Memoirs of Marzieh Hadidchi (Dabbagh) (Part 41)

2018-5-15

Memoirs of Marzieh Hadidchi (Dabbagh) (Part 41)

Edited by: Mohsen Kazemi

Tehran, Sooreh Mehr Publications Company

‎2002 (Persian Version)‎

Translated by: Zahra Hosseinian

Chapter 3: Waves

My First mission

One week after my arrival, I decided to go back to the work and do whatever I can to strengthen the bases of the revolution.

I joined Islamic Revolutionary Committee when it was established, and cooperated with some revolutionary friends to restore peace in the society and to confront each plot and identify danger centers.

The Youth Palace [The Iran Scout Organization[1]], where apparently designed to educate young people but inwardly had been established to corrupt them, was now in the hands of a group of MKO members who plundered its property and assets. Along with a group of twelve revolutionary Muslim youth, I was commissioned by the committee to take over there and purged it of the group agents and protected everything that was there.

Before being taken by MKO and then committee members, the Youth Palace had been arranged as a garrison and equipped to carry out a military coup. But after the coup became known, they had abandoned the tank, cannon, and ammunition and fled[2]. And during this time, some of its property and equipment were plundered by opportunists and some members of MKO. 

The first day, when we stepped into the garrison and saw all those light and heavy military equipment, we had learned about a plot which had been neutralized. The existence of all those weapons and ammunition and logistical equipment, however, was dangerous and if they were entirely in the  hands of a group, it would bring a great deal of damages to the revolution.

I saw a 13-years-old boy with a gun who stood in front of the garrison and was guarding. He behaved in a way that if anyone looked there from outside, they thought that it was an active garrison with many people inside and suspected that this teenage boy was not alone. The gun which was hung on teenager’s shoulder reached to his feet. He was very small and weak. When I saw him there alone, I asked, ‘What’s your name?’ He said, ‘Orouj.’ I also asked, ‘Why are you alone here?’ he answered, ‘They (the group’s members) have all escaped and I hid inside the bathroom. They thought that I would flee with them, but I stayed not to let people to plunder this place, or it was taken by counter-revolution. We were very impressed by the spirit of this teenager. I admired him. He entered the IRGC after it was formed. He was an unknown adolescent who had a great spirit and I never heard of him anymore.

After being stationed in the garrison, we determine the duty of each person and placed everyone in a location. The garrison was much unorganized; the faucets and valves and even the water pipes had been taken, so water had flowed everywhere in the building. And in the rooms, all blankets and clothes were moldy. There was wet and slime everywhere. We were less in number for cleaning. Therefore, we called up and brought a number of women who lived in the Niroye Havaee street and Narmak. They began to work in all sincerity way, and handed us a spick and span and tidy building. These women even collected rusty and broken weapons and cartridges, and cleaned and polished those which were usable.

One night, one of brothers and I were patrolling in the garrison area as usual, when the light of the car fell on the sandy hills near the wall. I saw a creature crawled to a side. I guessed that there was a moving creature. I told the story to the brother who sat next to me, and then we stopped to see what's going on there. When we got off the car, we were suddenly shot, so we quickly took shelter. The shooting stopped for a moment, and then we heard the footsteps of a few people. It was like they guessed that we are more than two.

The day after, I took twenty-four women to the shooting place to clean there. About eight guns and G3 were found there. It turned out that they were doing it every night and they had already taken out a significant amount of weapons and ammunition.

After this incident, we asked the brothers and sisters to be more alert and to increase their control and care, and through these plans we wanted not to let the ammunition and weapons were taken. Later, it turned out that these actions and night counterattacks and stealing of ammunition were carried out by hypocrites with prior planning.

It was not good situation. Every morning it was reported that the door of arsenal has left open or opened last night. Changing the locks and watchmen was also in vain, until we were suspicious of the internal situation of our group, so we ordered that none of our group should approach the arsenal.

During these five months I did not go home at all, and sometimes my children came there to see me.

To be continued…