Mina Entezari’s speech at
the U.S. Congress
In addition
to staff of congressional offices and women’s rights activists, Congresswoman
Shelly Berkley (DNV) and Congresswoman Diane Watson (D-CA),
addressed the briefing and applauded WFAFI for its work on behalf of
equality movement in Iran.
Besides, some
of the most renowned Iranian-American public figures including Artist and Political
activists gave speech in this special event. One of
them was Mrs. Mina Entezari a survivor of 1988 massacre of political prisoners
in Iran.
*******
Mina: Today is the 17th anniversary of
the 1988 massacre of the thousands of brave political prisoners in Iran.
They were secretly hung and executed in a matter of few weeks in the prisons
across the country. I am one of the few survivors of
the women
political prisoner in the notorious Evin prison and have lost most of my
friends in this barbaric crime. I am here to honor them and celebrate their
message of freedom and equality.
Let me begin
my testimony, here in US congress today:
My
name is Mina Entezari. I spent seven years, from 1981 through 1988 in the
notorious Evin prison in Tehran and Ghezel Hesar prison in Karaj. I was arrested in September 1981,
while I was a teenager living with my parents. My “crime” was participation in
the peaceful demonstrations for defense of human rights against the ruling
Mullahs and supporting peace and democracy and women’s right in
Iran. I was
arrested by the regime’s revolutionary guards in my house, being accused of
supporting one of the political parties, the PMOI (MEK).
From my
first moments in prison, I witnessed numerous scenes of the utterly barbaric
treatment of the defenseless prisoners and violations of their most basic
rights by the prison guards. I vividly recall many nights in the Fall of 1981 when
at times 150 to 200 prisoners were taken for execution.
All we could
say to our beloved friends was a simple goodbye in an otherwise a deadly
silence. Other times, in the worst possible conditions, and with minimum
supplies, we would attend to the wounds of our fellow inmates, the wounds which
were remnants of lashes or other forms of torture.
I can tell
you as a witness, that there is no justice under the regime of mullahs. In
January 1982, in a so-called court that took only minutes, I was sentenced to 7
years and transferred to infamous Ghezel Hesar prison. I did not have a
lawyer and could not appeal the sentence.
During these
seven years, in addition to being physically and emotionally tortured, I
witnessed the torture and execution of many young teenage girls, 16 to 17 years
old students, such as Azadeh Yekta (Azita), or
elderly women such as Mrs. Zahra Eslami (mother
of four) and Sakineh Mohammadi (Zakeri), she was
mother of eight and 60 years old.
In other
countries, prisoners get to carry their sentence under otherwise normal
conditions. But in mullah’s prisons, political prisoners face death and torture
on a daily basis before and after their sentence is issued.
We were told
repeatedly by the guards and torturers that you must obey the “Velayate-Faghih”
(namely Khomeini at that time and Khamenaei at this time), otherwise you have
no chance of ever getting out and becoming the “People’s Heroes”.
Various
women prison wards were crowded with three distinct generations simultaneously.
Teenagers, young Moms with their infants and kids, some born in prison and some
their parents had already been executed and also
elderly
women.
In mid 1983
I was informed by my Mom that one of my two brothers who were studying in
Louisiana State University at that time was diagnosed to be in the early stage
of Leukemia and the medical specialists, at that time, decided to
perform a bone marrow transplant as there was a very good chance of success.
Obviously, I
and my younger sister were the best candidates as donors for that treatment. My
parents went everywhere, talked to many Mullahs in the regime judiciary system,
presented U.S medical specialists’ letters and their urgent recommendations in
this regard and restlessly asked, requested and even begged them to find a way
to release me from the jail even temporary or getting permission for my younger
sister who was only 15 years old to take her to U.S.
but they
didn’t have any sense of humanity.
Instead,
they put more pressure on me in the jail and as a psychological torture tried
to force me to attend in a public interview in front of all my fellow inmates
to condemn the PMOI and the legitimate resistance of Iranian people against Mullahs’
regime and praise Khomeini as the representative of God on earth. That was a
pre-condition for being released from the jail which I steadfastly refused.
After
4.5 years, in 1986, I was relocated to Evin prison where the tortures and
repressions continued even worse.
However, because
of relentless efforts by my family, and after 7 years imprisonment, I was
eventually released in the spring of 1988 and right away left the country and
moved to United States.
For
this reason, they arrested my aged father and kept him hostage for months
demanding my return. To add to that, even though I made it to United States to
save my brother, he had lost his chance of survival because of the 4 years
delay Mullahs imposed on us. My brother passed away just a few months later in
front of my tearful eyes.
Back there
in Iran, it was a few weeks after my release and departure that the 1988
massacre of the prisoners began. Today marks the 17th anniversary of the
massacre. The massacre began after Khomeini accepted the ceasefire with
Iraq based
on UN resolution 598.
However,
since Khomeini knew he cannot control the political turmoil, he ordered the massacre
of all political prisoners. This was his strategy to spread fear and silence
opposition inside of Iran.
The massacre
started the midnight of July 27th, 1988 (exactly the same day as today) and
took the life of thousands of prisoners, and in particular those supporting
Iran’s main opposition, People’s Mojahedin. It continued for weeks,
hidden from
the national and international communities.
In fact, all
the past and current Mullahs’ regime leaders from both hardliners and so called
“moderate” factions (except Montazery the former deputy of Khomeini) were
actively involved in this crime against Humanity.
Many
years later, I heard from handful survivors of the massacre, that almost all of
the PMOI supporters of the 1st ward and the 3rd ward (where I was) and many of
the 2nd ward in the Evin prison were executed.
Many of
those brave women had finished their sentences but were still denied release –
such as Foroozan Abdi (member of the Iran’s
Volleyball National Team) – Sepideh Zargar (nurse)–
Farahnaaz Mossala (student)… the list
goes on and
on…
This was not
only a crime against Iranian opposition groups, particularly Iranian women.
This was a crime against humanity. This was a crime against all freedom
loving women in the world. The root of this crime and many other criminal and
terrorist acts in Iran and abroad, is the religious fundamentalism and
Khomein-ism that lives and breeds in Tehran.
All these
years I have lived every day of my life remembering the dear friends I lost…But
I was to be here - to be their voice. The voice of innocence. The voice of
Iranian women who bravely said no to Islamic Fundamentalism.
Ms.
Entezari concluded her speech by saying “Dear Friends,I salute you for the
courage you showed then and the courage you show now by continuing to resist
fundamentalism.
We stand for freedom in Iran. We stand for equality in Iran. We stand for peace
in Iran.
At the
end, I would like all of you to stand with us and join me in a moment of
applause for those have lost their lives for freedom, equality and peace.”
WFAFI
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