From Art Center to the front line

Asqar Naqi Zadeh, his Grenade and Camera

An interview with a war photographer

Sara Rashadizadeh
Translated by M. B. Khoshnevisan

2016-7-31

Note: Asqar Naqi Zadeh is the actor of theater, cinema and TV who started his activity from the Art Bureau (Hozeh-ye Honari). With the start of the Iraqi imposed war against Iran, he went to the war fronts as a war photographer in order to depict every moment of the war in the framework of photos. He is now around 54 years old and has talked about his memoirs of the sacred defense days in southern and western fronts with the website of Iranian Oral History.

*When did you take part in the battle fronts for the first time?

*I was dispatched for the first time to the southern front in order to take part in Fat’holmobin Operation, but we were deported because we had gone to the war front on behalf of the mosque and spontaneously. When we found out that they were going to return us, we asked the authorities to send us to Ahwaz prison to sleep there and not to send us back to Tehran. In response, they said, “There is no vacancy even in the prison.”

At any rate, we came back to Tehran and could not take part in Fat’holmobin Operation. Later, we came back again to the war front in order to participate in Beit al-Moqaddas Operation. I became sick in the area and my whole body was infected. Thus, I was sent to Jondi Shapour Hospital and then they sent me back to Tehran by train.

*How old were you during Beit al-Moqaddas Operation and what did you do when you came back to Tehran?

*I was 21 at that time and was working in the Art Bureau. After recovery, I came back again to the war fronts and this time, I went to Mehran to take part in Valfajr 3 Operation. After this operation, I also took part in Kheibar, Karbala 5 and Mersad operations. After Mersad Operation, I also took part in an operation carried out exactly after the ceasefire announcement. In this operation, Iranian and Iraqi forces had stood in Shalamcheh border, exchanging the bodies of Iranian martyrs and Iraqi dead soldiers.

*Tell us about Karbala 5 Operation and what you saw in this operation.

*We had been deployed exactly behind Mahi River during Karbala 5 Operation. There was a three-way there knows as “Shahadat (martyrdom) Three-Way” and there was only one way to reach it. The enemy forces had deployed tanks during the two sides of this way and everyone who reached the three-way was shot by the enemy. Therefore, it had been known as “Shahadat Three-Way”.

I remember that Haj Zabihollah Bakhshi along with his son-in-law Nader Naderi Boroujerdi drove toward the three-way by his Toyota car on 14^th of January 1987. After reaching there, Haji Bakhshi got off the car and exactly at that time, the car was hit by a Katiosha missile and his son-in-law who was still inside the car burnt and was martyred. In continuation of the same operation, martyr Amir Haj Amini who had lost one of his eyes in the previous operations, was shot in the eye and martyred.

On the whole, to me, Karbala 5 Operation was our largest artillery battle with the enemy.

*Were you present in the war fronts as a combatant?

*No, I was present as a photographer in the headquarters of the Division 27 of Muhammad Rasoulollah, and the individuals like Ehsan Rajabi were also present in this headquarters as a photographer.

*If you are supposed to choose one of the photos you have taken in the war fronts, which one do you pick out?

* I took many photos in that period all of which were delivered to the archive of the Division 27 of Muhammad Rasoulollah. But the most famous photo I took belongs to the night of Kheibar Operation. In that photo taken at 5 PM on 21^st of February 1984, martyr Afrasiabl has stood with his amputated leg and the battalion guys were moving behind him.

*How is photography in the war conditions?

*In the first days of my presence in the battlefield, I used Telephoto lens, observing photography fundamentals constantly. But later I found out that if I continue this way, the photography will become difficult for me, because I had just the opportunity to take up my head and took photos without any concentration. Thus, I used the 28 mm wide lens.  I had been trained militarily at that time, but had no gun but just a grenade that if I faced with the enemy forces and was caught, I would put it beside the camera and destroy it along with its negatives.

*How did you see the war conditions?

*It was very difficult. For instance, during Kheibar Operation, we had to grapple with many problems including lack of facilities and the enemy’s high pressure. We were in front of 13 kilometers of water and had no access to food and fuel. However, although martyr Haj Muhammad Ebrahim Hemmat was the division commander and had a high status, he personally went and came back for supplying fuel.

*How was the situation of the holy month of Ramadhan in the war fronts?

*I was present in the war fronts for two times in the month of Ramadhan; one time in 1983 and the other in 1988. In general, the forces who had been deployed in the headquarters constantly and were active in the logistics unit, fasted in Ramadhan. But due to the war conditions and the constant movement, the battalions could not do.

I remember that we were given the mission by the Art Center in Ramadhan 1988 to move to Dokouheh Garrison. While having a cinematograph and a few rings of movies, I along with Mr. Hosseini got in the car and moved toward Dokouheh in order to play movies for the war combatants. The movie “Gozargah” or crossing directed by Shahriar Bohrani was displayed.

*Tell us about the beginning of your work in the Art Bureau.

*I along with my friends including Amir Hossein Fardi and the late Farajollah Salahshour and a few others started cooperating with the bureau since the very beginning days when the Art Center was set up. At first, our office was located in Palestine Square but after a while we moved to Somayeh Street. Those days, we were working on movies and concurrently worked in the department of Film Affairs of the Art Center. After a while, Amir Hossein Fardi separated from us and started working in Kayhan Bacheh-ha magazine. Concurrently, I went to Education Department and started working as a teacher. But I continued my job in the bureau until 1997 under Mr. Zam.

*As the last question, in what movies have you played after the end of the Iraqi imposed war against Iran?

*After the end of the Iraqi imposed war against Iran, I have played in many movies including Mohajer or emigrant, Glass Eye, Vasl-e nikan or the link of good people, From Karkheh to Rhine, Green Ash, The Land of Sun, A Man Made from Crystal, Look at the Sky Sometimes, Empty Hands, For the Sake of My Sister, Cottage, Ten-Digit, Other, The Report of a Feast, and Greetings to Angels.