The 372nd Night of Memory – Part 3
Compiled by: Iranian Oral History Website
Translated by: Fazel Shirzad
2026-01-03
Note: At the beginning of October, coinciding with Sacred Defense Week, the 372nd Night of Memories was held on September 25, 2025, in the Sooreh Hall of Arts Center. The host opened the program with a warm welcome, reminding the audience that for more than thirty-three years, this gathering has kept the flame of remembrance of the warriors and martyrs alive at the beginning of every month. In this session, Haj Hossein Sadeghi Siroo’i, Hassan Naji-Rad, and Seyed Morteza Azarhoushang shared their memories. Also, on the sidelines of the ceremony, the book Hossein Garda’i, written by Mohammad-Hadi Zargari, was unveiled. The evening’s program was hosted by Davood Salehi.
■■■
As the program continued, the host briefly introduced the third narrator as follows: Seyyed Morteza Azarhoushang, born on the July 24 of 1962, in the city of Qom; a former prisoner of war from the Army of the Islamic Republic of Iran, who joined the special airborne units in 1981. During the period of the Sacred Defense, he was responsible for photography, filming, and documenting the epic deeds of the combatants. The host spoke of the narrator’s presence in military operations, his injury and captivity, his eventual liberation during Operation Dawn 4, and the striking resemblance of his memories to scenes familiar to today’s audience.
At the beginning of his remarks, the narrator said: “I consider my presence among this gathering a great blessing. First of all, I must emphasize that the true heroes are these very people and these very combatants who stood firm in defense of the country. I officially joined the Army of the Islamic Republic of Iran and served in the airborne units. My main duty during the Sacred Defense was photography, filming, and documenting the bravery of the combatants, and I regard this as one of the greatest honors of my life—that I was able to record, moment by moment, their acts of heroism.”
He continued: “Before entering into my operational memories, I feel it is necessary to remember those former prisoners of war about whom little has been said—combatants who were captured inside the country, in isolation and anonymity, and who did not even have a registration number from the Red Cross. I consider myself a representative of this group, and I remember the martyrs whose bodies were returned from the soil years later. I hope their memory remains alive.”
The narrator went on: “My account begins with Operation Beit al-Moqaddas and the liberation of Khorramshahr—an operation which, in my view, is the most precious achievement of the Sacred Defense. I had the honor of capturing on camera the moments of victory and the fighters’ passage through extremely difficult routes. After that, I was assigned missions in Baneh, Sardasht, Saqqez, and the mountainous regions of Kurdistan to clear the areas of counter-revolutionary forces. I remember days when our forces would sometimes remain under siege for weeks—unable to advance and with no route for retreat—until eventually, with helicopter support, the siege would be broken.”
“In one of these reconnaissance and clearance missions, in an area near the Nachin River and around the village of Sharkandi, our operation was exposed. We were ambushed in the middle of sunflower fields and came under fire from several directions. Since I had some familiarity with military principles, I tried to help the others escape the ambush, but the intensity of the fire made it impossible. During the clashes, I was wounded and ultimately captured—an captivity whose details, if fully recounted, would be extremely heavy and bitter.”
He then described his memories of captivity by counter-revolutionary forces and said: “During captivity, I was subjected to beatings more than many others, because the interrogators believed my camera was more dangerous than a weapon, as it boosted the morale of the fighters through images. The detention conditions were extremely harsh: constant transfers between cells, unbearable overcrowding, and severe deprivation of hygiene and food. We lived in rooms where dozens of people were packed into very limited spaces, and enduring those days was possible only through patience and faith.”
Among these bitter memories, he recalled fellow captives he could never forget, including a wise cleric named Sheikh Abbas Mobarra. In prison, he held philosophy and religious knowledge classes for the captives. The story of his capture was also remarkable. During a counter-revolutionary attack, he had hidden in the janitor’s room of a school. However, out of habit and lifelong discipline, he had placed his shoes outside the door before entering. The attackers initially failed to find him, but upon leaving and noticing the pair of shoes, they realized his hiding place and took him captive.
The narrator then referred to one of his most painful yet deeply human memories—an unfinished meeting with his mother—and said: “For months, no news of my condition had reached my family, and they were in complete uncertainty. One day, when we were taken outside the camp for forced labor, I suddenly saw my mother, who had come from far away and endured great hardship just to find some trace of me. She recognized me, but they did not allow us to meet. The only sign I managed to give her was telling her that the night before my capture, her grandchild had been born. When my mother left with a broken heart, the moment her car pulled away felt as if my heart were being torn from my chest.”
This unfinished meeting had another bitter side note. Among the items my mother had brought were several notebooks whose covers bore images of Imam Khomeini (may he rest in peace). These simple images provoked anger and harsh reactions from the prison guards. Suspiciously, they imagined the pictures to be an “operational code” or a hidden message for planning my escape or release—while in reality, those notebooks were merely symbols of my mother’s devotion and heartfelt bond with the Imam.
He continued: “My liberation took place about a year and a half later, during Operation Dawn 4. The forces who came to liberate the area were the same ones with whom I had previously participated in operations. I consider this freedom a great divine blessing—a grace bestowed upon me after enduring the hardships of captivity.”
In his concluding remarks, the narrator said: “All these memories are only a small glimpse of the suffering and resilience of men whose names may have been heard less often, but who bore the heavy burden of defending the country. History is indebted to their patience and faith.”
The End
Number of Visits: 88
http://oral-history.ir/?page=post&id=13003