Mona Mahmudnizhad

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Mona Mahmudnizhad ( Persian مونا محمودنژاد, DMG Mona Maḥmūd-Nižād ; * September 10, 1965 ; † June 18, 1983 in Shiraz , Iran ) was an Iranian Baha'i who was sentenced to death and hanged to death in 1983 because of her affiliation to the Baha'i religion as the youngest of a total of ten Baha'i women in Shiraz . Official charges ranged from "misguiding children and youth" - teaching children expelled from school for their beliefs and serving in an orphanage - to being accused of being a " Zionist " at the Baha'i World Center in Israel is located.

childhood

Mahmudnizhad was born on September 10, 1965 to the family of Yad'u'llah and Farkhundeh Mahmudnizhad, who had left their native Iran to spread their religion in Yemen . She was the second child in the family. The family's first child, Taraneh, was seven years old at the time Mona was born. Mona spent her first four years in Yemen; at the age of two she had a car accident, which she survived without serious injuries.

In 1969 the government of Yemen expelled all foreigners from the country and the Mahmudnizhad family returned to Iran. They spent two years in Isfahan , six months in Kermanshah and three years in Tabriz before they finally settled in Shiraz in 1974. During this time, the father made a living repairing small household appliances and served on various administrative bodies in the Baha'i community.

Arrest, interrogation and conviction

Although the Baha'i suffered regular persecution in Iran, the persecution was systematically intensified in the course of the Islamic revolution of 1979. At 7:30 a.m. on October 23, 1982, four armed Revolutionary Guards broke into the home of the Mahmudnizhad family on behalf of the Shiraz public prosecutor and searched it for Baha'i documents. Following the search, they arrested Mona and her father. The two were blindfolded and taken to the seppah prison in Shiraz, where they were placed in separate sections. Mahmudnizhad was held in Seppah prison for a total of 38 days.

On November 29, 1982, she and five other Baha'i women were transferred from Seppah Prison to Adelabad Prison (also in Shiraz). After some time in Abelabad Prison, she was brought before the Islamic Revolutionary Court for questioning and then sent back to prison. A few days later she was taken out of prison again and interrogated in the presence of an Islamic Revolutionary Guard. After a series of interrogations, including physical torture , during which the soles of his feet were whipped with a cable, Mahmudnizhad was found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging . At the time of the sentencing, the President of the United States , Ronald Reagan , filed a pardon . Nevertheless, the judgment on the ten women on the night of June 18, 1983 was on a nearby polo field enforced .

The names and ages of the other women hanged with Mahmudnizhad were:

  • Nusrat Yalda'i, 54 years
  • 'Izzat Janami Ishraqi, 50 years
  • Roya Ishraqi, 23 and daughter of 'Izza
  • Tahirih Siyavushi, 32 years
  • Zarrin Muqimi, 28 years
  • Shirin Dalvand, 25 years
  • Akhtar Sabit, 19 or 20 years old
  • Simin Saberi, 20 years
  • Mahshid Nirumand, 28 years

In September 2007, the Iranian Human Rights Documentation Center published a study on the incident.

Publicity

Mona's story acquired great symbolic significance because she was only 17 years old at the time of her arrest. This made her the youngest of the 10 women who became known as the "Angels of Shiraz". Many of their statements from the interrogations have been handed down and serve many people around the world as proof of the indomitable strength and courage of young people in the face of the brutality of the Iranian regime and as a source of inspiration.

Mahmudnizhad's story is the subject of several artistic works. Musician Doug Cameron portrayed Mahmudnizhad's story as a music video: Mona with the Children , which made it into the Canadian pop charts (# 14 in the week of October 19, 1985). The video spread throughout the music scene and was very effective in raising public awareness of the human rights situation surrounding the persecution of the Baha'i in Iran. Recently a play (“Ein Kleid für Mona”, A Dress for Mona ) was produced and Jack Lenz is currently working on a film called “ Mona's Dream ”. Pictures of her are featured in Mithaq Kazimi's video Quenching The Light .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c Friedrich W. Affolter: The Specter of Ideological Genocide: The Bahá'ís of Iran . In: War Crimes, Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity . 2005, p. 59–89 ( online (PDF; 360 kB)). Online ( Memento of the original from January 23, 2010 on WebCite ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.aa.psu.edu
  2. ^ A b Reuters: Iran reportedly executes 16 Baha'is in secret , The New York Times. June 20, 1983. 
  3. ↑ a b c Sandy Mullins: Mona Mahmudnizhad. Bella Online, 2007, accessed July 13, 2012 .
  4. ↑ Noel Grima: 'Mona's Dream' may be directed by Mario Philip Azzopardi. (No longer available online.) The Malta Independent , Aug 3, 2008, archived from the original on March 1, 2012 ; accessed on July 13, 2012 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.independent.com.mt
  5. ↑ a b c d e Bahá'í Canada Publications (Ed.): The Story of Mona: 1965–1983 . Thornhill, Canada 1985 ( online ). Online ( Memento of the original from July 19, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.adressformona.org
  6. ↑ International Federation for Human Rights: Discrimination against religious minorities in Iran. (PDF; 595 kB) fdih.org, August 1, 2008, accessed on July 13, 2012 (English).
  7. ^ IHRDC: Community Under Siege: The Ordeal of the Bahá'ís of Shiraz
  8. ↑ "Pop Annual 1955-1999: Sixth Edition" for October, 1985. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on November 12, 2002 ; accessed on July 13, 2012 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.webfitz.com
  9. ↑ Mona's dream. 2008, accessed December 20, 2017 .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Mahmudnizhad, Mona
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Iranian Baha'i
DATE OF BIRTH September 10, 1965
DATE OF DEATH June 18, 1983
Place of death Shiraz , Iran