very least easily fooled? The criteria for entering heaven in Islam is right belief and action not being a virgin. If someone has commited pre-marital sex or adultery in Islam it doesnt prevent them entering paradise.

Azarmehr said...

Dear Anonymous,

I fail to understand your logic. I have written about how the mullahs tried to justify a hideous act by interpretting the Quran to their faithful so they could coerce them and prevent them from feeling guilty. If there is no such a verse in the Quran, then I am happy to hear that and it goes to show that the mullahs are the liars, as they have often made interpretations of the Quran to suit their own ends and make up their own inventions like Sigheh.