Shahin Pouyan
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I am the red cry of liberation.
Sing my name, mother, in the eastern sky.
I am the bloody flag of freedom.
Sing my name, my wife, in the eastern sky.
I am the Red Dawn.
I am a prisoner under the eternal soil of Khavaran.
Sing this heroic people, my name in the eastern sky.
Another year has passed since the decade in which the Islamic Republic covered the people and society of Iran with a garment full of blood. We have gathered again. We shout out loud again; neither time nor life will pass, and until the day we remain, let us not let the dust of life cast a shadow over our historical memory. Let us not let the memory of our comrades who were drowned in their own blood by the hands of the hill workers of the Islamic Republic be forgotten.
Those who hanged and shot thousands of men and women in prisons, those who handed over thousands of young girls and boys to death squads, those who consider the suppression and persecution of the people as a guarantee of the survival of their disastrous government, those who want the killing of thousands of men and women to be forgotten, should know that the mothers, fathers, wives, children, sisters, brothers, and the masses of the people whose children were handed over to death squads in the prisons of the criminal rulers of the Islamic Republic will never forget this brutal crime and will never forgive its perpetrators and perpetrators. Those who hope that as time passes, these horrific criminals and this deep social wound will be forgotten, should know that we neither forget nor forgive these crimes.
We welcome you, dear friends, supporters, and comrades, to the 26th Stockholm Conference on the Killing of Political Prisoners in the 1960s. Twenty-six years ago, when the Iranian Political Prisoners in Exile Center held a conference in Stockholm for the first time, a large number of figures sitting in this hall today, that year and all these years, with a firm belief in the right to life for humans, accompanied and kept pace with us, did not let the killing of political prisoners, this horrific crime against humanity, be forgotten. Together, we created a history that is full of enlightenment. Together, we succeeded in discussing and discussing many of the dark corners of the prisons of the Islamic Republic and the killing of political prisoners in the 1960s and its effects on social issues in the presence of eyewitnesses and experts in the fields of politics, society, literature, art, and psychology.
In these twenty-six years, Iranian society has gone through very bitter events, and the rights movement has also lost a large number of fighting mothers who were the foundations of this movement. In these years, we have witnessed the rise of fathers and mothers who were never willing to forgive the perpetrators of this horrific crime. We, too, continue on our path, determined to stand by our covenant with our comrades who were imprisoned in the dungeons of the Islamic Republic. We will never, even for a moment, stop fighting against the integrity of the Islamic Republic and fighting to build a new society free from prison, torture, execution, and class oppression.
The justice movement has lost many mothers and fathers in these years, whose lives were spent in prisons and in trying to find the burial place of their loved ones and in their justice. In the most recent events of this kind, the justice movement lost the mother of Forough Tajbakhsh (Lotfi’s mother). Lotfi’s mother, the late Anoushirvan Lotfi, was one of the pioneers of the Mothers of the East. Anoushirvan, the eldest son of Lotfi’s mother, was a political prisoner under both the monarchy and the Islamic regimes. Lotfi’s mother’s life changed when Anoushirvan was arrested in 1971, and going to prison to visit her son became a part of her life. From that time on, Lotfi’s mother met a number of mothers and families of political prisoners and established very friendly relations with them. This friendship became an unbreakable bond. A bond that became even closer than family ties, and no force could break this bond. This devoted and combative mother, along with other mothers and families of political prisoners since the Shah’s time, has brought the justice movement in Iran into a new arena. Mother Lotfi played an influential and decisive role in all protest and justice actions related to political prisoners, especially the massacre of political prisoners in the summer of 1967. She was a pillar and support for other mothers of the East. May the memory of Mother Lotfi and all mothers who are no longer with us be honored. In memory and honor of the mothers who have passed away and the mothers who are still here and have kept the banner of justice high, we stand and applaud for a minute.
We will begin the 26th gathering on the killing of political prisoners in Iran with a minute of applause in memory of the thousands of political prisoners who were massacred by the Islamic Republic in the 1960s. Then, Kurdish artist Fariborz Fakhar will play pieces on the soprano saxophone. In the next part of the program, Pardis Shafafi, Shora Makaremi, and Sahar Mohammadi will speak on “Anthropology and its Relationship with Litigation,” “Is Litigation the Only Way to Litigation,” and “The History of Litigation and a Look at Litigation from a Legal Perspective,” respectively.
Between each lecture, three political prisoners of the 1960s, Ahmad Mousavi, Fatan Jokar, and Reza Pourkarimi, will tell us short, bitter, and memorable stories from their own experiences in prison in the 1960s.
The guest artist on tonight’s program will be Rostam Mirlashari.
Between the two parts of the program, we will have a twenty-minute break for tea, coffee, and dinner.
Please turn off your cell phones while in the hall and refrain from walking around during the programs. This year’s program, like previous years, will be broadcast live and will be broadcast simultaneously to Iran on Channel One TV. Those who do not wish to be filmed should sit in the seats reserved for them on the left side of the hall, near the entrance.
Now, let us remember and applaud for a minute in honor of the thousands of fighting men and women who were imprisoned in Iranian prisons, their fighting and suffering mothers and fathers who are no longer with us, and also in honor of the mothers and fathers who, despite all the hardships and old age, still keep the flag of struggle and justice high in Iran.