Islamic Community and the Marxists Commune in Prison

What we had in Prison No. 3 was a picture of an Islamic Community. Whatever that someone would like for himself would like it for others and what he would not like for himself would not like it for the others as well. Brotherhood and unity were seen in all levels. We had no financial dependency in the prison. If someone had something it belonged to all the brothers.  And if somebody needed something the others would give him. It was the utopia we were looking for. Prison was a chance to test Islamic ideas practically. Islamic Community was an ideal goal and prison was a chance to experience it.

55 INP members joined the Islamic Councils Coalition pioneers and created Islamic Community versus the Marxist Commune. The Islamic Community had an executive board who were elected each two months. This board had 5 members and each of them was in charge of an affair, such as financial affairs of the members, food supply, cleaning, news collection, how to react with the prison officials and other groups and…

In Islamic Community, the money earned and the expenses were common. All the money given to the prisoners by the prison (36 Tomans) or by the visitors would be collected in a briefcase. The names of the members were written on the briefcase. At the beginning of each month members would go and put their money in it and their name would be marked with an (x).  Whatever the prisoners needed would be bought by this money. During the term that Mr. Araqi and I had been elected, the board had 1800 Tomans debt. We could manage to pay this debt in 4 months and then increase the food quality.

The Marxists including Tudeh Party members and Nik-khah[1] Group had done something similar in their Commune and would gather an amount of money as membership fee or … weekly or monthly and spend it for their needs.

Religiously speaking, Muslims would consider the Marxist as impure and would imply purification rules. They were not happy with this; and would compensate the matter by bothering Muslims. For example, they would throw water on them in the bath or would not obey the hygienic rules. They would even urinate in the ewers.

However, the two groups had some cooperation and coordination in some moves or activities too. I remember one day Mr. Senoubari was sleeping in the prison yard and a guard woke him up angrily. So, he slapped the guard across his face hardly and then they started to fight. The guards intervened and collide raised between the Muslims and guards. The Marxists also intervened to support the Muslims. When the clashes grow, the commandos came to the scene. The Muslims would use knives [2] and the Marxists sharps[3]. The matter finished at last by the arrest of some prisoners and then they sent them to solitary confinement.

We would spread rumors about escaping to keep the prisoners’ spirits and activeness high. Despite escaping from Prison No. 3 was almost impossible because of several doors, tall walls and numerous guards, the guards would consider it seriously. So, they would not let the prisoners to sleep in the yard. They would take the prisoners to their cells in early dusk.

One day, the Marxists decided to by a TV set for the prison. They shared the matter with Muslims and persuaded them to take part. The main board of the Muslim Community began collecting money from the palls. Some would accept to help and some would not. The ones who did not like this attempt would argue that TV would make the palls mind busy uselessly. It would impede them from reading and studying. The ones who liked would argue that they would only watch useful programs and not watch the negative and harmful ones. I believed this control was impossible and it was better not to follow the matter. I tried so hard in opposition but alas. Finally, one day I said that I had agreed. The palls asked surprisingly: “How?!” and I said: “None of your business! I will wait for the entrance of the TV set here and then I would destroy it by a brick. So, there would be no need to discuss the matter. I should only be prepared for few days in solitary confinement. You know that I would pay for it either.” What I had told was heard by the ones who wanted to buy TV set and they postponed the matter for few days. They came again to me and said that I had to obey the decision made by the Islamic Community. I told them I obey the Islamic Community to the level that is not conflicting with my religious believes.

The guards who had become aware of postpone in buying the TV set, asked about the matter from Nik-khah, Mansouri Moghaddam, and Firouzi. They would explain the matter and my threats. Mansouri, who was a better person among those three and had better relations with Muslims, came to me and said that the guards had said: “having TV set is a right for the prisoner. Go and buy it. We support you and if the happened any clashes we would intervene on behalf of you.” Mansouri explain that if I continue my opposition, they (guards) would misuse this separation against us. At last, after several conversations and hearing different analysis and discussions I was satisfied and agreed. So, they bought a TV set.

The cleaning, sweeping the floor, feeding, washing the dishes and … were done by turns. The turns would be scheduled by the 5-member-board. It was interesting that no one was higher the other for these affairs. All the palls would do their task in their turns. Despite people like us believed that clergies like Mr. Anvari and Hojjati Kermani should not do such affairs, they insisted that they had to do these tasks.

This kind of insight about the Islamic Community and its successful experience in the prison made it survive and its characteristics remained in the minds of the prisoners in that prison and other prisons. As in other prisons where some Muslims kept this kind of community would be shaped and this kind of programs would be followed.