Reporter who lived three months in Neauphle-le-Château

Rasoul Sadr Ameli shared his memories of accompanying Imam in Neauphle-le-Château and said: I had no choice but to sell some of Imam’s photos to foreign reporters to cover costs of my trip.
According to Jamaran News, Rasoul Sadr Ameli, prominent filmmaker, in the inauguration ceremony of “Reclusion of the Sun” exhibition on February 2, 2015 in Husseiniyeh Jamaran referred to the controversial answer of Imam to the reporter who asked him: “What do you feel now?” and said: Imam didn’t mean that he felt nothing.
He stated that he has a memory of Imam that he has never shared before and said: I was in the airplane with Imam. When we entered Iranian airspace, Mehdi Araghi and Mohsen Rafighdoust prevented reporters from approaching the airplane. They didn’t consider me a reporter so I was there when a reporter slowly approach Imam and suddenly asked what he felt.
He said: Imam didn’t want to interview under the circumstances and by saying that he feels nothing he was trying to make the reporter understand that he is not going to answer any questions. His tone indicated that he has no intention to interview.
He said: my presence in Neauphle-le-Château for three months was valuable and I had the opportunity to photograph every moment. A year and a half prior to Imam’s presence in Neauphle-le-Château I was in France studying sociology and once he came I was commissioned by Ettelaat Newspaper to take photos.
Conductor of the movie “I am Taraneh, 15” added: I was there 24 hours a day during three months except for the first 15 days. They didn’t trust me at the beginning since I was the reporter of Ettelaat Newspaper during Kings Regime.
He stated that Seyyed Mahmoud Doayi prohibited his presence in Neauphle-le-Château and said: those travelling to Neauphle-le-Château to visit Imam could stay one day and were hosted in house number one. The last night, I stayed there. There was heavy snow and the weather was very cold. Imam’s room faced the street. I could see the light on. It was one in the morning that the curtain opened. Couple of minutes later Ms. Marziyeh Dabbagh, known as “Sister Tahereh” brought two blankets for me and let me stay.
He said that he took all the pictures with a simple Nikon camera and explained: I used five or six reels a day. To cover the costs of my trip I had to sell 50 percent of the photos to foreign reporters.
At the end he hoped that the photos he has handed over to the Institute for Publication of Imam’s Work with be gathered in a book to become eternal.
Hojjat-ol-Islam Komsari the Cultural Deputy of Institute for Publication of Imam’s Work explained that Rasoul Sadr Ameli stayed 116 days in Neauphle-le-Château and took many pictures that has provided 750 reels to the institute.
Komsari stated that 80 reels of these photos are not exhibited in “Reclusion of the Sun” and said: all photos will be published in a book. This exhibition will also be held in Najaf and Khomein.
He said that Imam Khomeini made history and added: Imam Khomeini was not historical but he made history and sparkle of his thought enlightened the path of governance during contemporary dark times.
He continued: many artists have pictured the period when Imam was in Neauphle-le-Château and made an invaluable treasure of this sensitive era of management.
The Cultural Deputy rendered a certificate of appreciation to Rasoul Sadr Ameli. Other prominent features present in the program visited the exhibition.
During the visit, Sadr Ameli shared some of his memories of his conversation with Imam and the photo taken by Seyyed Ahmad Agha when he was playing football with Seyyed Hassan Khomeini.

Translated by: Natali Haghverdian

Source: Jamaran News – Tehran
http://www.jamaran.ir/fa/NewsContent-id_73306.aspx