Iran Document: Detained Student Majid Dori "I Salute Freedom. I am Proud to Be a Mohareb"

Student Majid Dori has been "starred", i.e., facing a ban from education, by authorities. He has been detained. He has been sent more than 600 miles from Evin Prison, near his home, to Behbahan Prison in Khuzestan in southwest Iran. He faces the charge of "mohareb" (war against God).

This is his response, translated by Banooye Sabz:

May he who stands in the way of you and I becoming us, see his home destroyed;

In the name of freedom, the freedom which I roared and for which I was deprived of a right to education;

In the name of freedom, the freedom which I uttered and for which I was sent to exile…;

In the name of freedom, the freedom that I once tasted, [that] makes you immune to chains, imprisonment, exile and execution;

I salute freedom! I salute the innocent blood that was shed in its pursuit;

I salute the lives we lost for the cause of freedom.

On Saturday morning, they transferred me from Evin to Behbahan Prison. I have been charged with Moharebeh “enemy of God” and sentenced in Judge Pir-Abasi’s courtroom, a courtroom where my lawyers and I were deprived of the opportunity to present a defense.

Receiving the Moharebeh sentence evokes fear in any human being. I became a Mohareb because I refused to live like an animal. If defending the right to education, the undeniable and inalienable right of every individual is waging war against God, then I am a Mohareb. If helping political prisoners, if showing compassion and sympathy toward their families is waging war against God, then I am a Mohareb. If publishing the names of those who have been killed and arrested and obtaining legal representation for those who have been arrested without cause and taken to undisclosed locations by unknown individuals is waging war against God, then I am a Mohareb. Yes, I am a Mohareb. No matter when or where, I am proud to be a Mohareb; this war is worth fighting as it is in the pursuit of freedom.

Do you believe that if people hear that I have provided comfort to families of political prisoners, supported a lonely prisoner, and published the names of those who have been killed and arrested, then they will belittle and humiliate me? Do you truly believe that incarceration and exile can stand in the way of humanity?

Those who came to power as a result of fraud, lies, and denial and have entrenched themselves through suppression and intimidation will resort to anything in order to remain in power. Those who view every humane act as evil, every critical thought as an act by a Mohareb, and every innovative idea as destructive have no choice but to use endless suppression as a tool to silence the masses.

Here is to a new dawn that will bury the darkness in the dungeons of history, ensuring that the perpetrators of these crimes are brought to justice. May God help those who must stand before the people tomorrow and be accountable for their inhumane acts. If only they would at minimum adhere to the slogans they chant to others and the laws they so often make references to; if only they would practice what they preach and what they claim to be legal.

I have now been transferred to Behbahan prison in southern Iran, a prison that lacks medical and cultural facilities. When I first arrived I never believed that I would be able to continue, to endure the conditions in a prison where prisoners co-exist regardless of their crimes. I didn’t think I could survive in a prison where there are no political prisoners, where most prisoners have committed crimes such as murder, drug trafficking and theft. I thought I would be alone and out of place…

But the warm and familiar voices of the Behbahanis warmed the frozen blood in my veins. When the Behbahani’s came to the prison gate on visitation day and asked to see me, the thousand kilometer distance between me and my family was no longer unbearable.

I was no longer alone. I no longer feel as though I am in exile. Today from behind the thick walls of this prison I pay my respect to every single one of them and say to my parents, “Father, mother, I am not alone here. My Behbahani fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters shattered my feeling of loneliness and exile. I can now proudly cry out, I too am a Behbahani! The citizens of Behbahan have accepted me with open arms. I salute their honor and dignity!”

I look forward to the day that as a result of our efforts and suffering, you and I become us…..

Majid Dori

November 2010 Behbahan Prison