My dear sister, it is hard to write and to narrate about you.
I have not been able; or rather I have misled myself, to tell the bitter story of your life.
My dearest sister, when you were taken from me, our love was beyond the vastness of the universe.
I will never forget that I was a Peshmerga and you came to visit me. You liked to be with me more to tell me about your friends, how you feel about your adolescence, your family, and how proud you are of your brothers. Everyone knew that we were closer to each other than our siblings. I knew you wanted to tell me the words of your heart and the events of your life. It was that I listened to all your words with my heart and tried to be a reliable listener.
My dearest sister, I am writing these sentences now. Many years have passed since the day something fatal happened to you. But rest assured your love is as great as it was when you came to visit me in Haji Alikand. My love for you will never diminish.
If I was silent at the time and refused to say it, it was because talking about it meant accepting it. That is why I kept quiet.
Beloved Masoumeh, my sons have grown up and I will say with confidence that they would be your dearest ones, if you were among us. They have asked me about you for years and they know very well what place you had in my life. A few years ago, my son Arez gave me one of your photos as a gift. In all those years, your photos were only in the album. I was heartbroken to see them. I have one of your photos now. I put it next to the pullover you wove for me in prison with your own hands. The dearest gift and souvenir of my life is the pullover you knitted for me.
I met your fellow inmate last year. I felt like you were back with me. This meeting motivated me to write about that painful event. I started asking myself and I was able to imagine a picture of it in front of my eyes. I write it down for the history. How cruel and shameless they took away your right to live, just because we were your Peshmerga brothers.
The day Masoumeh was arrested as following:
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps surrounded all the streets and rooftops at 7:00 am. on 4/11/1982. Masoumeh put her school clothes next to herself as she always did the nights before. She wanted to be prepared to go to school after having had breakfast as usual. The security guards entered the house and turned it upside down. Masoumeh was told to wear a mantle and to come with them to clarify some questions. They took her by force. Her mother stopped their car when she saw that they were taking her daughter with them and said: “: You must take me with you too”. One of the guards replied: “Sister, we will ask her some questions and we will release her afterwards”. She did not give up. One of the guards hits her, she fell down to the ground and they took Masoumeh along. That day, during several separate operations against Peshmerga families, several teenage girls were arrested: Arezoo Nali, Parshang Blouri, Munir Blouri, Manijeh Borjan, and a number of other girls whose brothers were Komala Peshmergas. Several young people from Mahabad were arrested during a demonstration the same day.
Masoumeh and her friends were imprisoned in solitary confinement for two weeks. They were then transferred to a public prison. She was in Mahabad prison for approximately four months. She left bitter and sweet memories.
They got head lice due to lack of hygiene and sanitary facilities in prison. The poor girls had no choice but to shave their hair. Their cellmates laughed at them, when they shave their hair. They spent that bitter day laughing. Staying in prison created an opportunity for girls to get closer mentally and emotionally and to narrate their lives to each other. Most of them had been sentenced at that time. They are transferred to Urmia Prison. Masoumeh had been sentenced to six years in prison. Urmia Prison was full of hundreds of freedom-loving youth and teenagers and members of parties and associations.
The girls arrested in Mahabad were all in Urmia Prison. Masoumeh was one of the beloved prisoners because of her kind behavior. She was loved and respected by everyone. Little by little friendship and kindness between them got stronger than before among them. After five months, Masoumeh was returned to Mahabad Prison. The reason for this transfer was a new report on her case. In Mahabad, her fate is tied to that of three other prisoners, Maryam Farooqi, Nasrin Paknia and Safia Mohammadi. They were tortured and subjected to psychological harassment. The scars of torture remained on their bodies until the last moment of their lives.
On 8/22/1983, at 3 pm, Masoumeh and her friends were returned to Urmia Prison. The other prisoners welcomed them. All four had got a red stamp at one of their fingers. Their cellmates asked what this stamp was for. They replied that they had been sentenced to death. Their friends said to comfort them that the prison authorities just wanted to scare them.
Masoumeh’s middle finger was injured and infected due to brutal torture. A nurse named Shaowkat was among the prisoners. She was trying to help Masoumeh. She told the woman in charge of the ward, that Masoumeh is not well. The woman only laughed and left. The fellow inmates took care of Masoumeh and her friends and treated their wounds. They came together and narrated the events which had happened to them during the time they had been tortured in Mahabad Prison. In the short time they returned to their friends, they felt better mentally.
At ten o’clock at night, while brushing their teeth, the guards rushed into the prison and took the four girls with them. At the moment when they were preparing to leave, they could not talk to their fellows. But their gaze on each other exchanged thousands of words between them. The four teenage girls were shot in front of the execution squad with thousands of hopes and dreams in their hearts at one o’clock in the morning on 8/23/1983. They were buried in the cemetery of Urmia and their friendship became eternal.
Some memorial photos of Masoumeh Sarhangi
