The 367 Night of Memory – 2

Compiled by: Iranian Oral History Website
Translated by: Fazel Shirzad

2025-5-27

Note: The 367 "Night of Memory" program was held on April 23, 2025, coinciding with the anniversary of the martyrdom of Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq (PBUH), at the Andisheh Hall of the Arts Center of the Islamic Revolution. The event featured stories shared by several wives of medical corps veterans from the Holy Defense. The speakers included Mrs. Masoumeh Khatib, Ashraf Fard, Zahra Mazloumifar, Fatemeh Amrollahzadeh, and Fatemeh Habibi.

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The third narrator of the program was Ms. Zahra Mazloumifar, wife of Dr. Seyyed Masoud Khatami. She said: “I thought to myself that my memories are bitter, because war is bitter. I was 28 years old when the war started. At the end of 1987, I had four children, a few months old, 2 years old, 7 years old, and 9 years old. We were close to the neighbors. The children played with the neighbors. We would check in on each other. The doctor [Khatami] was usually not home. When my husband was serving as a doctor in Kurdistan, there was rocket fire. The children were sick. The neighbors also left Tehran. When the red siren sounded, I had to take the four children to the basement. Once my husband called and I told him the situation. He told me to buy a ticket and go to Shiraz, my parents’ house. I bought a ticket, but we barely got on the plane. The flight attendant was surprised. I was alone with the children and my belongings. The belongings were heavy, but the moment we entered the Shiraz airport, my father came and helped me, and the whole load was lifted off my shoulders. By evening, the children were feeling better; because we had finally entered a safe house. Shiraz city was safer then.

My husband was still serving as a doctor in Kurdistan when we came to Tehran from Shiraz. My husband called and said he missed our 3-month-old baby. She said she wanted to come, but after this call, she didn’t call again. Then we learned that an ambulance had been seized in which my husband was. They had taken some of us prisoner and killed the rest. After a few months, we had no news of my spouse, and for a long time I didn’t know if my child had a father or if my spouse had been martyred. The narrator continued: Because I saw that I couldn’t do anything for my spouse, I spent several weeks thinking about going to Imam Khomeini and asking him to pray for my spouse. It took about 6 months. At that time, the Imam was in Qom. On a Thursday afternoon, when I was very upset, no matter what my family members asked me what to do for you, I replied, “Nothing, I just want to go to Qom.” We arrived in Qom at night. The next morning, we went to the Imam's house with the mother of a martyr, and the conditions were such that we were able to enter the Imam's house. Some people came and went from Kurdistan. It was very difficult to communicate there. At that time, my youngest child was already 9 months old. I went to the Imam's yard to calm my child. At that moment, the Imam came to pass through that door; I stopped him and said, "This child's father has been captured and I ask you to pray for him." The Imam was moved, he put his hand on the child's head and said, "You bet, I will pray."

He concluded by saying, "This incident lasted only two weeks. Twice in these fifteen days, I saw the Imam in my dream, and each time I asked if your prayers had not been answered yet. He also said, "Don't worry, they will be answered." After two weeks, my husband was miraculously released from the prison of Dolehto and from the captivity of Komala [party]."

To be continued…