Memoirs of Mohammad Kaeeni about Muarram 1367

Anti-Ashura injection

Selected by: Fariba Almassi
Translated by: M.B. Khoshnevisan

2024-7-23

"The camp is waiting to understand a new experience; it is a new feeling that he has never experienced before. Muharram's sadness can be heard from far away; the same days that carry the smell of sadness for every Iranian and of course for every non-Shia Iraqi, the beginning of a new lunar year. Hamid Ghorbani and several seniors of the rest homes are talking with Sergeant Sahib. They do insist that they are allowed to establish a short and simple gathering for their imam, but it seems that the result of the discussion is disappointing.
We had predicted that due to the acceptance of the UN resolution by Iran, the Iraqis would not oppose holding a mourning gathering during Muharram. After all these years when the Muharram days were passed with secret tears and grudges in the throat, now the thirst of holding a mourning ceremony has reached its peak in each and every one of us. Among the camp officials, Sergeant Sahib seemed to be the best option to get permission. He was the internal manager of the camp and honestly managed the camp very well. Except in the cases when he was pressured by the higher authorities, he did not show a desire for violence. We went to him with Hamid Ghorbani and a few others to talk to him. Hamid Ghorbani told Sahib: "Now that the resolution has been accepted, we are no longer enemies. That's why we wanted you to allow us to mourn this year's Muharram very quietly in our rest homes."
Sahib said in surprise: "Mourning?! Not at all. Muharram is the beginning of the Sunnis New Year. We rejoice this month, then you want to mourn?!
- Yes, but very, very quietly. We also close all the doors and windows. We promise that it will only take one hour and we do praying and chest-beating in a very orderly and hassle-free manner.
- No, no, it is not possible. Chest-beating and mourning are banned in the camp.
- The resolution has already been accepted. You don't have to take it so hard.
Mourning is strictly prohibited. So is the chest-beating. It is has nothing to do with the resolution.
Whatever we urged him, he did not accept. We did not accept his words either. One of the guys said: "Whatever they say, they have nothing to do with us. If we mourn quietly and noiselessly, they won't do anything."

We chose a preacher and a eulogist for each nursing home and started the program on the first day of Muharram, one hour before Maghrib or evening prayer. On the first night, the Iraqis did not understand what was going on at all. On the second night, the soldier "Ghanem" came during mourning and stood behind the window. He saw the guys sitting with respect and complete order and mourning very slowly. The next morning, the owner called the seniors. At that time, I was in charge of the cultural affairs of the rest room no. 6. When our senior, Mr. Ali Namazi returned, I asked him: "What happened?" What did the Sahib tell you?"
He answered: "Sahib says that mourning is forbidden. You should not continue."  - What did you say?
- We said that we have not mourned for years. Now that the resolution has been accepted, we want to mourn very quietly. We also close all the doors. But Sahib said that we do not allow you to do this.
- Did you accept?!
- No, not at all, the guys say these are all empty threats. We do our own job.
But the guys kept mourning shorter in the coming nights, and that's why they left a guard to report when the Iraqi soldier is approaching. As soon as the red alert was announced, the guys would return to their normal state and stop mourning, and continue again after the Iraqi soldier left. The first nights of Muharram passed like this until three or four nights before Ashura, the Iraqis' anti-Ashura ampoules were found again. In the previous years, before Tasu'a and Ashura, the Iraqis used to give an injection to each and every prisoner, and according to the physical resistance of each person, from 3 days to a week, they would all get ague and fall like helpless corpses in the rest home. Although the Iraqis themselves said that this was a germicide shot, the other guys understood that the Iraqis were doing this to prevent mourning. Muharram 1367 was no exception and all guys were injected with anti-Ashura vaccine. But this year, all of them had made up their minds and wanted to mourn their imam in any condition. At last the night came. That night, soldier Ghanem kept going around the rest homes and kept an eye on the situation until finally, with his great curiosity, he found out about the guys' mourning program. When Soldier Ghanem found out, the mourning program became public, but it continued very slowly.
Mr. Narimisa gave a short speech and after him, Javad Ghandi and Mehrfard started performing eulogy and chest-beating. A little later, we noticed that Ghanem's soldier was still standing behind the window and writing the names of several people. We did not pay attention to him and followed the mourning program very slowly. The next day, the news came that the guys of the 5th rest home were careless and stood on their feet while chest-beating. All rest homes were supposed to sit down during chest-beating and not to do anything that would provoke the Iraqis, but this action caused the soldier Ghanem to inform Colonel Ali and the colonel ordered Ghanem to write down the names of the guys and we warned them not to act against their promise under any conditions.
When the night of Ashura arrived, like the previous nights, the mourning program was performed very quietly. But suddenly, it was after the Maghrib prayer that we noticed the sound of moaning and screaming coming from the lower floor. We all knew that the Iraqis went to the guys with sticks and clubs. We also prayed the Isha or night prayer and prepared ourselves. Two hours later, it was our turn to go to the rest home because the number of soldiers in the camp was small. The Iraqis had brought some soldiers from outside the camp to help them. First, they lined everyone and then started beating the guys with cables and hoses. The internal soldiers of the camp often targeted parts of the body that did not seriously harm the person during punishment. But the new soldiers were beating without restraint. All of us just kept our heads down so that cables and hoses did not hit our heads and faces. It didn't take a second that the sound of moaning and screaming filled the whole place. It was as if everyone was calling their strange imam. Our backs and legs were bruised. The soldiers did not get tired no matter what they did. The queues of children were no longer regular. We were all on the ground. After the soldiers beat us all, six of the guys whose names Ghanem had written last night were separated and thrown out. It was clear from the names that were read that the soldier Ghanem introduced those who the Iraqis had an internal problem about during the year. When the door was closed, we found out that five or six people were separated from each rest home and they were severely beaten in the corridors. The sound of moaning and shouting filled the camp. It was night and it was dark everywhere and only the weak light lit the corridor. Even though the prisoners inside the rest homes were all beaten and had no food, they crowded behind the doors to see what the shouts and screams were for. No one could do anything. Looking at them was another torture for us. After a while, the soldiers became tired. Then the guys, who had become very weak, were forced into the room. There were fifty in the room, but the barber room was very small and could not accommodate more than twenty people. But the soldiers pushed them so much that finally they all fit in the barber room. Then they closed the door and left.
It was 11 pm. Each of the guys had been sitting in a corner of the rest home crying and upset. Suddenly, we realized that there was shouting from the barber room. The prisoners inside the room were shouting and asking for help. We could hear muffled voices saying, "Help, we're suffocating, help, help." A number of guys from each rest home came to the window and shouted: “"Guard! Guard! Guard!" The shouting of guard was tangled. An Iraqi soldier woke up from the sound of the guys and quickly went to barber room. He noticed that they were suffocating. By the grace of God, the guard of that night was one of the soldiers in the health section. For this reason, he noticed their critical state and quickly announced the danger. Hearing his voice, two other soldiers rushed to the barber room and quickly opened the door. After the door was opened, they immediately came out and fell on the ground. They were coughing heavily. We could hear their loud coughs. One of the guys of our rest home was watching the room through the mirror that the guys always used to monitor the movement of the soldiers. The soldiers took the guys out and made them lie down on the ground. At that moment, the guard arrived with the bandage and ointment he had brought from the hospital and dressed the wounds. One of the soldiers said to the other: "What should we do now?" If we put these again in the barber room, they will suffocate.
He replied: "Of course, it is clear that they will suffocate." Let's take them back to the sanatoriums."
- No! No! If the colonel finds out, he will kill us. I do not have the courage to do this.
Everyone was still coughing. Traces of blood and stench were all around them. A soldier sat in front of one of them and said regretfully: "This should not have happened; you are not fine at all. If the colonel was not drunk tonight, he would never have given such an order."
The other nodded his head in approval and said: "You are right, but there is no other choice. Let's put half of them in the library, and the other half back to the barber room."
The guys were imprisoned in these two rooms until morning. In the early morning, I and some other guys quickly went behind the door of the barber room. The guards outside the camp on the towers were in complete control of the place. I asked some of the guys to stand on the stairs and watch the soldiers below, and told some others to talk in front of us so that the guards outside the camp would not see us. I put my head near the door lock and said, "Hey Guys! Saeed! Ali Akbar! are you sleeping, are you OK?" Jahanbakhsh, Shams and a few others were with me. Shams bent down and called from the bottom of the door: "Guys! Are you awake? Are you okay?" I also bent down and tried to look inside. A strong stench was coming out of the door and I heard the moaning of some of them. One of them said in a soft voice from behind the door: "Guys! Water, water, only water..." One of the guys who was next to me ran quickly into the rest home after hearing this and returned a few minutes later with a bucket of water and sugar. He also had a long hose in his hand. We all understood his plan. We lifted the bucket and brought it under the keyhole. Then he put one end of the hose into the bucket and passed the other end through the hole and said: "We brought you water and sugar." Come and drink one by one."
The guys came one by one behind the door and sucked the water inside the pan. At around 10:00 am, the voice of the Iraqis was raised. There was no choice. We quickly gathered our things and sat in the queue. After a while, the Iraqis went to the prisoners inside those two rooms. As soon as they saw it, they realized that their situation was very critical. quickly, they were taken to the hospital and were cared for until noon. In the afternoon, one of the soldiers came to the door of the rest home and said: "We took your friends to the bathroom. If you have extra clothes, give them to me."
The senior said: "How are they?"
-They are fine. We divided them in twelve and put each group in a separate room. Now, they need clothes.
The head of the rest home make the rounds among the guys and took clean clothes from anyone who had and handed them through the bars of the window. After five days, they were returned to the rest homes. By the grace of God, their situation had improved a lot.

Source: Hatami, Fatemeh Zahra, For Atefeh, Tehran, Payam-e Azadegan, V. 1, 1393 (2014), P. 184.