SABAH (70)

Memoirs of Sabah Vatankhah

Interviewed and Compiled by Fatemeh Doustkami
Translated by Natalie Haghverdian

2021-8-3

SABAH (70)

Memoirs of Sabah Vatankhah

Interviewed and Compiled by Fatemeh Doustkami

Translated by Natalie Haghverdian

Published by Soore Mehr Publishing Co.

Persian Version 2019

Hover craft turned with more speed towards port. As minutes passed, the volume and small of the smog increased. When we reached the port, the hover craft did not land on the soil and stood in the water near the waterfront. The crew threw a few big pallets on the water and formed a path towards the waterfront. Then they guided the passenger quickly towards out. The pallets trembled under our feet and the water reached our knees and made us wet.

When we distanced from hover craft, we saw that the rear part is on fire. God had had mercy on us. If we had moved more distance from port, it would have taken longer for hover craft to return and it would have been more dangerous. A few crew were busy extinguishing the fire with fire extinguishers. We had to wait until the problem with the hover craft was solved.

I asked one of the crew: “when will the hover craft be fixed?” he said: “since the problem is serious and its movement will be dangerous, therefore it has to stay in waterfront for repair and we do not know how much the repair will take.” I asked: “when will the hover craft arrive?” He said: “Apparently the next hover craft has arrived after we moved and has got passengers and left. There will be no hover craft until tomorrow!”

It was not proper to stay among all those military forces but we had no where to go. After one hour, the commander of commandoes came to us and said: “Sisters, the next hover craft will arrive tomorrow morning. It is not proper for you to stay here until morning. You will not feel good. Wait until 12 hours and then go to our camp. I will allocate a room to you to rest. When the hover craft comes, I will inform you.”

Obviously he was a Colonel. He was around forty years old and was talking in a sober way. We agreed. It was not proper to stay among all those army forces and on the other side, the cold weather was bothering us. The humidity of the margin of Persian Gulf was so high that all our clothes were wet and when the wind blew, our bodies trembled from cold. Despite all these facts, it was hard for us to stay in barracks the whole night. Poor Colonel talked to us a lot to be able to convince us. We agreed to go. Dr. Mostafavi accompanied us.

Navy forces commandos’ camp was not very far from waterfront but at night the distance seemed long. The camp included a few pre-fabricated houses besides each other. The ceilings were gabble roof and it was surrounded by flowers. The facing of the camp was white and the gabble roofs were blue.

On our way to the camp, the commander started talking and asked our names and our job. We introduced ourselves and said that we are aid workers. He asked about our families. Then he introduced himself[1] and said: “We are among the special forces of the army. Before the victory of Revolution, we had a two-year training course in England called commando respect. We had special training and returned to Iran. After a while, we had another training in America. After spending those trainings, I have Master degree in educational level.

When we entered the main door, we walked into a small hall and then to a big hall; a hall to which five six doors of the rooms opened. Military forces soldiers quickly saluted in military manner to Colonel.

The room that the Colonel showed us was a clean room with carpet and five beds. The beds were empty and there was no mattress on them. The Commander said: “I will order to bring you mattresses.”

We went out of the rooms and waited for the mattresses. As we were standing at the door, we saw two commandoes coming towards us. They were the same who did not give us permission in war bureau. They were not very old and looked almost 24-25 years old. They were surprised to see us there. They stood a few meters away from us and started to talk to each other. They talked loudly so that we could hear them. They were not satisfied by the war and blamed it on the Revolution.

We started attacking them. I said: “You are the betrayals who are eating the bread of Islamic Republic but when it is time to act, you talk nonsense.”

Everybody was saying something. When our argument escalated, a few other commandoes came towards us. One two of them supported us and told them: “what are you talking about?! When have we started the war? Didn’t you see that they attacked us first? What were we supposed to do? We should have stood and watched?!”

We were so angry, it was very sad for us to hear that the commando forces who were among the senior officials of the country and should fight with their whole heart and body, considered Islamic Republic as militant! They discouraged the other comrades and soldiers with their non-senses.

I knew where their discussion originated from. During this time, Saddam asked for ceasefire a few times but since he was not ready to go back to international borders and considered the sieged soils as his own, Imam had not accepted. Imam has said that as long as one Iraqi soldier is in our soil, we are not ready to talk and ceasefire. After this request, all broadcasts including BBC radio and TV introduced Saddam as a humanitarian and peace looking person and introduced Iranians as fighters.

We did not say anything to them. The Colonel came. After him two soldiers brought our mattresses. Dr. Mostafavi slept outside our room. We went inside, locked the door and slept. I do not know why I felt anxious and woke up a few times during the night and went to sleep again. At the Morning Prayer, the commander came and knocked and said: “The hover craft will be here in one two hours. Get ready.”

We went to lavatory, did ablution and said morning prayers and came out. The commander was waiting for us in the camp area. We followed him. The same commando who was with him last night accompanied him. We walked about forty minutes until we reached an area where a few rows of buses were parked. The Colonel said that we eat our breakfast here and then go. One of his soldiers spread the breakfast tablecloth and we sat around.

A few minutes later, we were talking about the siege of Khorramshahr. Colonel said: “It was a pity that Khorramshahr fell.”

One of the commandoes approved his words. I wanted to talk about Bani Sadr’s treason, now … all of a sudden Colonel jumped from his place and armed his weapon and pointed at our face. We stood up too. The Commandoes pulled the spanners of their weapons and surrounded us. Colonel turned to us and said: “Move quickly towards the buses and put your hands on the buses.”

Then he told the Commandoes: “Inspect them quickly.” I shouted: “You do not have the right to touch us. You are Namahram!”

They mounted us into a car without inspection. Colonel said in an angry tone: “Take them to war chamber and hand them over. They are hypocrites and belong to fifth column and we have to make a decision about them as soon as possible.” We really did not expect such a reaction from him. He had acted friendly since last night and now he was being hostile and wanted to hand us over to the War Bureau!

They took us to army war chamber. They did not let us speak to each other on the way. It was as if they had really captured prisoners. In war chamber they asked us a few questions. We talked about our activities in Khorramshahr and Abadan and said that we are from army families. They said: “These talks are not our business and you have to take them to Revolution Court which is based in Mahshahr army. They will decide about them there.”

We went to army. The Commandoes handed us over and left. They took us one by one for interrogation. First they took Dr. Mostafavi. Then they took Zahra. The person interrogating knew her. When Zahra came out, she had cried. I saw that the ID card of Ali who was from army, was in her hands. I told her: “Zahra, why have you cried? We have done nothing to worry about?”

Zahra did not answer. It was my turn to go in. The person who was interrogating was a young thirty years old individual with round and black beard. He had sunburnt face. He had a knitted hat on his head. He asked my name. As soon as I said Vatan Khah, he said: “Are you Ali’s sister? I am sure that you know that Ali has been wounded! Why are you here away from your family?”

I felt very bad when I heard that Ali has been wounded but I pulled myself together quickly. I did not know what had happened to my brother and how deep is his wounds but this was not the place to ask more questions on this. I said: “My family is in Boroujerd and I am an aid worker in Abadan front. At the moment I want to return there.” He said: “There is no need to return to front! When it is time for you to come, we will call you.”

His tone of voice was so strict that I could not say anything. Then he went out and told one of his forces: “Take them to their homes in Mahshahr.”

We got into the car. We did not want to go to Zahra’s place directly. We did not want them to know where we live. Sar Bandar was a small town and gossips went around quickly. We did not want the public to say that they have been arrested for being a member of fifth column. We told them that we live in New Mahshahr. We guided the driver to left and right and asked him to stop at the door of a house. We told him that our house is there. We waited a bit and as soon as he left, we went towards the camp.

Da was not home. She has gone to Sar Bandar for shopping. Zahra and Leila stayed in the camp. We decided to reach Abadan in every possible means. Zahra was a bit eager to stay. She said that it has been God’s will that the hover craft burns in fire and we could not go. There was something good about this. We said good bye to Zahra and Leila. When we hugged each other, Zahra cried a lot. I could understand her. Her heart was with us.

We went to Shadegan multi way with car. After that location, we could not progress more since the road was in the hands of Iraqis. If we wanted to reach Abadan, we had to act like Elaheh and walk on the border of the desserts and among the marshes. It was not easy. We had chosen the hardest way to Abadan and we had no other choice.

Aside from fatigue and hunger and thirst, there was a bigger danger called being captured. We had asked an army soldier how to reach Abadan and he had told us to walk with the same direction as wind. The Iraqis are located against the wind. We consulted together and decided to walk towards Abadan. We found a water container and took it with ourselves. Due to rain, the marshes had turned muddy and the mud prevented us from walking fast. We kept walking despite difficulties.

Two hours later, we saw a red Cadillac approaching. It stopped besides us. There were two families inside the car! Women, men, teenagers and children. The driver asked: “Where are you going?” We said: “We want to go to Abadan.” He said: “You will not get there until night time. There is also possibility of being hit by mortar bomb. Let us take you to waterfront.”

We did not know that there is another way. We thought that he meant Imam Port waterfront. We said: “We do not have permission and cannot go there.” He said: “Let us go with boat. Boat does not require permission.”

Dr. Mostafavi sat in front and we squeezed ourselves in the back seat. God had sent them for us. If we didn’t meet them, God knows how many hours we would wander in the desert.

It was around noon that we reached a small and crowded waterfront. We were so happy to see the crowd and the boats. We felt lively again. We went towards waterfront and one of the boats. Most of the crowd gathered in waterfront were volunteer army people and fighters that were not granted permission to enter the city by army. We thanked God with all our heart. With God’s mercy we had not walked out of our path.

We sat in a corner to rest. Our feet hurt. When we felt better, we did ablution and said our prayers. After prayers, they announced that the boat wants to move towards Choobeydeh and we have to get in quickly. From waterfront to boat the distance was three four meters away and there was a small bridge made by woods to access the boat. The bridge was scary and as we took our steps, it moved under our feet. Ashraf and I held each other’s hands and passed over the bridge with utmost care and entered the boat.

Every part of the boat was wooden. There was no iron in it. It had two three towers and the floor of the boat had an opening which was considered as storage and the crowd placed their items in it. Besides there was a small room for the captain. Around two hundred people got into the boat. It took about one hour to set off.

We went behind the cargo and military equipment which were compiled in the rear part of the boat. The women in the Cadillac were with us too. We felt more comfortable there. Dr. Mostafavi moved towards men.

 Contrary to the hover craft, the boat moved very severely. The boat was light and moved easily in the Persian Gulf waves or the waves were high and annoyed us. In order to stay safe from the movements, we had to stick to each other. We got tired during our hours on the boat. It made us tired as much as the morning walk had made us tired. In the boat, the army members whispered the prayer “Azoma albela”[1]. I felt secure being among them.

We were on the boat for around four five hours. We heard the Salavat and God is great sound. We had reached Choubeydeh. Thanks God our adventurous journey had ended well and we had been able to get to Abadan.   

While getting out of the boat, we had to pass the same wooden bridge. A few crew that worked in the boat were standing on the edge of the boat with rescue tubes to help those who might fall into the water. We passed the bridge with Salavat.

While we got out of the boat, we started walking with the crowd towards Abadan. There was no vehicle to move the crowd. We had to walk long distance. Although we were tired of being on the boat and morning walk, but we walked with the hope of getting to the front.

We reached Khosrow Abad road on foot. We hoped to reach for a car. We stood beside the road. We decided to wait for a few minutes and if no vehicle showed up, then continue to walk. After around five six minutes, a Zil army car which was full of military and army forces, appeared. Dr. Mostafavi waved his hand and the car stopped. The crowd inside the vehicle was two times more than the capacity of the vehicle but we had to find room for ourselves. The military forces moved a bit and opened a space for us to stand.

At the entrance of Caravanserai hotel, we got out of the vehicle and walked in. I went towards the kitchen to see my sisters with Ashraf. Each member of my family was in one place and the presence of Fouziyeh and Shahnaz was heartwarming for me. I felt hopeful when I saw them. We stayed with team members in the hotel.

To be continued …