Jamshidiyeh Prison

On early days of January, all INP members were transferred to the prison of Jamshidiyeh Garrison. This prison had better equipment such as a big hall, double or triple stairs beds, blankets and heater.

There were two prisons, one for the officers and one for the soldiers. We were prisoned in soldiers. The central cadres were in a separated cell. That winter is a memorable one for all of us. Because of cold weather the heaters were on. They would burn coal and this matter had its own troubles. I remember that we had to open heater’s door to feed it with coal and whenever we would open it, there was a lot of black smoke coming out. Then we had to open the room’s windows and since the chimney pot was in the yard, the smoke of that would come inside the rooms. It meant to have double size smoke inside. I mean there was a lot of trouble for us to keep ourselves warm.

The Shah’s regime which had not reveal the arrest of INP members, released the news in exaggeratedly and in a vast scale after few days that we had been transferred to Jamshidiyeh Prison in late January. The regime aimed to prepare the public opinion for the news of the trail procedures. They wanted to impede the rise of people’s emotions against the government. They wanted to justify their later oppressive attempts against INP members.

The vast and exaggerated broadcast of INP members’ arrest brought different reactions. Some attached us to Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and some to USSR and communists. The ones who knew us were aware of our Islamic identity and knew we were inspired by Islam Devotees or a branch of them. The rush of poisonous propaganda against INP made our families worried. Most of them were disappointed to see their children alive anymore. My father narrated for me later: “I saw people had gathered around the newsstands. I went forward and looked at the front pages of some papers. The neighbors were looking at me. When I saw your pic on one of them, I blanched and became so worried. I came to your mother worriedly and told her, ‘Ahmad is going to be executed by death squad. Ahmad is gone’…”

Despite the horrific and terrorist picture that the regime had presented about INP, the guards in Jamshidiyeh would respect us because the atmosphere inside the prison. The guards were not from SAVAK or the police, they were form Military Police of Jamshidiyeh Garrison. After some time, we found a good and respectful relation with them. They were also affected by the Islamic morals of INP members and wanted to respond this behavior. Buying what we needed was one of the helps that they would do for us. I remember that sometimes I would see a warrant officer named “Mozafari” among public prayers rows inside prison.

Our food there was better than the police custody. If somebody would become ill, we would take care of him by our own. Mr. Mohammad Piran’s[1] experience in doing injections and bandage was so useful in this regard.

We would follow our programs to hold sessions for religious discussion, Koran interpretation, worshiping and whispering in Jamshidiyeh prison and this would reinforce our ideological believes and thoughts. In these sessions, we would become more inspired to present an Islamic and proud defense in future trials and find more hope for future fights. Mr. Mohammad Javad Hojjati Kermani had a big role in clarifying the frameworks and ambiguities.

During mourning days, we had ceremonies for ourselves. In one of them, our room's group went to another room while singing laments. Sometimes these laments would change to political slogans. Such as:

"If you are from INP,                       shout loudly Ali Ali, Ali Ali!"

And then the rest would shout: "Ali Ali, Ali Ali                  Ali Ali, Ali Ali"

On Thursday night ceremonies for singing Supplication of Kumail, a group of our friends would deliver eulogies including Mohsen Haji Mahdi, Akbar Salahmand and Mohammad Baqer Senoubari with a nice voice. Having religious ceremonies was no way an impediment for having happy and funny times. These programs would make our friends feel happy and relax. I remember there were times that my friends would make fun of me by singing together:

"The desert will never grow grain again; Bald Ahmad will never grow hair again"!

Those days the country's flag had three color bands of green, white and red and the coat of arms of lion & sword in the middle of white part and particularly, the military had to respect the flag and the ones who may insult the flag would be punished severely. One day, I saw a friend was using a piece of big cloth for cleaning affairs, and when I noticed more carefully, I found out it was a flag. It was so funny to me and asked him, 'where did you find that?!', and he answered that he had lifted that from the garrison's music band!

For having bath, there had special regulations. We had problems sometimes. One was to pass through a path full of guards. They had not given us depilatory about five months. One day I called the lieutenant officer who was in charge of our prison and also the garrison's music bad, and told him that we needed depilatory. He told me to tell matter to the general officer by myself. Seeking a chance to tell the matter to General Kheradvar[2], one day that he had come to inspect different corners of the prison, I told him: "General! We are Muslims and need depilatory. Order to give us depilatory", while taking out my clothes for having a bath inside bathroom.

I do not know how I said my sentence that made him so angry and he slapped on my face so severely and then went away. I told him some insults and became so angry of his behavior. My face got red and vessels on my temple swelled up and if he had waited for some moments, I may had killed him by my fist. My anger was endless at that moment. If I had clothes on, I would have run after him and hit back. I entered bathroom and my friends seeing my face red of anger asked me what was the reason for that. I told them what had happened. They also became angry and upset. We decided to hit him back after the bath in a suitable moment. When I came out of bath, group of military police surrounded me and took me with themselves. In the way I was thinking how to behave with the General and take my revenge. We entered a room that General Kheradvar was sitting in and two colonels were on both sides of him. Before I could say anything, he said: "Mr. Ahmad Ahmad!" I said: "Yes!" Then he said: "I was wrong; I got angry in a moment and slapped on your face. I apologize for that! You should not have said that sentence to me in front of others!"

By hearing these sentences, my anger simmered down. I said: "General! There is nothing between us to say apologies for. We are Muslims and it is five months that we have not used depilatory." He said: "I am a Muslim too. I was in Haj pilgrimage this year. If you do not forgive, retaliate!" when he said this, the two colonels became astonished and frightened. They moved in their seats. They seemed to be thinking that if I was really going to take my revenge by slapping on his face. When I saw his soft behavior, despite it was unbelievable to me that a general in the Shah’s regime may behave like that, I calmed down and said: “I forgive.”

When I came out of General’s office, the pals were in a strange condition. It seems they were on alert to ready to begin a fight on behalf of me.

They were murmuring. Mr. Hojjati Kermani stepped forward and asked: “What’s up, Ahmad?” I told the story from the slap on my face to the moment of the General’s request for being forgiven or retaliated. The pals were still upset. Mr. Hojjati asked: “Ok, what happened then? Did you forgive?” I said: “Yes” then he turned to others and said: “Ahmad has done a good deed; a Muslim has gone there and this has happened. It is right that we have been insulted all, but when Ahmad has forgiven, his deed is respectable for all of us.”

Some had objections to my forgiveness, but Mr. Hojjati said: “The effect of Ahmad’s deed is much more.”

Most of the time, we would do exercises and sports to entertain. Sports were a permanent part of our program, individually and collectively. Sometime we would stack some mattresses on top of each other and then ask the pals to wrestle on those mattresses.

Getting information from outside was done through the people who would come to visit us. Once, my Mum told me in one her visits: “They say you are in a militia group that wanted to fight against the Shah. Are they right?” This way, we were informed of the people’s position about ourselves. After the visits, we would gather together and discuss and analyze the heard news.

We passed the last decade of that year’s Ramadan in Jamshidiyeh prison. The conditions in this prison were better for fasting comparing to the police custody. They would give us our lunch and dinner at the right moments for fasting people in Ramadan.[3]

During Ramadan nights we had religious sessions and Koran interpretation classes in the police custody or in Jamshidiyeh prison. The pals would sit beside each other and discuss about whatever they would understand from Koran. Mr. Hojjati Kermani would lead most of these sessions. I remember that Hojurat chapter was among the chapters which would be interpreted in detail. The pals would commemorate Nights of Destiny (Shab-ha-ye Qadr) very well and they pray and worship so sincere that I will never forget.

In this prison I could meet Mr. Seyyed Mohammad Kazem Mousavi Bojnourdi[4], INP leader. When I saw him, I could not believe my eyes; a very young man was the main theoretician and leader of a secretive party. I always have respected and will respect his high ideals for now and ever.

In prison, he would not keep a distance between himself and others and would participate in all the affairs even cleaning tasks. Most of the time, he was busy with studying and discussion. This way he could overcome against the Marxists in his theoretical discussions with them.

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