SABAH (16)

Memoirs of Sabah Vatankhah

On fifth of Khordad (25 May), as we had promised, we went on strike in the mosque. We did not think that our strike will last a few days. We were around three hundred individuals. We heard that at the same time, many people and clergy had held protests in the city and insisted on the public disarmament and use of non-resident soldiers to keep the security and control of the city.

SABAH (15)

Memoirs of Sabah Vatankhah

There were daily tensions and conflicts between the members of the center and the Arabs Public. After one of these conflicts, there were shootings from both sides. The members of the center had distributed a declaration signed and approved by some shop owners of the city in which the activities of Sheikh Shobeyr were questioned. After the Sheikh learned about this declaration, he asked the shop owners to deny it but nobody took action.

SABAH (14)

Memoirs of Sabah Vatankhah

My father, mother and sisters also voted in the mosque. I will never forget the joy of that day. As if, we were celebrating the birth of our victory with this election. We stayed until late at night and counted the votes. Except for a few cases, all votes were affirmative. This election, officially stated the Islamic Republic of Iran. The results of the election on the tenth and eleventh of Farvardin ...

SABAH (13)

Memoirs of Sabah Vatankhah

The Isfahanis mosque used to hold Nudba prayer on Friday mornings. The scholars of Quran School and Ms. Abedi attended it. Most of us, the members of the Islamic Forum at high school had agreed to attend the Nudba prayer every Friday. One of those Fridays that I went to the Isfahanis mosque with my cousin, Elaheh, Ms. Abedi told us that a visit has been arranged with Imam in Qom for ...

SABAH (12)

Memoirs of Sabah Vatankhah

The radio was on at our house twenty-four seven on nineteenth, twentieth and twenty first of Bahman (February 8-10th 1979) . The radio station in Syria was with Iran Revolutionary public as always and reported the important events of the country specially Tehran. The reports were so detailed that we could understand what hospitals throughout the country needed blood, blanket and medication. The Arabic speaking reports of Radio Syria compiled this information and reports from different locations of the country.

SABAH (11)

Memoirs of Sabah Vatankhah

On twenty third of Azar (December 14th 1978) there was news going around about the explosion of a bomb in the residence of one of the Savakis in Khorramshahr called Veysi. One of the revolutionary youngsters of Khorramshahr called Hassan Mojtahed Zadeh, along with a few friends, had placed a home-made bomb in their ventilation channel, when the residents were not home. A few hours go by, but the bomb does not explode.

SABAH (10)

Memoirs of Sabah Vatankhah

We departed and rushed towards Bayandor high school either individually or in a pair. Bayandor high school was located was at the entrance of Taleghani district or Shah Abad. Mitra and I were together and after a few moments, Saeedeh joined us. When we reached there, we came to know that the boys at Bayandor high school had also started a marching and got into a fight with security forces.

SABAH (9)

Memoirs of Sabah Vatankhah

On 29th of Mordad of 1357 (19 August 1978), we heard the news of the Cinema Rex in Abadan which was set ablaze. Nearly four hundred men and women and children had died. People had gone to watch the movie called Reindeers but the movie hall had caught fire. People had rushed to the exit doors but the doors were locked. Fire department arrived late and the operation to extinguish the fire was ...

SABAH (8)

Memoirs of Sabah Vatankhah

We had placed posters from Vali-asr verse of Quran and some lines from Jihad and Martyrdom on the walls of our classroom. The classroom had turned to a conflict zone between the anti-religion advocate of Shah. Some of our teachers who were in favor of Shah and its dynasty, inspected the classrooms and would say: “Do you think this classroom is a mosque that you have placed such religious things on the walls?”

SABAH (7)

Memoirs of Sabah Vatankhah

We collected the food supply in Mitra’s house and she took it to Quran class. The Quran office was in 40-metri Street, near a flower shop called Mohammadi. I was very willing to deliver these items to the families in person and talk to them, but Ms. Abedi was against it and was afraid that these visits might cause problems for the families. On the other hand, these visits could also be problematic for us.