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Who's Responsible For Death of Political Prisoners In Iran?

Ghazal Omid - 8/10/2006

Who is responsible for the continuing death of political prisoners and who is behind the failure of every attempt to uproot the brutal Iranian regime? It has been 27 long years since the current Iranian regime came to power and no one knows better than the Iranian political prisoners and Iranian women what it is like to live under the third member of the “axis of evil.” I speak for those who were tortured in the regime’s prisons, women who were stoned to death, children whose tears turned to salt on their innocent faces, mothers who lost their sons and took the dream of having them in their wedding photos to their graves, fathers who lost their zest for life after loosing everything they cherished and worked for their entire life, sons who will forever dream of embracing their fathers one last time before burying them, young women whose wedding night turned into a funeral, husbands whose dream of having a life with their wife and children shattered and left only with the midnight cries of a hungry baby screaming for their mother who was hung at dawn or stoned to death by the government of Iran’s Mullahs.

Political prisoners, such as Akbar Mohamadi, is only the latest victim of this brutal regime but Mullahs, who accused the Shah of putting pins into the eyes of political prisoners in Evin prison, have turned the tables and taken brutality and torture ten steps further than did the Shah and Savak.

Akbar Mohamadi is only one of thousands and certainly will not be the last victim. Iran’s Mullahs have broken every promise they made on the day of their ascension; placing Iranian youth, students and young women under a glass jar and taking every breath from innocent bodies to guarantee their own existence. But, who is really to blame for all this?

For years, there has been talk of someone who Iranian’s can call a hero; someone who may not want to be a leader but certainly can be a guide whose wisdom and inner strength can help Iranians through the difficult times they are facing. Iranians have been praying for a savior. Maybe now, we have a savior; a fancy word for a remarkable man who has placed his own life on hold to help the rest of us. This man is an ordinary Iranian but, as Martin Luther King’s widow once said, “Martin was an ordinary man who has achieved the extraordinary.” And so, in my opinion, is Mr. Fakhravar. Those who pay attention to his demeanor see a humble man; a kind soul remarkably gifted with words. His tenacity, inner strength, wisdom, vision and driving force are the qualities a great leader.

I met Mr. Fakhravar not too long ago through his political work. Earlier, at a conference in Washington, DC, I had only heard his name. A few days later, when I returned to Vancouver, Canada, I researched his work and noticed the incredible amount of attention given him by many well known US political figures such as Michael Ledeen and Richard Pearle. Between the lines in the articles, I deduced that he was brought to the United States for the purpose of helping the Iranian student movement in Iran start greater lobbying and to foster effective, organized team work with Iranian youth and US support to get rid of the Iranian regime from within. This may be the first time since July 1999 that the US government is paying any attention to the Iranian youth and women and recognizing that 76 percent of Iranian society is willing and capable of uprooting the regime if they have funding of one dollar per person for political lobbying.


In Mr. Fakhravar’s recent testimony, he became the first Iranian student who has been granted such an opportunity to rub shoulders with heavy policy makers in the US Senate and researchers such as Michael Ledeen. This may be the window of opportunity which Iranians been waiting for years to open.

Iranians have been waiting for the US government to give them a hand; a green light of some sort to signal that we are noticed and that you care about Iranians as part of a mutual interest, to help them, to invest time and money in their youth and believe that they are capable of making a change. All they need is a push toward democracy and the theocratic Iranian regime will shortly be washed from the pages of history for good.

Seldom have I met anyone as strong as Mr. Amir Abbas Fakhravar, a former medical student, a current law student and an incredibly gifted writer whose life story, shattered since his early teen years, is like a novel. He has been the victim of torture and abuse for nearly a decade. Now that he has escaped to the free world, he is the subject of scrutiny by a bunch of rascals and villains, some of whom live in the US as they work directly or indirectly to help the Iranian government. Others, living in Iran, try to use the innocent and the ignorant to kill the Student Movement’s embryo in the womb.

Who can or wants to destroy Akbar Mohamadi’s message? The list is long. Mostly, it is those who see him, not as a friend, but a threat to their own well being; a bunch of quasi, wan-a-be politicians whose expertise is gossip, not politics. It is a well being built on deception and lies to the Iranian family. For years, some of these people made a business out of Iranian people’s misery. They have done fundraising and received grants in the name of the Iranian people and political prisoners; pretending to petition for Iranian women waiting out death sentences, Now, they fear everything is going to change. This Iranian regime is arguably the worst regime Iranians and the world have ever witnessed but it has made some people millionaires. Some made names for themselves and using political prisoners has always been part of the process.

Speculating, destroying political prisoner’s reputation and hurting anyone who gets close and tries to help them is a sick ritual and MUST END.

Students of this new generation are not just students; they are veteran politicians. A young man or woman who starts politics at age 8 or 14 is ultimately ready for the Olympic trials and turbulences by their mid-20s. Mr. Fakhravar is wise beyond his age. And so am I.

However, these days the accusations, animosity and insults are no longer directed only at Mr. Fakhravar but at everyone who is working with him, including me.

Working with Mr. Fakhravar since early July, I have certainly tasted that bigotry. But, not until recently was I ever accused of being a lesbian trying to get attention and I was excluded from one of his recent conferences because of this false accusation.

This is nothing short of ignorance. I feel that it is not right to abandon the women of Iran who write to me for help and to allow the charlatans and wolves dressed in sheep skin, pretending they want to save Iranian women, get away with trying to destroy an Iranian woman’s reputation. This has always been their attitude; to get women to bow and bend and kiss their feet. But here is the message: as long as I have blood in my veins, this “ain’t gonna happen no more.”

I may have been able to swallow my pride on hearing that I am after fame and money for working with Mr. Fakhravar but I am not going to tolerate a barrage of infinite ignorance and will not hide my anger and resentment toward those who think they can press my weak points. As an Iranian woman, I am obligated to stand up to those men who think twisting my own words and misusing them will add to their publicity.

I have been told that I wasn’t invited to Mr. Fakhravar’s appearance because some men have refused to have me as a guest speaker at the event. Their excuse is that, Ghazal Omid is a lesbian!

First of all, this is news to me. Second, I seek no permission from anyone for being whatever I might be. As I have said in my book, I am neither a lesbian nor do I have any interest in coming out of any closet. Third, even if I were a lesbian, this attitude is an act of pure evil and discrimination against those who might be.

Although I have friends who are lesbians, I won’t dare to judge them on this matter. It is up to a higher being to judge people and, as I have always said on gay radio stations, on gay web pages and in my own spirituality column at UPI.com, God is not looking for me to become his advocate of hate, but of humanity. If gay people have a good enough excuse for God; that is good enough for me. I leave them to God and their personal relationship with whomever they choose doesn’t concern me.

About my experience that I wrote about in my book; I was being molested in my own family to a point that I had lost love for any male. The pressure of the Iranian government in having separate male and female schools, teaching boys to become the superior member of the family angered me and I was nearly ready to give up on any kind of affection for men. This truth must be heard by those who think putting cotton in their ears will solve their daughter or son’s emotional problem.

As an informed psychology major and researcher, I know we can’t face our problems until we face our past and dig to the bottom of whatever is hurting us. My flirtation with the idea of lesbianism was no more than an idea of a lonely girl’s temptation of having a beautiful girlfriend. I was thirteen years old and this was the only time I have ever had any sexual thoughts about a woman. After school, when I returned home my mother was reading a chapter of the Koran that said such a relationship between women is taboo. I went into another room and signed a letter with my own blood swearing that even the thought of being with a woman will never crosses my mind again, I have kept my promise ever since. I believe my promise is my bond and if I don’t value my own words and my own promise, no one else will. As it has turned out, I was right.

Our society is a young one and for us to pretend that there is no sexual ambiguity or problem at all when the number of youth is more than a staggering 56 percent of the population, certainly shows we are willing to be the ostrich with our head in the sand, pretending that the society is healthy and hoping for miracles.

As a freedom fighter, I am a beginner. I may be new to the world of my Iranian family whom, sadly, I left behind 12 years ago but I am not new to the fight against ignorance. For those who want to pick a fight with Ghazal Omid, this Iranian woman who supports the Iranian student movement confederation and believes in the cause of Mr. Fakhravar, they better find a better excuse than my honor.

In the name of our beloved country Iran, in memory of Akbar Mohamadi and Zahra Kazemi’s, in the name of thousands of Iranians killed in the prisons because of the ignorance the members of the opposition showed in persecuting the innocent Saeedi Sirjani, accusing them of being the regime’s sold-out members and shedding crocodile tears at their funerals and in the name of Iranian Persian queens and governors, I will make this fight their last……

In this fight, I fight not only for my own honor, nor am I fighting alone…

As we all know, often those who accuse a woman of any crime are the ones committing the worst kinds of sin in history. A word of advice; it is best for them to stop pulling this lioness’ tail. I promise I will have much less respect and patience than my mentor, Mr. Fakhravar. My honor is equal to my life. I will stop at nothing to destroy those who accuse me of something I have nothing to do with just to enjoy a round of laughs and publicity or satisfy their own ego.