Recent reports reveal massive unrest in Iran due to questionable election results. There are serious allegations of election fraud and many supporters believe that the winner of the June 2009 election has claimed his position by using unlawful tactics. Regrettably, Iran’s past and now present is riddled with corruption, revolution and unfortunate instability.
The recent political turbulence in this Middle Eastern country relates greatly to the novel Prisoner of Tehran by Marina Nemat.
Currently author Nemat is living with her husband and two sons in Southern Ontario, Canada. However, in the 1980’s she spent 2 years and 12 days of her life as a political prisoner in Iran’s most notorious prison known as Evin.
Nemat was just a regular teenager attending high school when the Islamic Revolution hit Iran. Soon she was no longer learning suitable subjects like calculus and chemistry; instead she was constantly fed Islamic propaganda by her new revolutionary teachers. Eventually the young Nemat could no longer endure false lessons and staged a school walkout. She spoke out against the government and even wrote publications against the oppressive regime, led by Ayatollah Khomeini, in her school paper.
This unsatisfactory behaviour caused Nemat’s imprisonment at the young age of 16. She was taken from her family, tortured, questioned, almost executed and forced to live in subhuman living conditions. Soon after her incarceration she was unwillingly driven to marry one of her guards and was only able to find escape through the kindness of his family after his unexpected assassination.
Later in life, Nemat found it in herself to reveal her story to the public eye and penned her memoir. Her story tells the truth of what life was like for a political prisoner in Iran. I had the wonderful opportunity of meeting Mrs. Nemat in one of my high school English classes. She was a very genuine soul who had personally experienced terrible shortcomings. She talked to our class about the cathartic feeling writing her memoir brought her and how she felt that it was finally time that people knew what really happened to her all those years ago. She explained how when she left Evin, no one ever asked her about her experience there. That it was something that was swept under the rug and essentially ignored.
Later in life, Nemat found it in herself to reveal her story to the public eye and penned her memoir. Her story tells the truth of what life was like for a political prisoner in Iran. I had the wonderful opportunity of meeting Mrs. Nemat in one of my high school English classes. She was a very genuine soul who had personally experienced terrible shortcomings. She talked to our class about the cathartic feeling writing her memoir brought her and how she felt that it was finally time that people knew what really happened to her all those years ago. She explained how when she left Evin, no one ever asked her about her experience there. That it was something that was swept under the rug and essentially ignored.
Through sharing her story, Nemat has revealed unadulterated truth about the inner workings of Iran and its political disorder. Her story is as relevant now as it was many years ago and helps shed light on the real situation in this diverse and unstable country. It is wonderful to have brave people like Nemat expose their histories to the public in order to uncover the reality of their experiences and to educate the public on nothing but the truth.
“Prisoner of Tehran is an extraordinary story of survival and how one woman finally found inner peace through the written word.” – Entertainment WeeklyPatricia Stavropoulos is Editor of the Speak Up for Change blog and an undergraduate student at the University of Ottawa (Ontario, Canada).
Briliant article in light of the recent allegations in Iran. However, I beg to disagree on the fact that Iran has been overwhelmed with corruption. Marina Nemat faced an unquestionable crime and deserves some sort of justice. However, whilst not trying to belittle what she underwent, a great number of countries have wrongly held captives. The political stability in most countries is present every second, usually hidden to the eye by the media. I think that western media is not allowing the Iranians to solve their problems, they are magnifying what they want to, and disregarding what they want. I think we need to appreciate the stance they have been able to take over the past few years against the western countries, and still manage to be self-sufficient.
ReplyDeleteI think the best way to objct to the injustice of Islamic republic is using GANDHI"S ' STRATEGY . Peace and non violence or " Non-REACTION".
ReplyDeleteIf all the people who voted for Moosavo wear "WHITE CLOTHING "
( reminder of peace to themselves and to the worlds" and walk in the streets around the world while holding the feeling of PEACE and freedom in their HEARTS. THIS WAY WE ARE USING THE MOST POWERFUL FORCE IN THE UNIVERSE. Then watch the effect of this divine energy all over the world !!!!! By feeling the peace inside of us, we will bring it out to the physical.... " BE THe CHANGE YOU WISH TO SEE IN TH E WORLD, Gandhi "
Islamic republic might be able to hide te number of votes but this way they CAN NOT hide the number of people in the streets . Gandhi's strategy is a higher conscousness way to deal with any injustic.
This book however, shows that even peaceful protest is insanly dangerous so how can you take Ghandhi's approach. The author writes in her book that she would never kill another human being but frankly peaceful protests didn't work and I think it's rather nessacary for western countries to step in. The book has acually clarified the need for the current war that america has started. I can't wait for the Evin Prison to be closed down and I don't think it can happen if westerns don't step in to help. The man the author was foreced to marry was a polical prisnor himslef and then became an intaragator, that tells you that the violence will continue to rotate no matter which type of goverment is in control unless someone interves
ReplyDelete