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Red and White Keffiyehs
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I was raised in a religious, pro-Mosaddegh family in Shiraz and there were always hung pictures of Imam Khomeini and Dr. Mohammad Mosaddegh on the walls of my father's room. I was just 12 during June 5 1963 uprisings and joined the protestors who fired bars at that time. I was not a frequent mosque-goer but was introduced to certain politico-religious gatherings run by Ja’far Abbas Zadegan and the late Rajab’ali Taheri. The gatherings were held every Friday morning where representatives of various groups would show up gatherings. We might be tasked to distribute copies of Imam Khomeini's treatises or house someone who, as we later learned, turned out to be the son of Ayatollah Taleghani who was known among us by a pseudonym. Among the participants of the gatherings were also high-ranking members of the Mojahedin-e Khalgh like Sa’eid Shahsavandi or Rasoul Meshkin Fam. Our activities were far from mere Quranic or religious activities. We were asked to study the history of other revolutionary movements by figures like Yassir Arafat and Patrice Lumumba and Che Guevara.
Armed struggle was not a topic at the beginning but Mr. Taheri asked us to learn about armed fighting in case we might need it sometime, so we would go to the nearby hills and learn to fight with sticks and daggers. We also learned how to shoot with an old vz.24 rifle. Mr. Taheri cautioned us about our bellies and called on us to strengthen our bellies in case we would be arrested and tortured on our bellies.
The tug-of-war between Iran and Iraq intensifies day by day at that time. In the year 1969, the national Iraqi radio once called on Iranian youths to join the anti-Israel Palestinian movements in Iraq. As of the announcement, Mr. Taheri said a number of volunteers from the city of Shiraz should be sent to Palestine and Iraq to learn guerilla fights. I was one of the first ones who were sent to Iraq and Palestine. I was only 18 at that time and went to Najaf to get martial lessons from a guy named Arsanjani.
I left Shiraz without telling my parents and went to see Mr. Mobasheri in Abadan Seminary. He knew Mr. Taheri already and was supposed to help me cross the border to Iraq covertly. After a few nights in the seminary, Mr. Mobasheri told me I had to return to Shirza or try the border in the western city of Kermanshah to Iraq. Instead of returning to Shiraz or going to Kermanshah, I went to Ghasr Shirin border city. I stayed in a hotel when I arrived and then went to Iraq through hills on my feet. After I crossed the border a number of Iraqi villagers took me to a police office near the border. In response to interrogations by the border guards I kept saying that I was going to Iraq subsequent to a radio call from the Iraqi radio which called on Iranian youths to join Palestinians through Iraq.
They asked me whether I was a Shia or a Sunni Muslim. I was astonished at this; because in Shiraz there were never such discussions. When I told them that I was a Shia Muslim, a number of them appeared to come on my side and like me. I was then transferred to the Baghdad Prison where a number of Iranian militaries were jailed.
A couple of days later in the prison, the Iraqis began to believe my assertions and took me to a military site where I was given a Palestinian Keffiyeh together with military garments. No more was I a prisoner; rather I was a volunteer in the Palestinian movement. I got to know an Iraqi guy whose mother was Iranian and could speak Persian. He said we were about to be transferred to Jordan and then to Palestine. He was right and we got onto buses to the city of Amman, capital of Jordan; a beautiful city with white buildings constructed over hills.
After the city we went to frisk stations run by Palestinian guerillas who wore red and white Keffiyehs. We were warmly welcome by the Palestinian militias but were said that there was no need for us at that moment so we were taken back to Baghdad and were housed in dormitories in the Iraqi city. I found a way to see my supporter Mr. Arsanjani in the city of Najaf and took some trainings and returned to Iran through Abadan and then to Shiraz and directly went to Mr. Taheri. Then I went to my house and was welcome home.
I was one of the first volunteers who visited Iraq as a volunteer force for joining the Palestinian cause and taking guerilla trainings. Many others who travelled after me undertook severe challenges and were tormented by SAVAK agents. Three years later, the service (SAVAK) arrested Mr. Taheri.
Abbas Me’marian
Pre-Revolution Political Activist from Shiraz
Translated by Abbas Hajihashemi
Source: Andeeshe Pooya, Vol.3, No. 22, Nov 2014, P. 73
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