Memoirs of Marzieh Hadidchi (Part 32)

2018-2-27

Memoirs of Marzieh Hadidchi (Dabbagh) (Part 32)

Edited by: Mohsen Kazemi

Tehran, Sooreh Mehr Publications Company

‎2002 (Persian Version)‎

Translated by: Zahra Hosseinian

The Hunger strike in the church of Saint-Merri

The news from Iran indicated a wave of arrests and pressure on revolutionary militants. In the prison, Ayatollah Taleghani was sick and Ayatollah Montazeri and Ayatollah Rabani Shirazi were under torture and they were treated harshly. In addition, the revolutionaries outside the country knew the regime responsible for Dr. Shariati's death and they were very angry with all these issues and the bad events. They should express their protest somehow by some attempt, and they should do what they could to reduce the pressure and to improve the conditions of prisons.

In protest and for attracting public attention of the world, Mohammad Montazeri formed a massive hunger strike in Paris by designing a systematic plan in October 1977; in fact, he was the principal director and designer of the strike[1].

The hunger strike was held at the church of Saint-Merri [2]. All the members of our group, except martyr Montazeri, Mohammad Gharzi and Ali Jannati[3] had participated. I remember that although Mr. Gharazi was not a clergyman, but he had dressed like a clergyman. By this act, he probably wanted to show the religious nature of the movement, because the executor of the movement was a militant cleric, and it seemed necessary that the presence of clerics in such a gathering would be more notable. About fifteen or sixteen clerics from different countries, such as Iraq (Najaf), Lebanon and Syria and one or two clerics from Iran had participated too.

Before that, my idea of a hunger strike, in the full sense of the word, was refusing to eat and drink. While for some it had different meaning and it was only apparent that the appearance of the problem was intended.

After four days of the strike, I suffered from severity of hunger and thirst, and I fell into a coma for an hour later. The Red Cross ambulance appeared very quickly and the aid workers wanted to move me to the hospital. The members of our group, who were there, knew the possible threats and were afraid that the police interfered too and our organization hurt if my identity was revealed. Consequently, they convinced the aid workers that there was no need for moving me to the hospital.

When the aid workers went, Banisadr said, "I can take her to my house, until she recovers." So, I was the guest of Banisadr and his family for three days and I rested there.

To be continued…