In memory of comrade Mehdi Zandi – Minoo Homeyli

Mehdi Zandi was born in 1334 to a middle-class family in the Aghe Zaman neighbourhood of Sanandaj. With a benevolent and friendly behavior that indicated the upbringing and growing up conditions in working families, he quickly conquered the hearts of his friends and comrades and everyone who knew him with the beauty of his being. After finishing high school, due to his talent in technical matters, he immediately continued his path in the subject of electrical engineering at the Scientific Institute of Sanandaj College. Due to his diligence, he was able to be accepted for an electrical engineering degree at the university in 1978. It occurred in the time that the society considered the college diploma to be the highest level of academic achievement. The revolution in Iran and his perception of the regions that were deprivation of education induced Mehdi from continuing his education. He chose the job of a teacher. In the beginning, he moved to Noreh village in the region of Sanandaj and started teaching in middle school. Simultaneously with teaching, he tried to raise the social awareness of the students and even the people of the village. He had a very close relationship with them and had devoted himself to his task with love, soul and patience.

In the atmosphere of the revolution in Iran in 1978-1979, he saw his ideal closer to the Cherik Haye Fadayee Organization (a left oriented political organization) and sympathized with their position. This blazing flame of serving people motivated him to join the Organization as a member. In 1978, he started working at the Feyzabad headquarters of this Organization along with teaching at the same time. He undertook on the task of helping local residents. By the time the Islamic tyranny expanded its sphere of repression to the city of Sanandaj. In the meantime, he had devoted his life totally to his duty in the Organization. He even spent his free time in the city to help people in social issues. He even expanded his work to the cities of Diwandara and Marivan. Comrade Zandi believed that the oppressed people of Kurdistan could be enlightened about the reason of their misery by raising the social and political awareness of them. Because of this propaganda, he was on the arrest list by the regime. The combative comrade went to Tehran considering the possibility of arrest and immunity from the pervasive blow of government forces that had narrowed all the cities of Kurdistan by repression and execution. He intended to hide there for a while. But the regime’s repression and increasing of pressure and persecution of the intelligence apparatus on political organizations in Tehran forced comrade Zandi to return to Kurdistan.

This time, he inevitably chose Khamesan village from Kamyaran region as the last shelter. He was unaware that Revolutionary Guards and mercenary Muslims led by Haj Mikael were monitoring him. They blocked the last escape route of the teacher by attacking the village of Nashur. He was arrested and sent to the Revolutionary Court of Sanandaj with his legs in chains. He was subjected to mental and physical torture in the Islamic Revolutionary Court for eleven months. The regime hoped to force him to confess and to cooperate. The Islamic Revolutionary Court sentenced him to death in absentia without proving any guilt or confession. A relative of Comrade Zandi, who visited him in the early 1960, describes the last days of his life in arrest as follows: “In late June 1960, we went to the Revolutionary Court prison on Fridays to visit him as usual. Mehdi told me during the meeting that took place behind two-layer metal nets: As you pass the courtyard of the Revolutionary Court, a rugged guard stands to the left of the check point. He belongs to the execution squad. The execution of several people is scheduled to take place in the next days, and I (Mehdi) and Khosrow Mayee are among them. I wrote a will last night and hid it in my pillow. Do not forget that my will is in the pillow, when you receive my belongings, if I will be executed.” We came back from this visit with the fear in our hearts of the impending execution of Mehdi. Less than a week after that meeting, the news spread that Khosrow Mayee and several political prisoners had been sent in front of the execution squad. But Mehdi’s was not among them. We were shocked by the execution of those comrades. On the other hand we were happy that Mahdi’s name was not among the victims. A glimpse of hope sprouted in our hearts. But this optimism did not last long. Mehdi was transferred to Shahramfar Base, the current intelligence center of Islamic Revolutionary Guards, on the morning of 20/06/1360 Iranian date (11. September 1981) without allowing Mehdi to say goodbye to his mother and sisters in the last moments of his life. On the same day, Zandi’s family arrived at the base to visit him, while still believing and hoping to save Mehdi from execution. Instead of meeting him, they received his belongings and a bag. His life had been extinguished.

For the high flying eagle, it matters how to live but not how long to live.